The New Jersey Devils have taken the offseason by storm with small moves to help the depth of the team. After the bottom six and defensive depth ended their season with a murmur against the Carolina Hurricanes, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has made strides to add upgrades to the roster.
So far, he's added Arseni Gritsyuk, Lenni Hameenaho, Juho Lammikko, Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, Thomas Bordeleau, and Angus Crooshank to the roster. Obviously, some of those players will end up in the AHL, but it's good to see he's adding depth. The bottom six should have plenty of talent, including Shane Lachance and Brian Halonen, who will fight for roster spots.
This isn't exactly a "quiet" offseason for the Devils, but it's also not exactly loud. The Devils have been tied to some of the bigger players on the trade market. Many say they have called on Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson. They need another top-six asset to play next to Jack Hughes and/or Nico Hischier.
Those types of moves need a little more certainty on the roster, especially when it comes to the salary cap. While the Devils have room to make moves, they have two important pieces that still need to be figured out. Cody Glass was extended a qualifying offer after the Devils couldn't come to a long-term deal before the free agency deadline. The other one is a bit bigger.
Tom Fitzgerald when asked if he expects to do anything more: "My No. 1 priority is Luke Hughes and what I do with Luke Hughes will determine what else I possibly could do."
— Mike Morreale (@mikemorrealeNHL) July 2, 2025
The Luke Hughes contract extension will get in the way of everything until it's done. The Glass contract has a distinct ceiling, as his $2.5 million qualifying offer is probably as high as the Devils want to go. However, Luke Hughes's next deal can go anywhere.
Just look at some of the contracts signed by defensemen this offseason. Ivan Provorov signed for just under $60 million over seven years. The New York Rangers gave Vladislav Gavrikov $7 million per season. The Carolina Hurricanes sent a haul to the Rangers for K'Andre Miller and then gave him a contract worth $7.5 million per season.
Luke Hughes is already significantly better than all of those players. That doesn't even include the deal the Montreal Canadiens just gave Noah Dobson (eight years, $9.5 million AAV). Hughes has a ton of fodder to use in contract negotiations.
The Devils must sign Hughes for the max length. They can get a little uncomfortable with the price now because it will pay off later. Yes, it hurts them in the short term, but they need to get it done. Would Hughes say yes to eight years and $8.5 million, giving him a little more than his brother Jack Hughes?
Luke Hughes hasn't come close to his ceiling yet, but there's a precedent of players getting the bag one year too early rather than signing them too late. Cale Makar is probably a $12 million player right now, but he's signed for $9 million AAV. The Devils hope to have a similar contract in place for Hughes.
That's still a lot of money, and it's going to hold up any superstar trade. As of this writing, PuckPedia reports that the Devils have $8.59 million in cap space. If they are truly done making moves and Ondrej Palat is remaining on this roster, the Devils can probably only afford to give Hughes a two-to-three-year deal at around $6 million. Then, they can pay Glass his going rate and call it an offseason.
We don't see that being the case. Fitzgerald just needs to know a ballpark of what the number is going to be and plan accordingly. Once Luke Hughes is signed, he can move forward with finding a top-six forward to add to this group.