General Manager Sunny Mehta and the New Jersey Devils have a lot of work to do this offseason. They'll have to re-sign Simon Nemec and Arseny Gritsyuk. Also, they have to find a way to get their captain, Nico Hischier, extended to a long-term contract. On top of all that, they'll need to shed salary and improve a stagnant roster to compete.
Fortunately, some good news came New Jersey's way on Tuesday afternoon. The National Hockey League announced that they have increased the league's salary cap to $104 million for the 2026-27 campaign. This is a pretty hefty $8.5 million increase. This, after the league's cap was at $95.50 in 25-26.
So with the cap going up nearly $9 million, the #NJDevils now will have just under $12 million in cap space.
— Neil Villapiano (@thenvpshow) May 6, 2026
There's a bit more space to be active, but some contracts still need to be moved to give the Devils the flexibility they need to improve https://t.co/0Jn1Cl1J3q pic.twitter.com/gVsSLE851s
This is good news for the Devils and all the other teams in the NHL. For the Devils specifically, it gives them a bit more space to work with. According to Puck Pedia, before this announcement, the team had just under $8 million of cap available. With the increase, New Jersey will have just short of $12 million in space.
With that amount of space, Mehta can sign Nemec to a long-term extension without going over the cap. Even though teams can go over the salary cap by 10% before becoming cap compliant at the start of the season, the Devils will still need to move money to make other moves work.
This was going to be the decision either way. The Devils need to improve several parts of the roster to rebound from this past season's disappointment.
The likeliest player to be moved is Dougie Hamilton. He still has two years left at a $9 million cap hit. As a reminder, he also has a no-move clause and a 10-team no-trade clause. There have been recent reports suggesting Hamilton still wants to be traded, and perhaps the Devils can find a way to get his full salary off the books.
Hamilton is just one of several players Mehta and the Devils may look to offload to give them more space to improve the team. Either way, moves are going to be made. This news of the salary cap increase, however, helps the Devils immediately and opens up some more wiggle room that they desperately need. A boost they'll need to take advantage of if they want to retool and compete deep into June of 2027.
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