New Jersey Devils: 5 Stupid Narratives You Will Hear This Offseason

Devils Should Weaponize Cap Space

We’ve heard this probably a thousand times already. The Devils have $37 million in cap space to spend this offseason. They have to spend $16.4 million just to get to the cap floor. There are some interesting restricted free agents (Yegor Sharangovich, Janne Kuokkanen, and Michael McLeod most interesting), but they aren’t going to get all the way to that $16.4 million number. The Devils have to do something with that money, so they will obviously be weaponizing it.

First of all, let’s calm down on that notion. The Devils going in saying they want to weaponize this space usually means being that extra third team in a three-team trade that nets them an extra 3rd-round pick. It’s fine, but the Devils can only do that once and this draft probably isn’t the place to make it happen.

Most fans hope “weaponize cap space” means “get disgruntled or expensive veterans”, and that’s probably not what Tom Fitzgerald is going to do this offseason. He’s going to use his cap space in a smart way. This will be looking ahead more than it is looking at the present. Most fans won’t like that, and most blogs (including this one) will dream of ways to weaponize that cap space. However, it’s more than likely the Devils are going to build around what they already have with moves similar to the ones they made last season.