The New Jersey Devils have too many players on the NHL roster, and they might have to make hard choices to fix it

The New Jersey Devils filled as many holes as they possibly could this offseason. In all, Tom Fitzgerald made 10 moves this offseason that will impact the roster. He signed Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon to solidify the defense, added Paul Cotter and Stefan Noesen to bring snarl to the offense, and traded for Jacob Markstrom to finally get this team a great goalie. Each and every move had motivation behind it, and now this roster seems stacked.

The forward lines can truly be anything, with four superstar players and a bevy of great complimentary players. The defensive lines are also truly malleable, giving new head coach Sheldon Keefe a clean slate to do what he wants with this roster. 

However, there is one problem. The Devils have too many players. Right now, there are 22 players who seem destined the make the roster that are under contract right now. Great! The Devils need 23. Well, hold on, because the Devils still have to sign both Dawson Mercer and Nolan Foote, and they will both expect one-way contracts.

That gives the Devils 24 players, which they aren’t allowed to have on opening night. That leaves the Devils with three options. The easiest option is to just see if someone gets injured in the preseason. Adding someone on IR opens a roster spot as long as the Devils remain salary-cap compliant. The second option is a trade, which is everyone’s most likely option. We’ll get into that in a moment. The third option is to send someone down to the AHL.

The first option isn’t worth discussing because it’s all a prediction based on nothing. While Dougie Hamilton, Jack Hughes, and others missed the end of the season with injuries that needed extensive rehab, everyone is expected to be 100% by opening night. 

When it comes to a trade, we don’t expect anything huge. However, there’s at least a chance the Devils will trade an NHL player for a draft pick. There are really only two options for that who could make sense. Nathan Bastian had his own injury-plagued season, and he just didn’t look great throughout the year. He finished the season with 12 points in 54 games. The year before, he had 15 points in 43 games. 

The other option is Nolan Foote. This could happen before or after he signs his contract. After being penciled into the lineup in training camp last season, a mysterious injury ruined his season. He ended up playing just four games. The 23-year-old only has 23 NHL games under his belt, but we know he has an NHL shot. 

If the Devils are resistant to hurting the roster with a trade, they can try their luck with waivers. They could try to put Bastian on waivers, but that’s how they got him back on the roster in the first place. Foote would not make it through waivers, full stop. They could get creative, which is where our idea takes place. 

What if the Devils put Kurtis MacDermid on waivers? The Devils gave MacDermid an insane three-year deal worth more than $3 million total. MacDermid is a tough guy who is on the roster to fight Matt Rempe. Why is he getting more than the minimum salary?

Maybe it’s so his contract is completely unappealing when he’s placed on waivers. The Devils reportedly plan to use MacDermid only when they need him anyway. So if they just let him cook in the AHL to stay warm and then bring him up to the NHL when they need him, knowing teams won’t claim him when he goes back down because he has a three-year contract.

Some intricacies to the process complicate things, like the fact that the Devils need to get their roster done early because of Prague. That will force them to use waivers while teams are still evaluating their rosters. Also, calling up MacDermid would usually force the Devils to remove another player from their roster, so it limits their maneuverability overall. 

Yet, it is the move that best completes this team. Losing Bastian or Foote for basically nothing hurts this roster’s depth. Giving this team as much of a cushion from injuries after how badly it was hit last year is essential to its success.