Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Metropolitan Division, next up are the Devils.
New Jersey Devils
Current Cap Hit: $89,368,333 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
D Seamus Casey (two years, $950K)
F Arseni Gritsyuk (one year, $925K)
D Simon Nemec (one year, $918.3K)
Potential Bonuses
Casey: $350K
Gritsyuk: $500K
Nemec: $3.25MM
Total: $1.1MM
Gritsyuk has come over after some productive seasons in the KHL to ideally deepen their attack offensively. His contract has a November 15th European Assignment Clause so even if he starts in the minors with Utica, he can’t stay there for long. If he can stick with New Jersey full time, he could have a chance of getting at least one of his ‘A’ bonuses.
Casey was quite productive in a limited stint with the Devils last season where he had eight points in 14 games while producing at a similar per-game rate with Utica. He could be viewed as a regular this season or could be the first recall with the latter making his bonuses unlikely and likely moving him toward a bridge deal in 2027. Nemec saw very limited time with New Jersey, instead spending a big chunk of the season with the Comets, an outcome he wasn’t too pleased with. He’s likely to fill a depth role if he’s up with the big club which makes his $1MM in ‘A’ bonuses unlikely. A short-term second contract makes sense for both sides; if Nemec can lock down a regular role this season, it could land around the $2MM mark.
Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level
F Paul Cotter ($775K, RFA)
F Evgenii Dadonov ($1MM, UFA)
G Nico Daws ($812.5K, RFA)
F Juho Lammikko ($800K, UFA)
G Jacob Markstrom ($4.125MM, UFA)*
*-Calgary is retaining an additional $1.875MM of Markstrom’s contract
Potential Bonuses
Dadonov: $2.25MM
Dadonov provided Dallas with some solid secondary scoring last season, notching 20 goals and 20 assists despite playing less than 14 minutes a night. However, given his age (36), his offers were bonus-laden. He can hit $1.25MM of those by simply reaching 50 games (250K for each ten) with some additional incentives unlockable by team playoff success. Given that Dadonov acknowledged his offers were similar to this one, it’s safe to say that this type of structure will likely be what he receives moving forward as well.
Lammikko spent the last three years in Switzerland but was brought back to North America with a one-way deal. He’s likely to battle for a spot on the fourth line and when you factor in his performance in his first stint in the NHL, there could be a bit of room to grow the contract but he’s likely to stay around the $1MM mark next time out. Cotter potted 16 goals last season despite being in the bottom six while being one of the more physical players in the league. That type of output will look good in an arbitration hearing and while they’re not direct comparables, it wouldn’t be shocking if his camp was eyeing the $3MM per season that Columbus gave to Mathieu Olivier a few months ago.
Markstrom had a solid first season in New Jersey, helping to stabilize a position that had its challenges before then. However, he’ll be 36 when his next deal kicks in. A three-year deal might be doable but it’d be surprising to see him land around the $8MM mark that some other proven starters have received. A small raise on his full cap hit could be doable though. Daws projects to be the third goalie but it would be surprising to see him get through waivers unclaimed so if the Devils don’t want to risk it, they’ll have to keep him up with the big club. If that happens and his playing time is limited, he might not be able to command much more than his $892.5K qualifying offer.
Signed Through 2026-27
D Brenden Dillon ($4MM, UFA)
F Cody Glass ($2.5MM, UFA)
F Nico Hischier ($7.25MM, UFA)
F/D Kurtis MacDermid ($1.15MM, UFA)
F Dawson Mercer ($4MM, RFA)
F Stefan Noesen ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Ondrej Palat ($6MM, UFA)
Hischier’s contract looked a little risky when it was first signed as he was coming off a 47-point sophomore season. While expectations were still high for the first-overall pick, this deal wouldn’t have aged well if the offense didn’t come around. But it did do just that as he has become one of the top defensive centers in the NHL while reaching the 60-point mark in four straight seasons. Since Hischier started in the NHL at 18, he’ll only be 28 when his next contract begins, meaning he’s a strong candidate for another max-term pact, seven years with New Jersey or six elsewhere. A sizable raise should be coming his way as he could push past the $9MM mark on his next contract.
Palat’s contract simply hasn’t worked out as planned. Signed to be a secondary scorer, he instead has seen his per-game output drop to the lowest rates of his career with a corresponding drop in ice time to under 14 minutes per game. Assuming that trend continues, he’s someone they might be looking to incentivize a team to take while a buyout could be on the table next summer as well. Palat still has some value but his market rate is less than half of what he’s making. It wasn’t that long ago that Mercer looked like a can’t-move core piece but his output has tailed off the last two seasons as well. After putting up 56 points in his sophomore year, he has only put up 33 and 36 since then. He’ll be owed a $4.25MM qualifying offer two years from now with arbitration rights but as things stand, he’d be hard-pressed to land any sort of notable raise.
Noesen parlayed a pair of quietly efficient seasons in Carolina into this deal, one that more than doubled his career earnings. The early return looks positive as he’s coming off a career year and played higher up the lineup than he did with the Hurricanes. If this continues, he could push more toward the $4MM range next time. New Jersey originally didn’t plan to re-sign Glass but assessed what the center market was going to look like and ultimately brought him back. He has shown flashes of top-six upside but has largely been a bottom-six option in his career, meaning that this is the price range he’ll continue to be in unless he can break through offensively. MacDermid has sparsely played in recent years and when he has suited up, playing time has been minimal. While they’d like to keep an enforcer around, he’s also a candidate to be waived if they need more money to re-sign a certain restricted free agent that we’ll get to shortly. Given his limited usage, he might be closer to the minimum salary on his next contract.
