With an important year coming up for many people on or around the team, the New Jersey Devils figure to be one of the NHL's most aggressive and ambitious teams this offseason.
Nine Devils players are currently without contracts, and the team currently has only $12 million in cap space to resolve that issue. Plus, aging, underperforming forwards like Ondrej Palat and Erik Haula could be on the move in favor of younger, fresher, faster legs.
The best way the Devils can accomplish that is via the NHL trade market, where they'll have no shortage of options. A name currently drawing a substantial amount of intrigue around the league is J.J. Peterka, the star Buffalo Sabres winger without a contract coming off a career-high 68 points at the age of 23.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman believes that the Sabres will have to make some decisions regarding Peterka and his fellow restricted free agent, defenseman Bowen Byram.
"The Peterka thing is agent-driven, so we'll see," Friedman said on Sportsnet's The Fan Hockey Show. "With Buffalo, I think there's much more of a realization on Byram is going to have to be dealt with more than they want to deal with Peterka."
If Peterka's agent is pushing trade rumors, it means one of two things. It's either a negotiating tactic to put pressure for a new contract, or a tactic to invite a swell of other NHL teams to flood Buffalo with trade offers for the German, creating a bidding war.
The Devils, at this point in the timeline, don't have the prospects or the draft capital that most teams want in these kinds of trades, but they do have roster players who might intrigue Lindy Ruff and the Sabres as they look to become a genuinely competitive team for the umpteenth year in a row.
Friedman goes on to say the Devils are actively looking to wash away the disappointment that was the untimely end of the 2024-25 season.
"The other team someone pointed out to me was a little bit about the Devils. They were disappointed with the way their year ended. I think they're looking around out there. They're looking to see what they can do," Friedman said.
The New Jersey Devils should be in on JJ Peterka
Palat, 34, may still have some semblance of trade value around the NHL, especially with only two years remaining on his albatross contract.
Another name to watch is Dawson Mercer, who failed to crack 20 goals for the first time since 2021-22 and has scored fewer than 40 points in each of the last two seasons despite featuring heavily atop the Devils' lineup.
Mercer and Palat combine for $10 million against the salary cap, and by shedding that, the Devils could re-sign Luke Hughes and Jake Allen and potentially proceed to make an aggressive pitch for Peterka, who will assuredly cost a pretty penny himself.