Although the New Jersey Devils lost to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night the mood for the evening started off in a celebratory tone. It was when the franchise inducted former forward John MacLean into their ring of honor in a pregame ceremony. Not in attendance for that ceremony was Ondrej Palat who was left out of the lineup for roster related reasons.
Sometime after first puck drop the news broke that Palat was traded, along with draft picks, to the nearby New York Islanders for Maxim Tsyplakov with no salary retained. Palat never lived up to the large contract he signed with New Jersey after winning two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He still signed with a $6 million average annual value until 2027.
Clearing cap space was a priority for general manager Tom Fitzgerald. It had to be. Lack of cap space was rumored to be what derailed the almost “destined by fate” trade for Quinn Hughes when he was sent to the Minnesota Wild instead. Another contract that the Devils tried to move was defensemen Dougie Hamilton. Being benched a game Hamilton seemingly lit a fire under the $9 million a year defenseman. Entering play on Wednesday Hamilton had the NHL’s longest active point streak at nine games.
Retaining no salary was seen as a major win for the Devils, but can we really consider this trade a win for Fitzgerald? Yes it solved a problem (Bleacher Report gave the Devils an A- grade for the trade). This was also a problem of Fitzgerald own creation by signing a contract with a price tag that almost always seemed doomed to fail. Adding to the fact Fitzgerald gave out with these contract with no movement clauses (the aforementioned Hamilton is in the same boat) created a recipe for disaster.
Should Fitzgerald get credit for fixing a mistake he made in the first place? Fitzgerald didn’t inherit the Palat contract. If it was we would give him the sympathy of having to clean up this mess. It was all his own doing. Even immediate reaction from the 2022 offseason when Palat signed as a free agent showed concern over the contract value and length. Palat’s play got him to the point he was borderline unplayable some nights with fans calling for his benching at times.
Had this deal happened two months ago when the Devils could have used that cap space in pursuit of reuniting all three Hughes brothers it might have been a lot better. The Palat trade being the stepping stone to getting Quinn Hughes in a Devils jersey would have been turning a negative into a positive for the team. Does having this cap space now really clear up New Jersey’s status as the trade deadline approaches? They’re still outside looking in on a playoff spot and the outlook for the season was much more optimistic when the Vancouver Canucks were wheeling and dealing Quinn that it is now.
It might be too little too late. It was a problem that should have never gone one for this long. The way it held the team back should not be ignored. In the near future they might face a similar scenario with Hamilton (while Luke Hughes remains out with injury Hamilton should safely be in the lineup). Let it be a cautionary tale for Fitzgerald and other general managers. We’ll hold off on giving him credit for fixing his own Frankenstein’s monster of roster management.