New Jersey Devils Freeing Up Cap Space For A BIG Move? | Erik Haula GONE Who’s Next?

New Jersey Devils Freeing Up Cap Space For A BIG Move? | Erik Haula GONE Who’s Next?

welcome back Devils fans It is your host Ace here on Running with the Devils where we are talking New Jersey Devils hockey all year long Please hit that subscribe button smash the like share with a friend Thank you very much And the New Jersey Devils off season has begun my friends Oh it has begun Started off with the Devils signing Juo Lamo from Switzerland for a round league minimum Not a big newsworthy story unfortunately I do think this was the Devils kind of reaching in a way for a guy that was playing overseas hoping they could kind of resurrect his NHL career and he could contribute something in the bottom six So I’m not going to make a big deal out of that maneuver you know in a vacuum until we see how the rest of the offseason plays out But I do believe that the team believes he could contribute I do not think they were making this signing for the Udica Comets I do think that they believe he’s going to be a bottom six guy Maybe he will Um not a significant move by any stretch and we’ll see how it all plays out with how the rest of the roster shapes up over the offseason But the first move of note Fitzy goes out and trades Eric Hall to the Nashville Predators for a fourth round pick and an ECHL defenseman And it was a salary dump Appreciate Eric Hall for his time as a New Jersey Devil He was a good soldier and the Devils had to shed some cap space And it starts with moving Hollow to Nashville and freeing up $3.15 million of oh so valuable cap space in a summer where cap space was going to be very tight Very very tight That gives us a little more little more breathing room but not quite enough to do something meaningful As it stands right now after the Eric Hall salary shed the Devils are a hair under $14.4 $4 million of open cap space And as we’ve talked about time and time again Luke Hughes is going to get roughly 8.5 to N million of that I do believe on a long-term contract Do believe it’d be a huge mistake if they do a bridge deal with him We’ve talked about that as well You know if they sign him for a little less for a few years when that contract comes back around I do think Luke would be in line for a hefty hefty hefty raise given the new cap climate And with it constantly going up in a few years Luke very well may be a $12 million player And so I do think it is in the Devil’s best interest to get that long-term deal done And everyone thinks you know 8.59 million something like that So let’s just use 9 million for a round number If they give Luke 9 million on a long-term deal that would leave 5.4ish million dollars left which is a lot better position than they were prior to moving Hall But to do something meaningful they’re going to have to move some more salary one way or another And everyone right now is looking at Andre Pott Now again Palot is another guy I do like some big moments in that playoff obviously in 22 23 But the elephant in the room is that obviously he’s overpaid at $6 million You know you look at a guy like Plot and that’s why his name keeps coming up And is that $6 million better spent elsewhere it’s an obvious yes And so a lot of people are now looking to fits to see if he can move out plot I don’t think it will be as easy Obviously given the dollar amount I do think they could find a new home for Palot It may take some assets in the forms of picks maybe a prospect or two possibly retention on the salary possibly a combination of both But if Fitz can somehow move out Pelot especially without retention if he could somehow figure out a way to do it without retention and free up another $6 million that certainly would be exciting because then you’re talking about having some real money to play with And again it wouldn’t be you know an overwhelming fortune but you’re talking about 11 11.5 million left after paying Luke You could pick up an impact player with that for sure And I do think as many of you do that the most pressing need for our beloved New Jersey Devils this offseason I would love to see a rugged top six winger to play with Jack Hughes I think it’s been needed for quite some time now and no time like the present It would be amazing to pick up a big body with some skill little tenacity to play with Jack I think that’s the number one need for the team and it’s going to require money to do so And so everyone’s looking at Palot If that $6 million gets freed up all of a sudden now things get super interesting in New Jersey for the offseason Would really be interesting to move off of that We’ll see if Fitz could find a way to get it done And then a lot of people are kind of speculating about the trade market and guys that they would like to see come to the Devils And I talked about this on a previous live but I’m sure tons of you did not see it And my thoughts are is this People are throwing out names across the league You know how about this guy how about that guy the