New Jersey Devils: 5 Teams To Target With A Flat Salary Cap

Arizona Coyotes

The Arizona Coyotes have a lot bigger problems than the salary cap right now, and that’s saying something because their salary cap situation might be the worst in the league. They’ve spent without consequence and now the man in charge of that spending, former GM John Chayka, quit on the team in one of the biggest controversies in hockey this season.

Whoever takes over the Yotes long term need to undo some of the damage that Chayka left behind. The Coyotes have $1.5 million in salary-cap space next season. Somehow, they think they can find a way to re-sign Taylor Hall this offseason. How is that even going to be possible?

The situation gets a lot better after next season, so this is a one-season issue. However, to sign Hall they need to make a minimum of $8 million appear next year. They also have to re-sign Vinnie Hinostroza, who becomes a restricted free agent this offseason.

There are many roads the Coyotes can take to fix their situation. They could trade the Devils more draft capital to take on the final year of someone like Michael Grabner (I know, I know, nobody here wants to do that again) or Jason Demers. They could get someone like Niklas Hjalmarsson on a deal since that would take another $5 million off the books. There’s also the possibility they could have a conversation about Phil Kessel, although other teams would probably be a better fit for the American winger.

The Coyotes and Devils might actually pair up for another trade sooner than we thought. The big question here is whether the Devils had something to do with Chayka quitting. There are still questions to be answered here, and until we have those answers it would stop all deals between the Devils and Coyotes.