New Jersey Devils: 5 Moves That Would Unnecessarily Speed Up Rebuild

The Devils will need to figure out a few more cap moves. Will Butcher will likely be bought out, which saves around $2.7 million on the cap. They will probably try to trade Andreas Johnsson to anyone willing to give him a shot. However, even if they can’t, they can manipulate the cap in a way to make it work. Working out contracts for players like Yegor Sharangovich, Michael McLeod, and Janne Kuokkanen will be incredibly complicated, but let’s assume they make them all work. Jonas Siegenthaler will likely be re-signed since the Devils just spent a 3rd-round pick on him, so he should slot in as a sixth or seventh defenseman.

Final Roster

Ovechkin-Eichel-Meier
Saad-Hischier-Bratt
Kuokkanen-Zacha-Sharangovich
Wood-McLeod-Johnsson

Smith-Karlsson
Murray-Severson
Siegenthaler-Hjalmarsson

Blackwood-Wedgewood

This roster is a little underwhelming for all the Devils did to make it work. Spending that much money and not coming out looking like the Lightning is slightly disappointing. However, this is still a perennial playoff team that needs one good run from Blackwood to win the Stanley Cup.

Is it worth it? Absolutely not. The Devils did get to keep some of the future, but they are in such cap hell for the next five seasons that they have no flexibility. Also, there’s too much hope in the bottom six. Can Kuokkanen and Sharangovich keep progressing? Which part of Zacha’s game is real and which part is fake? Can they afford an injury? Will they get anything out of Johnsson?

It’s interesting to see what’s possible for the Devils, and this team would be a lot of fun, but if the team is patient, they have the potential to make some great moves without breaking the bank for the wrong reasons.