reality is almost all the names people are throwing out and suggesting in the comments or whatever it may be almost all of those guys would be an upgrade to the roster and make the team better in some way almost any of the guys people are saying because the bar is so low When you look at the offense from last season the reality is the roster was very subpar Even in the playoffs you look at a lot of the forwards and you’re like “This is just not it This is not a winning playoff roster It’s just not.” And so if you throw out any average above average NHL player that would represent an upgrade to the team However again we are in a cap climate I almost broke it We are in the cap climate you don’t have unlimited money to spend You have limited assets in the form of picks prospects players whatever it is to trade for other players And so I am of the belief that you are now in a position that every piece brought in has to be the right piece So yes a guy like Marco Rossy I’ll use as an example or Jason Robertson would they make the team better and be an upgrade absolutely But you got to be greedy here guys Are they the best guys to spend the money on and guys like that not to single them out but those those two guys in particular in my opinion are not the best usage of assets or cap dollars to improve this team Again I’m not denying they’d make the team better They absolutely would but you don’t have unlimited moves to make There’s only so many moves that will be able to be made And so I think Fitz has to really hone in on what is the exact puzzle piece we need to complete this New Jersey Devils team and really make them a contender And obviously you know that I think skilled physical guys if you watch the playoffs I’m sorry I don’t care what anyone says There is no denying that the physicality was through the roof in the playoffs in the finals And you need dogs Period You need dogs We have some Not enough And you need them in your top six Having them in the bottom six is not enough Right now the identity of the New Jersey Devils I feel like is kind of in a state of flux And this is a huge offseason going forward Right We only have Nikico Hehishir under contract for the upcoming season and one more two more years Now I personally hope Nikicoish retires a devil and is a longtime you know New Jersey Devil wins a cup or two here or three Would love to see as many as possible I would love to see him be a lifelong Devil and have his number 13 hanging up in the Raptors one day but there’s no guarantee of that And more and more nowadays players are looking at the overall package when picking to sign somewhere long term Do I think this team has a legitimate chance to win the cup do I like living here yeah And all these other things Now I do think Nico likes the Devils Obviously he’s been the captain for some time now Um he’s probably very used to the area but you know he has to be thinking in the back of his head like are we really going to win a cup here and there’s two more years essentially or less obviously to convince him that this is the place to stay There will be a million teams trying to get him Nico really could be a differencemaker on a lot of playoff contending teams that could really push them over the edge to truly contend And so I hope he stays here but I think you have to show him that the team is moving in the right direction And right now we’ve been kind of stuck in neutral and possibly even in reverse given how we finished in the 22 23 season with a franchise record 112 points beating the Rangers in that beautiful sevengame series We followed it up in 23 24th missing the playoffs and then we got crushed this season against the Hurricanes And so if you’re Nico you’re like uh you know maybe this isn’t the place I hope I’m wrong and I hope he’s a lifer but you got to win now Win now Make win now moves And so we’ll see how it all plays out but you need to get the right pieces not just any upgrade you could get because people are throwing out all these names And yes while they’re upgrades they’re not the ideal upgrades for exactly what this team needs And that’s why Fitz is gonna have to really hit it out of the park on every guy he brings in because there’s not going to be many in big roles anyway There could be you know maybe three or four bottom six guys um and one top six guy if you could free up some money elsewhere but we really need a top six dog to play with Jack And that morphs the identity of your team If you look at the Panthers and some other teams it it starts from the top down You want those guys those absolute warriors in your top six and it kind of bleeds down and everyone else kind of morphs to that identity and guys will start raising their game and hopefully make the team better But I think it starts at the top Would love to see a top six dog That’s my number one want for sure Would love a guy like Tuck There’s plenty of others out there but Tuck and Buffalo would be that’d be a beautiful fit Um you know who even knows if Buffalo wants to trade him there’s