NHL Rumors: Status of Dougie Hamilton Playing A Role in What the Devils Do

And before any trade can be done, Tom Fitzgerald has to factor that into account before he can go out and get someone. Right now, according to CapFriendly.com the Devils have $896,138 in cap space.

That is not a lot of room to add a player. Especially a defenseman or even a goaltender. But if Dougie Hamilton is on LTIR, then the Devils have $9 million to play with. That a big difference.

Again, the emergence of Šimon Němec, (more on him in another article), has given the Devils time to look over the market and determine what their needs really are. Not to mention it gives them a better idea of the recovery timeline for Hamilton.

We know the Devils targeted Calgary Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov before he was traded from Calgary to Vancouver. Zadorov was a target for the Devils, however, they needed the Flames to retain salary, which would cost the Devils more to give up. Again even before the Hamilton injury, the Devils needed help from clubs to make deals happen.

New Jersey is still looking inside the Flames organization for help. They have Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev.  Tanev is another target for the Devils. The rugged defenseman is exactly what the Devils need. He is a stay at home defenseman, who is physical in front of his own net, block shots, and plays on the penalty kill. But the Flames are in no rush to move him given the way they are playing.

Outside of Tanev, who multiple teams have interest in, where could the Devils find solutions.

The Devils could look to their divisional rival the Philadelphia Flyers, who have a steady defenseman in Sean Walker. However, Walker is going to cost the Devils at least a first round pick to get, maybe a second closer to the deadline. And do the Flyers want to make a trade with a team in their division in another question. Walker has a reasonable cap hit at $2.65 million, so there is flexibility there.

Another name is Ilya Lyubushkin from the Anaheim Ducks. Lyubushkin is interesting because you have seen with Anaheim, Toronto, Arizona, and Buffalo, he is a physical defenseman, something the Devils need. They need a physical presence on defense as they get pushed around too easily. As Full Press Hockey has documented.

Like Walker, Lyubushkin is a cheaper option with a $2.75 million cap hit. Again the Devils from the start of the season needed someone to pair with Luke Hughes like we saw in Ottawa when Erik Karlsson had Marc Methot.

Outside of those two there not many other options. Tyson Barrie of Nashville or Ethan Bear. However, Barrie is similar to Hanifin and the Devils have those type of players in Luke Hughes and Němec.

Not to mention the Devils are looking at goalies as well. But they will need help their as well. Especially if they go after John Gibson of Anaheim. Gibson has a couple of years left on his deal that carries a cap hit of $6.4 million. Again how much is Anaheim willing to retain?

And the Devils will have to give someone up like a Dawson Mercer or Alexander Holtz plus a first round pick to get him. The Devils have a deep prospect pool as well, so they can tap into that. However, Gibson has a modified no-trade clause as well, so that complicates things too.

And looking at the market are there upgrades out there to the position. Jake Allen? No. Juuse Saros? Is he staying in Nashville or not?

Again, things are complicated for the Devils to make a trade right now. New Jersey needs help, and teams may not be willing to throw them a lifeline.

The best thing for the Devils to do is play better defense as Tom Fitzgerald and Lindy Ruff have wanted from the start. At least that gives them time to figure the status of Dougie Hamilton long-term.