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New Jersey Devils Still Have Flexibility To Add |
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When the New Jersey Devils traded for Marc Savard's contract many looked at that as a sign they wouldn't be overly active adding to the team this summer.
While I understand the train of thought - taking on a $4 million cap hit in exchange for a draft pick doesn't make sense if you're planning a spending spree - the Devils still have plenty of flexibility, as
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman mentioned in the latest edition of 30 Thoughts.
Some Devils fans worried adding Savard removed their team’s dexterity, but that’s not the case. Even if New Jersey hits the ceiling, it will have almost $9M in injury relief with Ryane Clowe and Savard. You can also go 10 per cent over the ceiling in the summer.
The Devils currently have just under $28 million in cap space. As Friedman mentioned, they can go over the cap 10% during the summer and ~$9 million will come off the books when Clowe and Savard hit long-term injured reserve.
There are a lot of players in need of new contracts - the Devils only have five forwards (Pavel Zacha included) and four defensemen signed - but not a lot of them will make significant money on their next deals.
Beyond Kyle Palmieri, who is in line for a big raise, Patrik Elias (if re-signed) is the only player that would warrant more than $2 million on his next contract.
In other words the Devils will be able to fill some of their holes in a cheap manner, which should leave a decent chunk of change to improve their roster.
Ray Shero was never going to head into free agency and blindly throw money at anyone willing to come to New Jersey, but that doesn't mean he'll be inactive all together.
He knows the Devils need to add scoring, among other things, and I fully expect him to do just that.
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