a lot of rumors and smoke around tons of guys around the league including him but Tuck would be very high on my list big body 6’4 just physical guy I think he could be a perfect type of player to be on Jack’s wing But when you look at the Devils in terms of trade chips and freeing up other salaries beyond Pot a lot of people are looking at Douge and Dawson Mercer Let me start with Douge I like Douge I like Douggie a lot I think he brings a lot I think you saw how valuable he was to the team when he went down with injury in the 2324 season The team really struggled uh and it was kind of painful without him Now I do think the defense obviously is much better than it was in 23 24 and so should we move on from Douge I do think we’re a little more insulated against a complete collapse defensively but he still has tremendous value to this team and at $9 million I understand why the bull’s eye is kind of on him as well People love to pick especially Devils fans Guys that make a lot of money are often victimized Even team Omire and I love Te-Mer I have no complaints about team Omire but a lot of you people just won’t ever get it And I’m done arguing with you President of the Team Omire fan club But 9 million bucks for Douggee It was a slight overpayment at the time when we signed him But that is what you have to do to get bigname free agents Unfortunately that’s kind of always been the case There’s bidding wars You want to get the guy you got to offer more than everybody else Period And the Devils did that with Douge So 9 million bucks He kind of put a bullseye on himself to a lot of fans But in the end I’m a Douggee guy I think we will miss him immensely when we move on from him I do think we will be able to survive the post Douggee Hamilton era in the next year or two I think with the emergence of Luke Hughes as he becomes more seasoned can take on more responsibility Obviously Netts will pick up some of that slack as well but I don’t think they’re ready just yet And a lot of people are just ready to push Douggee out the door and just think that Luke and Nemits that they’re just going to assume those responsibilities and roles And I think that’s kind of crazy These are still very young kids not a ton of games in the league And if you think we’re not going to skip a beat by moving on from Douge right now you’re sadly mistaken And so for me I’m not with everybody else looking to move off of Douge anytime soon Maybe next season next off seasonason whatever it is I do believe he is traded before the end of his contract but the time is not now I think he’s very useful to the Devils and I think it would be a little hasty to move on from him Now again the asterisk being unless it’s in the Quinn Hughes deal obviously because Quinn can pick up you know where Douggee was and and do all those things that Douggee was doing And then obviously in terms of financial Douggee would almost be certain to be included in any potential deal to Vancouver to get Quinn Hughes And so in that scenario I’d be fine with it But in terms of just moving him to shed the salary and not replacing him with someone like a Quinn Hughes I think it would be a fool’s errand And I don’t think it’s going to happen Don’t think it’s going to happen this off seasonason A lot of people are hoping for it I’m not and I don’t think it happens And then you go to Dawson Mercer another guy who I feel like has been unfairly targeted by a lot of the fan base and maybe it’s just because he had that big season a few years back and everyone expected him to keep building off of it I’m also a Dawson Mercer fan I think he’s a very versatile player You could put him out there in all scenarios late in the game to protect a lead You could put him on special teams power play penalty kill shows a lot of effort has a lot of hustle could do a little bit of everything I just think that a lot of people were expecting a lot more offensive production from him And with the way he’s been playing the past couple years he’s been another guy that I feel like has been targeted somewhat unfairly I I get why but I just don’t think when you look at the team you’re like Mercer is the guy we’re going to complain about Not me I like Dawson Mercer but I will say uh as a kind of addition to this whole thing I like Mercer but like every other guy I am not against trading anyone if I believe it truly makes the team better And my biggest knock on this team as many of you know for years is that overall we have a lot of undersized guys and it’s a little redundant in my opinion Now I’m not saying you know for all the people that are like “Oh all the people want 10 Curtis Mcdermads and Ryan Reeves.” No that’s not what we’re saying That’s not what we’re saying at all But when you go into battle especially in the playoffs and you’ve all watched it you need to have some dogs and some bigger guys We have a lot of small guys that you know even if they play a little feistier it’s hard to win the physical battles and especially in the playoffs and Mercer is one of those guys