Implications of the Erik Haula Trade

The Devils executed their first trade of the 2025 off-season; what does it mean moving forward?

With just one week remaining until the NHL Entry Draft and NHL free agency, things are going to start to pick up around the league in terms of rumors, trades, and signings. From now until July 1 (and of course, thereafter), I’ll be hard at work going in-depth on all things New Jersey Devils. From draft targets to trade targets and everything in between, I’ve got you covered to the best of my abilities.

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Yesterday, the Devils made their first off-season move, sending 12-year-NHL-veteran Erik Haula to the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick and defense prospect Jeremy Hanzel. The Devils were able to shed Haula’s full $3.15 million cap hit from the books, escaping any retention in the trade. He also waived his NTC early to get the deal done.

To me, acquiring assets at all for what should have been regarded as a pure cap dump instead of a meaningful acquisition by the Predators was a huge win. Hell, if the Devils were able to get rid of that contract without sending or acquiring anything at all, it would have been a win in my book. Getting a legitimately meaningful asset out of it — the fourth-round pick — is tidy, tidy work from GM Tom Fitzgerald.

Hanzel is a nothingburger prospect who likely will never see time in anything more than a bottom-four AHL capacity. The 22-year-old left-handed defenseman has logged a total of nine games in the AHL since being drafted 187th overall in 2023, playing the majority of his time in either the WHL or ECHL. He is on the smaller end of what we as Devils fans have become accustomed to in terms of size (6’1, 196 pounds), and possesses some smarts in transition and the offensive zone, but largely needs to work on quite a few things before even thinking about taking the next step.

Again, though, acquiring anything for the 34-year-old veteran who went 28 games without a single point from November 27th through March 7th is a miracle.

This is also a clear signal that Fitzgerald and the Devils are eager to get the ball rolling with things they said they’d be doing.

It’s impossible for me to imagine this move as the sole cap dump for the season — Ondrej Palat is a near-certainty to go to another club, and I’m sure the Devils are exploring the market for $9M AAV defenseman Dougie Hamilton. If anything, the Haula dump-off gives me more reason to believe in their aggressive pursuit to clear cap space.

With Haula gone, this is what the Devils’ depth chart currently looks like, assuming that defenseman Jonathan Kovacevic starts the 2025-26 season on long-term injured reserve (LTIR):

via PuckPedia

Of course, the LD1 slot is reserved for Luke Hughes and whatever contract he ends up signing (in my opinion, a 6-8 year deal worth around $7.5 million annually), and it’s entirely possible that Cody Glass ends up as the team’s third-line center.

With the above lineup, the Devils have $13.5 million in cap space.

Let’s say, for example, that L. Hughes does sign at $7.5 million and the Devils are able to offload the Palat contract. All of a sudden, the lineup looks something like this:

via PuckPedia

With this depth chart, the Devils would theoretically have a shade under $12 million in space with several holes to fill: a top-six winger to complement Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, two third-liners (including a center), and depth on both forward and defense.

Glass’s next deal is projected to come in at three years and $2.9 million annually. With that on the books, the Devils would then have $9 million to play with.

To me, the Devils have a ton of options here:

1. Shop Dougie Hamilton, freeing up an additional $9 million, with the understanding that the puck-moving from the back-end will take a hit unless Simon Nemec takes a step forward in that department, and the Devils use some of that cap to acquire a right-handed defenseman with puck-moving abilities, like John Klingberg, Tony DeAngelo, or Ethan Bear. That, to me, would be a mistake unless the plan is to trade for that replacement instead of looking to free agency. The Devils can’t afford to not have Hamilton in the lineup if they don’t somehow supplement his puck-moving abilities.

2. Spend conservatively on the LW3 spot and depth options in order to spend somewhat big at LW1. If they’re looking for cheap options to play third-line hockey, they have Lenni Hameenaho and Nolan Foote already in the system (though they carry risk), or they can approach free agency looking for bargain-bin targets. Jakub Vrana would be my pick there. Perhaps they can even move Paul Cotter up in the lineup and get a cheap LW4 who can contribute meaningfully (Cole Koepke, maybe?). As far as depth goes, they again have options within the system at both forward (Nathan Legare, Brian Halonen) and defense (Ethan Edwards, Topias Vilen). Perhaps they bring back Daniel Sprong to play a 13F or fourth-line role.

   Either way, assuming the Devils spend under $1 million on each of the three players they presumably need spots for, that gives them over $6 million to play with for the first-line LW role. The 2025 free agent class is extraordinarily weak, so my recommendation would be to explore offer sheets or the trade market instead. Bryan Rust or Rickard Rakell, anybody?

3. Spend meaningful money on the LW3 spot and try to hunt for a deal for an LW1 in the trade market. The Devils could target a Brandon Saad type — someone who will be upwards of $2.5 million on the open market — and try and pry someone on a team-friendly deal in a trade. Alex Tuch ($4.75M), Mason Marchment ($4.5M), and Barrett Hayton ($2.65M) come to mind.

4. Send out Dawson Mercer in a trade in order to free up even more cap space, in order to pursue a bigger fish for the LW1 spot. Mercer certainly has a ton of value both in a vacuum and as a part of a package, so it would be an easy endeavor to shed his $4 million. If he were to be a part of a package, perhaps he could be sent for players like JJ Peterka, Jason Robertson, or Martin Necas. Freeing up that $4 million without including Mercer in a package would potentially shed enough cap space to pursue high-profile free agent Nikolaj Ehlers, too.

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The overarching theme here is that the Devils are going to need a bit of creativity even after shedding the Haula contract and presumably getting rid of Palat in the near future as well. I would expect an extremely active off-season (queue the “Off-season Champions!!!” and “We came in second-place” counter-arguments) for the Devils. They’re absolutely going to be in on everything and everyone. It’s been too quiet on the rumor-mill front for New Jersey for the team not to be involved.