With their acquisition of Connor Hellebuyck -- which was perfectly timed, given the cap implications of his Winnipeg Jets-initiated suspension -- the New Jersey Devils are just a shade under the NHL salary cap. As it stands right now, they have just over $100,000 in space, which, of course, isn't even enough to fill out their 23-man roster -- they're carrying just 12 forwards at the moment.
That isn't even taking into account the possibility of the Devils continuing to add to their roster closer to the 2027 NHL Trade Deadline. They're a playoff-bound team, even if it is difficult to project that far in advance before the calendar even flips to November, and will likely want to be adding as much talent as they can to prepare for the postseason.
With that, they'll absolutely need to clear cap space off their roster. They attempted to clear $2.75 million of it by placing veteran forward Stefan Noesen on waivers, but he was left unclaimed and, as such, just $1.25 million of his salary was buried. The simplest solution, as painful a blow it might be to the Devils' locker room and on a personal basis, would be to off-load Brenden Dillon.
The 35-year-old is undeniably an integral voice in the locker room and is well-respected by anyone who has ever interacted with him. He sticks up for his teammates, keeps morale high, and tells the group what is needed to hear at any given point in time.
He had also been a healthy scratch for three-straight games leading up to his inclusion against the Los Angeles Kings, and has a cap hit of $4 million without being wholly restrictive in terms of trade protection -- he has just a 10-team no-trade list. Bluntly, he isn't quite as suited for the style of game the Devils want to play on a nightly basis as his counterpart, Declan Chisholm, who is already confirmed to be rejoining the lineup against the Avalanche on Wednesday.
The truth is, very few teams in the NHL wouldn't want Dillon on their team. If the Devils weren't strapped for cap or he made less, his impact on the locker room alone is worth keeping around. However, in a hard cap league, the priority needs to be on on-ice play and maximizing the value of the roster actually contributing to wins and losses. Given that he's the odd-man out, it makes too much sense to offload him for draft capital or prospects. New Jersey could easily recoup legitimate value for Dillon -- and they would be wise to do so.
With that $4 million cap hit out the door and supplanted by two players -- a seventh defenseman like Vladislav Kolyachonok ($850,000) and a 13th forward like Colin White ($900,000) -- the Devils would have over $2.5 million in space to play with and improve the roster. Perhaps they upgrade the back-end with it, or perhaps they are able to even further improve how threatening the forward group looks. Either way, they'll have flexibility to make changes to get the team set for postseason hockey.
Add us as a preferred source on Google