where I feel like he could potentially thrive and kind of take his career to the next level with another team Now again I’m not saying we should trade Mercer but if a trade presents itself where we could bring in a guy that helps change the DNA of this team I would be all for it hypothetical Again I’m not saying this exact deal but just to throw a random one out there If Buffalo is interested in Mercer as part of a deal for Tuck for instance that’s a deal the Devils in my opinion should be all over for because you’re now you know getting a what you’re moving a smaller guy out bringing in a big big dog like Tuck Those are the types of moves that need to be made to truly push a team forward and to make this roster better prepared for the Stanley Cup playoffs period And so a guy like Tuck would love to get them And if Mercer has to be a part of the deal so be it But the Devils don’t have a ton of tradable assets I would say not too many Our main trade ships at the moment probably realistically are in no particular order Dawson Mercer will have some value to teams for sure Dawson Mercer is definitely valuable Obviously we have the 2026 next year’s first round draft pick which I have no interest in Um and our young defenseman Sheimo Nemitz Sheamus Casey I would say those are our most likely to be traded pieces with value Those are some good pieces Two very promising young defenseman and Nemits and Casey Next year’s firstrounder uh and Dawson Mercer And so with those pieces now could you improve this team for next season for the 2526 season i think so I think you can whether they’re all included in one deal or you know separate deals that’s some ammo to be able to upgrade the roster And it’s time for the Devils to really make one of these culture shifting moves I’m not saying it has to be a blockbuster but at some point you have to make hard decisions I think in the past few seasons you’ve mostly seen what I would call easy trades to make Easy trades to make Uh even the Teemo deal right teemo is a big-time player but there was nothing that really stung I would say too much going the other way A lot of people complained about Zeterland at the time and I like Zetherland but that wasn’t like trading a guy like Brad or Nico or any of our core and I’m not suggesting to trade any of the core guys What I’m just saying is trades that truly move a team forward often are going to have a little sting to it They’re not going to be no-brainers Like to me the Teemo deal was pretty much a no-brainer I think you just traded um I’m not going to call it yeah I got to be delicate here I don’t know that the proper phrasing to use but in the end you traded a bunch of lesser pieces to bring in a bigname piece Those are easy trades to make in my opinion because you know it’s almost a no-brainer and especially when you’re including futures I personally have talked about this time and time again First round picks winning teams do not give a crap about them You see the Panthers trade them away like nothing for known commodities uh BreezeBah in Tampa Bay I think has traded away all the first rounders for I don’t know the next several years and he even said in a press conference I rather have a roster of good players than a treasure chest full of draft picks and I am the same way and that’s how winning GMs should think should think now obviously for rebuilding teams and stuff the draft is very important and even for established teams you have to have a good draft uh a good draft department scouting department and a farm system you know to bring along the guys for the future But the Devils should 10,000% be in win now mode And when you’re in win now mode you got to do everything you can to get that cup And that includes trading away first round picks for known players The future is now There is no tomorrow Nikicohir does not care about players that are going to be here in five and six years from now Nikicohir doesn’t even care about Yagorov or Salia or any of these guys Nico might not be here And so you must make win now moves try to make the roster as good as possible and give this team a true chance to win Marky’s here for at least next season I do believe he gets at least one more year from the Devils So call it even two years for Marky You got two years with Marky and Nicoir Make it happen And again I hope Nico’s here forever but minimum two years Our core continues to age Brad and Nico have already been in the league for eight years They have a single playoff round one and seven total playoff games Completely unacceptable And so the point of all this is it’s time to make some trades that are not going to be no-brainers They’re not all going to be no-brainers And you have to make some trades that are going to sting a little bit You have to make trades with conviction And to this point look no further than Florida’s GM Bill ZTO right you got to make ballsy moves Tons of people roasted him for trading Huberdo and that huge blockbuster that brought Matthew Kachchuck there A lot of people kind of talk