The New Jersey Devils are in a pickle. Early in the offseason, they probably thought they could get positive assets for Ondrej Palat. The veteran has two years left on his contract, and his $6 million salary doesn’t hurt as badly with a rising salary cap. Heck, the Devils seemed like they were going to get positive assets for Palat. Maybe they could get a second-round pick for the two-time Stanley Cup Champion.
Most thought a Palat trade was more likely this offseason because his trade protection was no longer unlimited. His contract went from a full no-move clause to a partial no-trade clause. However, “partial” is doing some heavy lifting there.
The Devils can choose from 10 teams to trade Palat. The veteran can block trades to the other 21 teams. There is no doubt that a. Palat is using his trade list to choose teams that aren’t desirable for either the Devils or the negotiating team and b. If a team on the list does want Palat, they know they have the Devils over a barrel.
See, the Devils do have just under $7 million in cap space, but they have a lot they still want to do. Luke Hughes still isn’t signed. Their top six leaves a lot to be desired. The Devils could use at least one more top-six winger and a third-line center, although they could fix that with Dawson Mercer.
Basically, the Devils don’t have enough money to fix all of their issues. They might not have enough money to re-sign Luke Hughes to the contract they want to sign him to. He’s not signing an eight-year contract for less than $7 million, even if the Devils do defer money.
Moving Palat is the most desirable outcome. His $6 million would give them the breathing room to add Hughes’s new deal plus another upgrade at forward.
It doesn’t need to be the full $6 million to help the Devils out. Is there a world where it makes sense for a trade to happen with the Devils eating some of the Palat contract? We’re not talking about half retained. That wouldn’t make much sense at this point. However, if the Devils retain $1 million of the deal, or even $1.5 million, it makes Palat a player that might even bring a return instead of being a straight cap dump.
Palat, at around $4.5 million, is a quality asset. It would still push the Devils to over $10 million in cap space, which would give them the space to sign Luke Hughes easily. It also allows them to build cap space throughout the season to add a forward in an in-season trade. And if the Devils put Johnny Kovacevic on long-term injured reserve, that’s even more space to make an addition.
Palat’s deal has another year on it, so how would this impact the Devils in the 2026 offseason?
The Devils only have $24 million in cap space for the 2026-27 season with a lot to get done. That’s without the Luke Hughes deal on the books. Let’s say he signs an eight-year deal for $9 million against the cap, that would leave the Devils with just $15 million next season with Simon Nemec to re-sign and a new starting goalie to add. That, plus the current need of a top-six forward.
It wouldn’t be ideal to keep $1.5 million on the books for absolutely nothing, but it’s much better than letting Palat’s $6 million anchor the team for multiple seasons. They can’t buy him out this year as the window has closed, but eating a little bit of this contract might get the needle moving on a trade.