New Jersey Devils trade much maligned forward to free up cap space

The New Jersey Devils are making changes to their lineup prior to Monday's roster deadline. To get salary cap compliant, Tom Fitzgerald has to move around money to fit Luke Hughes's new contract. The 22-year-old defenseman just signed a seven-year deal worth $9 million per season.

One issue there: the Devils don’t have $9 million in cap space. They can play games with their AHL lineup to allow for more space to be available, but if they want to have a 23-player roster, trades are the most logical path forward to create cap space.

Many believe that Ondrej Palat is the most likely forward to be traded, but the Devils might have found a really good partnership with Connor Brown. Palat’s biggest issue is that he becomes a ghost when he’s in the bottom six, but he’s not good enough to stay in the top six. Pairing him with Brown might fix both problems at once, and it will make sure that $6 million salary doesn’t hurt as much.

Another option is Dougie Hamilton. His $9 million salary is a weight on the team, but his on-ice impact is still too hard to replace. Hamilton is still a really good right-handed defenseman, so trading him isn’t so simple. 

Also, the Devils are dealing with significant injuries on the right side. Johnny Kovacevic is going to be out until at least January. This week, both Brett Pesce and Seamus Casey were injured, and Casey’s injury appears to be significant. 

With limited options, Fitzgerald made an interesting move on Friday night, getting rid of an anchor contract that hasn’t been as impactful as some thought when it was signed. 

This is a huge win for the Devils, as that $1.1 million that Kurtis MacDermid was making can be used elsewhere on the roster. MacDermid was brought in to bring toughness and leadership to the roster, but the Devils have players who can do that while also providing offense and defense at a high level. MacDermid was well liked in the locker room, but that can only take a player so far.

The 31-year-old defenseman turned forward played 23 games last season and recorded zero points. He didn’t even accidentally fall into an assist on a team that had a lot of offensive talent. In two seasons with the Devils, he had one point. 

Obviously, offense wasn’t the reason why he was on the ice, but he was not good enough on the defensive side, either. According to Natural Stat Trick, MacDermid was on the ice for one goal and six goals against. He just wasn’t impacting the game in a way Fitzgerald and the rest of the Devils had hoped.

In return, the Devils are getting Zack MacEwen from the Ottawa Senators. He’s a very similar player to MacDermid, and he was also signed to a three-year deal to fight people and protect the stars, but unlike MacDermid, he’s doing it for $775,000 per season, which is basically the league minimum.

The Devils basically traded the same player for one another, but with MacEwen, they save about $325,000 in cap space. That might be just enough to allow them to stay cap compliant just by putting Kovacevic on LTIR and calling it until he returns.