smack about ZTO after that deal Super ballsy move And it might be one of the most impactful hockey trades of my lifetime Yes Florida had some key pieces in place before Kachchuck got there but he was absolutely the catalyst to their current dynasty I’m already called them a dynasty guys Kachchuck gets there they go to three straight finals and they’re now back-to-back Cup champs One guy was the kind of main driving force behind all of that And they’re built to contend for quite a while And so I’m looking for Fitz to make some of those tough trades They all can’t be no-brainers or trades that look like on the surface we’re just you know haul to get rid of Halla salary for a fourthrounder and an ECHL guy Those are no-brainer trades Obviously anyone could make those That takes no conviction takes no guts There’s no element of risk or gamble involved That’s just like a straight cleancut There’s nothing to think about Where average GMs and good to great GMs differ is they are going to make the moves that fans and other players and people executives across the league are like “Oo is that going to pan out that was a little bit of a risk and you have to do that There is no way to truly improve a team without making some of those bold moves.” And it’s time for Fitz to do it We haven’t seen any yet We haven’t seen any yet Make a ballsy move Let’s see Win now when now I’m hoping we see it Hopefully we see some money freed up but there’s a lot of things uh moving around here with more salary cap space becoming available You look at the trade market you look at free agency there’s a lot going on A lot going on Uh rumors have been swirling I don’t know exact I couldn’t do the whole deep dive to see where they came from but supposedly Bastion and Dalling will not be back with the Devils I don’t think that’s a huge shock to anyone Um and supposedly the Devils are in negotiations with Cody Glass and Jake Allen And while I love Allen I’ve talked about this already I’m not going to spend too much time on it He’s going to get pretty crazy offers from other teams Again cap is up Not a lot of goalies available in free agency I could see a team offering Allen like three and a half million bucks times two years The Devils cannot afford to pay anywhere near that Nor should they Nor should they And then there was rumors that the Devils were looking at other uh veteran goalies to potentially bring in as a backup to Marky I just think it’s time to give Daws a shot but that’s a whole another topic Um there’s people kind of on both sides of the fence about that but I think it’s I think it’s time for Daws But in negotiations with Cody Glass and Allen I would take Cody Glass back happily as a fourthline center I don’t want him to be our 3C I would take him as a fourth line center but it’s got to be he’s got to be cheap It’s got to make sense and I don’t know what he’s going to get paid He made 2.5 last year Like I don’t think I would want to pay him that again Uh we’ll see We’ll see There’s so many questions and every move that’s made is kind of a domino to the next thing and so Fitz hopefully has a kind of laid out game plan of what he’s trying to do in these next few weeks but it’s a big few weeks for the Devils and certainly for their 2526 season would love a guy like Marshand again obviously there’s 0001% chance but you should at least try if I’m Tom Fitzgerald I’m at least making a pitch you got to at least try to get a guy like that I think he could transform a locker room almost single-handedly but I think that’s a pipe dream but there’s other guys out there that I think would be interesting And when you start looking at guys potentially available for trade there’s there’s there’s endless possibilities of ways to improve the roster There’s just there’s just no shortage of it But to piggyback on the trade market now with the cap going up I’ve said before I think you’re going to see some crazy contracts handed out for big money I think people are going to be floored at what some guys are getting paid with this escalating cap And so that is where you kind of take a look and you go maybe I should look to trade for somebody who’s already under contract with several years left because they were signed you know last year two years ago three years ago whatever it was in the old cap environment And you could find guys that are going to be very good deals especially going forward when the cap keeps going up And so I think that is a very viable and it should be the primary way Fitz looks to improve the team I think it will be more sensible to make a trade versus signing someone in free agency because these deals are going to be nuts Look for somebody on a deal that was already signed with years left under team control And I think that’s the the way you get the best value for your buck in terms of cap dollars So we’re going to see what that happens Um and then obviously as a total uh you know another little thing kind of floating out there on the side are the Devils still talking to Vancouver or were they ever