After the New Jersey Devils season wrapped up, despite their effort in a five-game series loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, many expected a change to come for this roster in New Jersey. The Devils have begun their process of change by trading Erik Haula to the Nashville Predators for Jeremy Hanzel and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Devils Rumors: Tom Fitzgerald Working On Extending Luke Hughes
Devils President and GM Tom Fitzgerald was adamant that he was not going to bring back the same roster from a year ago. There is mounting pressure on Fitzgerald to have this team advance further in the playoffs. And to quote Fitzgerald, “We are not coming back with the same group because it was not good enough.”
Part of the reason the Devils did not have a successful season was due to their lack of depth scoring. Was this solely on Erik Haula? No, it was not, but his production has not been the same since he came over to the Devils from the Boston Bruins as part of the Pavel Zacha trade in 2022.
Erik Haula had a down year for the Devils. In 69 games this past season, he produced 21 points (11 goals and 10 assists). That is a significant drop from the 41 points (14 goals and 27 assists) he recorded in 2022-23, across 80 games, as the Devils returned to the playoffs. The following year, in 2023-24, he recorded 35 points (16 goals and 19 assists) in 76 games. But again this year, injuries and sluggish play caught up with him.
Devils Offseason: What Will New Jersey Do on Defense?
Although he scored big goals against the New York Rangers in Round 1 of 2023, including in Game 7, this is a business. Despite being a good penalty killer and faceoff man, the Devils have to change up their mix. The Devils needed cap space. Good teams look up and down their roster to find contracts that can be moved.
As expected the Devils are clearing cap space for the off-season.
Erik Haula is as one of the candidates to be moved with his $3.15 million cap hit.
Devils ship off to Nashville for Jeremy Hanzel and a 2025 4th Rd Pick
There is still more work to be done with the cap as Luke…
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) June 18, 2025
Haula had modified trade protection, which included a six-team no-trade list, according to PuckPedia.com. So this was not a move made solely for the sake of change. With the Devils being up against the salary cap, knowing they had key players to sign this off-season, including defenseman Luke Hughes. Hughes deal will eat a good portion of the cap, and Haula became a prime trade candidate.
He didn’t have much say where he wanted to go. You can imagine the trade protection included some of the teams in Canada. But moving Haula’s contract, which had one year left at $3.15 million, gives them a little bit more flexibility. However, they still have more work to do.
Devils Offseason: New Jersey Needs A Goal Scorer Not Just Depth Scoring
With the changes the Devils want to bring to this roster and the players they need to re-sign, such as Jake Allen, for instance, whom the Devils would like to bring back to pair with Jacob Markstrom. They will need to move another contract or two.
Ondrej Palat‘s contract still has two years left at $6 million a season. He has a no-movement and a 10-team no-trade clause. In addition, Dawson’s Mercer continues to be mentioned in trade talks, as he has two years remaining on his contract at $4 million.
Even now with over $14 million in cap space for next season, the Devils could also move out Kurtis MacDermid and his $1.150 million over the next two seasons as well to get even more.
One thing is for sure: Tom Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils have begun their off-season of change. The first domino was Erik Haula, with more to come.
