Devils Looking To Move Palat To Free Up Cap Space for Scoring Help

The New Jersey Devils want to trade Ondrej Palat and his $6 million yearly deal. They've talked with three teams: San Jose, Anaheim, and Chicago.

After Carolina knocked them out of the playoffs in five quick games, the Devils started making moves. Instead of buying out Palat's $12 million contract, they're hunting for a team to take it on.

The Ducks might work best as trading partners. They've got Cutter Gauthier, a young left wing who scored 20 times and helped set up 24 more goals last year. The 22-year-old shows grit, too: he blocked 51 shots, threw 68 hits, and stole the puck 22 times.

From San Jose, the Devils might get back Shakir Mukhamadullin, their old draft pick. He's a tough defender with a hard shot that makes scoring chances.

The Blackhawks don't offer much except Artyom Levshunov on defense and two goalies, Arvid Soderblom and Spencer Knight. Any deal with Chicago might need draft picks to work.

A team taking Palat might split his pay, taking $3 million of the yearly cost. Tom Fitzgerald, who runs the Devils, might need to sweeten any deal with extra players.

The Devils struggled to put pucks in the net last year, getting shut out too often. Now they want scorers like Tyler Toffoli or Ryan Donato to fix that problem.

Down in Utica and New Jersey, Lenni Hameenaho and Arseni Gritsyuk wait for their chance to help score goals.