Friday morning, it was reported by well-respected hockey pundit Elliotte Friedman that the NHL gave an estimate on the salary cap for 2028-29 season at the Board of Governors meeting. As expected, it is supposed to rise tremendously. Unexpectedly, however, was just how much it is expected to increase: all the way up to $127.5 million.
That's an estimated $14 million jump from 2027-28 to 2028-29.
For the Devils, this doesn't necessarily mean as much as it does for other teams, considering that their core players -- the Hughes brothers, captain Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, and Luke Evangelista -- are all locked up through at least 2029-30. Not having to worry about those players, all of whom will be on excellent-value deals at the time the salary cap explosion is set to hit, will be nothing but a boon to the organization.
Considering their overall outlook with respect to contracts and players, this jump likely won't affect the team much in terms of extensions, either. Cody Glass, Evan Rodrigues, Declan Chisholm, and Jesper Boqvist are the only four players on expiring deals worth keeping past this season, and none of them are likely to cost all that much. Where it does impact them right now, then, is in evaluating the caliber of players -- and contracts of players -- they can bring in via trade.
One such name that has often been linked by fans to the organization is Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets. With the Devils either rolling a three-goalie rotation or with Jake Allen and Nico Daws as the tandem, it's certainly reasonable on the surface to ache for a brand name goalie.
The reality is, though, that I don't think it alters the Devils' plans in net all that much, if at all. For one, Sunny Mehta himself has said that he is not the type of General Manager to allocate a ton of capital -- salary or trade assets -- to the position being that it is so volatile:
""Because there is randomness at the position, I'm reluctant to invest significant assets there instead of in areas where the results may be more predictable.""Sunny Mehta
Hellebuyck is not only the sole major player on the goalie trade market, but he gets paid $8.5 million per season for the next five years. That $8.5 million might not hurt quite as much in a couple of seasons than it did when it was signed or does now, but it's still a solid 6.7% of the projected cap in 2028-29. Being that he is who he is, the trade ask must be astronomical to boot. Doesn't sound like the type of guy Mehta and company would be keen on.
The other part of the equation is age curves. It's one thing if Hellebuyck was entering or in the midst of his prime -- but the veteran netminder is 33 and has a lot of mileage compared to other goalies. It stands to reason that his aging will not be quite as graceful as others, even if he is coming from an anomalously high peak.
If the Devils can create an average-to-above-average goaltender in the aggregate, investing that extra capital in the predictable skater positions is a much savvier bet. It's for that reason that I simply do not believe the Devils will ever be in on the Hellebuyck sweepstakes.
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