talking to Vancouver about bringing Quinn Hughes in sooner than later i think that is a realistic possibility as well Now I do think Vancouver is hoping everything plays out in their favor and that Quinn ends up staying there I just can’t see it happening They know he wants to play with his brothers This has been a whole thing earlier in uh the spring as well and I made some videos about that but it seems like Quinn wants to play with his brothers I do believe he will sign here in free agency if it comes to that And I think it would be in Vancouver’s best interest to trade him sooner So could the Devils be looking to free up some cap space to slide Quinn in here is he part of this equation i personally would rather just wait the two years instead of giving up tons of pieces but if they’re willing to take something uh that makes sense not a crazy crazy package but I’m willing to pay a good price to get him here sooner than later Again win now right nico Marky call it two more years Uh at a minimum there is a value to getting Quinn here sooner than later but I am not gonna sacrifice tons of pieces and mortgage part of the future to get him here sooner if we could get him for completely free in two years And so that’s another interesting thing to keep an eye on But we’ll see guys We will see The first step was freeing up Paula’s money and now everyone’s looking at Palot And then again with the potential trades I think Mercer is a guy a lot of teams would want potentially Douggee but I don’t think it’s his time yet And then obviously the other pieces that everyone’s going to be looking at from other teams if we’re trying to make a trade is going to be the young kid defenseman Nemets and Casey I would hate to lose either one of them I think they’re both going to have great NHL careers but if you realistically look at the roster we have a good amount of defenseman and we desperately need help up front And so you would you know come to the conclusion that okay it’s time to use some of our defensive chips to bring in some offense And I do think Nemitz and Casey both would be super valuable in a trade And I think one of those or both of those guys would be targeted by tons of teams So when you look at the whole chessboard of the New Jersey Devils offseason there’s a lot of potential There’s a lot of potential especially if Palot gets dealt that would free up an extra six million bucks And then when you take into consideration some of the trade pieces we have it could get real interesting I am not expecting like a a big move I hope I’m wrong I hope Fitz really goes for an impact player or two again especially a top six winger My expectations are sort of low at the moment But if Palot in fact does get dealt anytime soon I would be a little more optimistic because then we have some more money to play with and probably could land a guy But there’s a ton of guys in free agency tons of guys being rumored in trades And so I do think there is plenty of ways for Fitz to improve this roster But we will have to see But it seems like he’s trying to do what he said He said the group was not good enough We’re not coming back with the same team and so how different will it be Only time will tell Uh I’m hoping he keeps making moves and can bring in some impact players But we need a top six winger for sure For sure Would love to see it But I said a lot in this video Let me know what you guys thought about anything I said in this video Anything everything New Jersey Devils throw it out there in the comments Who would you guys like to see the Devils trade for or sign in free agency a lot of you guys are throwing out names left and right I’ll have a bunch more videos coming out in the next couple weeks regarding free agency Um you know and all that fun stuff I’ll probably do a live for the draft which is next week There’s tons of stuff This is kind of the apex of the offseason Now after the cup gets skated you have a week or two leading up to the draft free agency and then it kind of calms down again in mid July until training camp and stuff like that But throw it all out there in the comments I enjoy talking to all of you That’s all I got for now but I will be back soon Thank you all for watching I love you all Like comment subscribe and all that jazz Until next time friends Let’s go Jam

The NJ Devils Offseason is underway. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald is looking to revamp his team for the 2025-26 NHL Season:

– The offseason began with signing Juho Lammikko, who has played in Switzerland for the last 3 seasons.

– Erik Haula was traded to the Nashville Predators, freeing up $3.15M in cap space.

– Who else could be moved to free up more cap space?

– Could the NJ Devils be active in the trade market?

– What New Jersey Devils pieces do I think would be most likely to be traded?

– Is any of this connected to Quinn Hughes?

I discuss all of this and more in this video.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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