Dillon was his usual self in his first season with New Jersey. He was last in ATOI among full-time blueliners but still logged right around his career average in playing time. He killed penalties, blocked shots, and played with physicality and as we’ve seen in recent years, that profile is starting to cost more. However, Dillon will be turning 37 early in his next contract so he could be in a spot like Dadonov where he’ll have to go year-to-year moving forward.
Signed Through 2027-28
D Dougie Hamilton ($9MM, UFA)
D Jonas Siegenthaler ($3.4MM, UFA)
In his prime, Hamilton was a premier offensive defender. He’s not in his prime now but is still an above-average one, albeit one who has dealt with some injury issues the last couple of years. No longer a top-pairing player, his contract skews toward the above-market side and will likely remain there for the next three years. By the time he hits the open market again at 35, his price tag might be closer to half of this amount. Siegenthaler has been a reliable stay-at-home player in New Jersey but, like Hamilton, has had some injury issues. He’ll need to stay healthier moving forward if he wants to push past the $4MM mark on his next contract.
Signed Through 2028-29
F Connor Brown ($3MM, UFA)
Brown’s decision to spend a second season in Edmonton was a wise one as he had a 30-point effort and a strong playoff run, helping him earn a contract larger and longer than many expected. If he stays around the 30-point mark, that production, coupled with his capable defensive game, should be enough to give the Devils at least a reasonable return on this deal.
Signed Through 2029-30 Or Longer
G Jake Allen ($1.8MM through 2029-30)
F Jesper Bratt ($7.875MM through 2030-31)
F Jack Hughes ($8MM through 2029-30)
D Johnathan Kovacevic ($4MM through 2029-30)
F Timo Meier ($8.8MM through 2030-31)
D Brett Pesce ($5.5MM through 2029-30)
The Devils paid a high price for Meier, both in terms of the contract and what they gave up to get him from San Jose a little more than two years ago. The early returns haven’t been great. While he notched 40 goals in 2022-23, he hasn’t reached 30 in the two years since then, nor has he even reached 55 points. He’s producing more like a second liner while being paid like a top liner which isn’t ideal, even with the premium that teams often have to pay for power forwards with any sort of good offensive track record. But even with that, this probably isn’t viewed as a significant overpayment by other teams given the scarcity of players like him in the league. It’s never going to be a positive-value contract but it shouldn’t be an issue for New Jersey.
Hughes, on the other hand, has been a value deal for a little while already and projects to be so for the remaining five seasons. He’s a legitimate high-end talent making lower-end top-line money while playing a premium position. The best may still be yet to come too. Depending on how he and the cap progress over the next half-decade, it’s not unfathomable that he could come close to doubling this price in 2030. Bratt has been a consistent top-line producer for four years now, averaging just under a point per game over that span while being a solid defensive winger as well. And yet, he still arguably flies under the radar. Right now, this is a fair-market contract if not a small bargain; it will become more of a bargain as the cap continues to rise.
Pesce is one of the few true shutdown defensemen to get a big contract on the open market, coming over last summer from Carolina. His offensive game has tailed off a bit the last couple of years but he’s a strong enough defensive player to provide them with solid value for at least the next few seasons. Kovacevic was a low-cost pickup from Montreal last summer and completely exceeded expectations, going from a projected role player to an every-game core defender. He signed this extension early and given how few options there were in free agency, he ultimately might have left money on the table in doing so.
Allen was expected to be the top goalie available in a weak free agent class at that position but signed just before the market opened up. Five years is a risk considering he turns 35 later this week but they’re also going to get him at a below-market price for a while. The last year or two could be a problem but Allen should provide lots of surplus value in the first few seasons to make up for it.
Still To Sign
The Devils would undoubtedly like to sign Hughes to a max-term deal. However, the price tag for such an agreement would likely push past his brother’s $8MM AAV and that’s something they simply don’t have the cap space for, short of carrying a smaller roster when everyone’s healthy. (Starting Kovacevic on LTIR could buy them some short-term flexibility if nothing else.) But if they don’t want to carry closer to the minimum number of skaters or cut anyone else off the roster, a short-term bridge deal might be what they have to work out. Even that contract would take up the bulk of their remaining cap space.
Buyouts
None
Retained Salary Transactions
None
Carryover Bonus Overage Penalty
$1MM
Best Value: (non-entry-level) J. Hughes
Worst Value: Palat
Looking Ahead
GM Tom Fitzgerald has his work cut out for him over the next few weeks. Can he find a way to open up some cap space, allowing him to sign the younger Hughes to a longer-term deal or will they have to bridge him? Either way, the end result isn’t likely to yield much spendable cap space, putting them in a spot where they might be hard-pressed to do much at the trade deadline while also setting themselves up for a bigger bonus overage penalty next year, assuming Dadonov stays healthy.
The flexibility should be opening up soon enough. They have around $24MM in space for 2026-27, a number that obviously will go down when Hughes signs but that’s enough room to keep Markstrom and keep the rest of the core intact. But for 2027-28, they have more than $62MM in flexibility. That will be the time that Fitzgerald can really start to reshape his roster if he sees fit. It’ll be tight for a little while yet but more breathing room on the cap side is coming.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire and Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.