{"id":443550,"date":"2026-02-03T16:45:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/443550\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T16:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:45:18","slug":"what-to-do-with-new-cap-space-after-palat-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/443550\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Do With New Cap Space After Palat Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

What should GM Tom Fitzgerald do with the cap space he created in the Ondrej Palat<\/a> New Jersey Devils<\/a> trade?<\/p>\n

After sending Palat and picks to the New York Islanders in exchange for Maxim Tsyplakov, the Devils now have a touch under $7 million freed up, with $6,887,500 in cap space.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard numerous times this season that Fitzgerald is working the phones. So, what\u2019s the next move?<\/p>\n

Senior reporter Arthur Staple joined the latest Devils Rink Report<\/a> to discuss what New Jersey should do with the cap space freed up by trading Palat to the Islanders, urging Fitzgerald to go further by moving Dougie Hamilton<\/a>\u2019s contract to enable a roster overhaul\u2014even as the playoff gap widens in early February 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the fact that there\u2019s more on the table here and the pressure that Tom Fitzgerald is under to turn this thing around, even if it\u2019s not this season, because we\u2019re getting into territory now,\u201d Staple said.<\/p>\n

The Devils currently sit eight points out of the playoff picture. They\u2019re chasing the Islanders who are third in the Metropolitan Division, and play them later this week. Depending on how the Devils look after their two-game homestand before the 2026 Olympic break could determine the route they take.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially with these next two games and the last one before the break being against the Islanders, if they only get one or two or even three points out of this, with all the teams you have to climb over, and the gap between the cut line is getting pretty wide. Now, we always talk about, well, \u2018The traditional thing to look at is if you are four points or more out at Thanksgiving.\u2019 Well, we are way past Thanksgiving now, and we\u2019re getting into six-to-eight-point separation. So it\u2019s desperation time for the Devils.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the Devils cleared up some cap room by moving Palat, they can create even more space for themselves by moving Hamilton, too. Those discussions have cooled after comments with his agent went public. Yet, if the Devils continue their descending trend, why not move him for the bigger picture?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m interested to see what Tom Fitzgerald can do with this space, whether he wants to create more space. You know, Dougie [Hamilton] has obviously been playing lights out since the scratch, and the rumor mill seems to have calmed a bit. To me, I\u2019m not quite sure if I understand that. I think you still need to transform this team, and the way to do that is to move one of the biggest contracts that you can move, and that\u2019s Dougie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Luke Hughes<\/a>\u2019 injury, Staple advocated for action now. The goal transcends this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you know, obviously the injury to Luke Hughes, who knows how long that\u2019s going to go on. But I still kind of feel like, if you\u2019re going to take a big swing, you do it now, ahead of the deadline. You try your hardest to know that transformation that you felt like you needed to stop this two-plus-month slide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it saves this season or not, whether it even saves Fitzgerald\u2019s job or not. I think that\u2019s still the mandate. He wanted to make a big splash. It didn\u2019t happen with Quinn Hughes<\/a>. It didn\u2019t happen with all the other rumored guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

A blockbuster deal for the Devils probably died when Quinn was traded to the Minnesota Wild. However, Staple suggested a target like Ryan O\u2019Reilly is a viable one with the extra room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not going to blow it out of the water, you could still say Ryan O\u2019Reilly is someone that they can fit now under the cap and also would be a pretty big change for this forward group, especially now. And I know, you know they\u2019re saying Jack [Hughes\u2019] injury is not serious. But you still need centers. You still need guys who are winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve just taken one guy in Ondrej Palat off your books [trading him to the Islanders]. Maybe O\u2019Reilly is too similar to bring him straight in, but I still feel like he\u2019s someone who can contribute, can bring the room together. This is a group that just seems like it needs a big bucket of cold water thrown on it at the moment in some possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald\u2019s job will certainly be evaluated by Devils ownership this summer. What he does between now and then could make or break his security.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd like I said, I don\u2019t know if it can save this season, but it can save some jobs, and it could save some people\u2019s reputations going into 2026-27 at the very least.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tJames is a fully credentialed New Jersey Devils beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now on Sportsnaut and the … More about James Nichols<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What should GM Tom Fitzgerald do with the cap space he created in the Ondrej Palat New Jersey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[201,3723,54059,1294,5,576,151,5185,5184,4,1768],"class_list":{"0":"post-443550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-devils-news","10":"tag-devils-trade-talk","11":"tag-dougie-hamilton","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-new-jersey","14":"tag-new-jersey-devils","15":"tag-newjersey","16":"tag-newjerseydevils","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-ondrej-palat"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116007713248244528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}