The New Jersey Devils did not acquire Quinn Hughes. It is debated whether or not they could have matched the return the Vancouver Canucks got from the Minnesota Wild. It is widely known that the eldest Hughes brother would consider an extension in New Jersey because both of his brothers play for the Devils.
Elliotte Friedman stated on Saturday Night Headlines that the Devils had a deal if they cleared the cap space in time to add Hughes, however they could not move other contracts to make the cap work. He then further said that the Devils had too many "fairly negotiated" clauses on their roster.
This all but confirms that the Devils tried to move someone with a no move or no trade clause, but they refused to do so, and time ran out on the Devils to trade for a top two player at his position in the league. We could sit here and speculate all day on who would not waive their clause, and there are some theories.
There are currently 14 players on the Devils roster who have some sort of trade protection. One of them is Jonathan Kovacevic. The Devils are able to match his salary against the cap because he's on long-term injured reserve. It is no longer the CBA of old, where you immediately get the cap relief when you place someone on LTIR.
Kovacevic is going to come back to the roster at some point in January, if the previous recovery timeline from his offseason knee surgery is to be believed. This means, that the Devils are going to add his salary back onto the books. There lies one massive problem.
When he gets activated, the Devils will be over the salary cap by $4 million. They will need to get under the cap to get salary cap compliant. Along with that, they cannot add Jack Hughes, Brett Pesce, or anyone else to the LTIR pool unless they add them to the season-ending LTIR, which would take them out of the playoffs.
Both Hughes and Pesce should be back by the Olympic Break, and therefore someone will have to go to get under the salary cap. If some players did not waive their clauses in December, it is hard to imagine they would do so only a few weeks later.
So, who is left that makes a decent amount of money with no trade protection that could help the Devils get cap compliant?
Enter Dawson Mercer.
Trading Mercer, who is having a resurgent year, would be a massive blow to a team that is already struggling to produce throughout the lineup. Mercer has not missed a single game since coming into the league in the 2021-22 season. His career high in points is 56, and he is currently on pace to match that this season.
Mercer has slumped the last two season, however this year, he has gone back to the player fans fell in love with as an 20 year old four years ago. Trading Mercer when everyone is healthy again to be cap compliant in a career year is a very bad look for Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald.
Mercer would be the odd man out because he has absolutely no trade protection whatsoever and can be moved without his approval. Mercer also makes $4 million, which would get the Devils very close to cap compliant. They would have to possibly shed another contract to the AHL to get there, but Mercer's cap hit makes the most sense to move on from in a mathematical sense.
From a logical standpoint, having to move on from Mercer to keep players with albatross contracts that don't produce like Ondrej Palat would be a very bad look for Fitzgerald. There is no word on whether Palat would waive his clause, but the Devils should at least consider asking him to. With an already restless fanbase, moving Mercer could be the straw that breaks the camel's back when it comes to the fan base.
Now, the Devils could move on from Dougie Hamilton, if he was not a player who had already approached to do so. Moving on from his $9 million AAV would help out drastically for the Devils and Fitzgerald. With the emergence of Simon Nemec, it makes sense. Although there is no word on how long Nemec will be out after being what seems like the 66th Devil to get hurt this season.
With Fitzgerald yet to make his massive move in his five-year tenure at the helm, it just seems like the obvious path is the one with the least resistance for him. What better way to avoid confrontation than with a player who cannot put up a fight when it comes to his potential destination?
For Mercer's sake, hopefully, Fitzgerald gets creative and finds a different path. Mercer should be a Devil for many years to come. However, with Fitzgerald at the helm, that does not seem like the case.