Thursday afternoon, it was announced that that the New Jersey Devils acquired 26-year-old left-handed defenseman Declan Chisholm from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2027. It was new GM Sunny Mehta's third trade in the last three days, previously shipping Simon Nemec off to the Calgary Flames for a haul of draft picks and spending their 2026 fourth-round pick on RFA center Amadeus Lombardi.
Chisholm's acquisition was yet another savvy move by Mehta early on in his tenure, beginning his time as GM of the Devils with a tidy few trades.
Chisholm sports strong underlying numbers which profile him as the exact type of defensemen the Devils could use, one who excels in puck retrievals and exiting the defensive zone successfully. Even better, his $1.6 million cap hit is extremely reasonable for sixth defenseman, especially if he maintains that underlying success.
That's the thing, though -- Chisholm's $1.6 million cap hit is light for the projected role he plays in, but it's extremely lofty if the goal is to deploy him as a seventh defenseman. Considering that, while Mehta was in Florida, their fourth-line forwards and bottom-pair defensemen were often low-AAV players, it feels as though the goal is to keep Chisholm as a third-pair option rather than an extra.
With that in mind, then, Chisholm's addition seems to be a bit of a precursor move to something a bit bigger. A left-side defenseman by nature, he has played on his off-hand quite a bit throughout his career so it's a bit of a guessing game as to who would reasonably be departing the Devils' roster if, in fact, it is an anticipatory move.
Brenden Dillon and Jonas Siegenthaler are both lefties and both make double or more Chisholm's salary. Dillon, 35, is a clearly valued member of the locker room and Siegenthaler, 29, has been an up-and-down rearguard over the last four or so seasons. Both players have partial trade protection that starts on July 1, with both players possessing a 10-team no-trade list within their contracts. Siegenthaler makes $600,000 less than Dillon.
Johnathan Kovacevic is seemingly the other option, though he has full trade protection that runs through 2026-27. If he's willing to waive, the Devils could save up to $4 million against the cap.
Regardless, the $1.6 million Chisholm is getting paid almost certainly means that he will be playing in more than a 7D capacity. Naturally, that must mean that one of their six higher-paid roster defensemen will be on the move in a subsequent transaction.
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