What are the Devils’ plans after freeing up cap space with Palat trade?

While many believe the New Jersey Devils were “sellers” in a recent trade, they now have a little bit of money to play with.

On Tuesday, the Devils traded forward Ondrej Palat, along with a couple of draft picks, to the New York Islanders in exchange for Maxim Tsyplakov. With the move, New Jersey gains $3.75 million of cap space for the rest of the season, something they could utilize as they close in on the trade deadline.

Now, the Devils have had a tough season. Injuries have plagued the roster for much of the year, leading the team to fall further and further out of a playoff spot. However, with some money at their disposal, the Devils could, theoretically, go out and find some useful talent to improve their roster.

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, David Pagnotta joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to discuss what the Devils could do next.

David Pagnotta: Well, it’s another team that needs goal scoring. If you look at them on paper, they should have that. But it hasn’t come in abundance for them this season. You move out Palat, give him a fresh start or a restart anyway with the Isles. You free up some cap space. It gives them flexibility. Now, I don’t think they’re done in that department. … Things may have cooled down a little bit with respect to Dougie Hamilton after Luke Hughes has been knocked out, but I’m not sure that they’re going to just say, ‘No, forget about it, we’re going to hold on to him until the summer.’

Now, some teams may prefer that, because he’s got that $7.4 million bonus that kicks in July 1. But honestly, I think there’s still a possibility that they go in that direction. In terms of what they need, they need somebody to help with the puck in the net. With how their season has gone, I don’t know if they’re going big-game hunting now. This might be summer. I don’t know if a small-term fix helps for them. But I think [GM Tom Fitzgerald] is looking around to see what his options really are.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…