The New Jersey Devils are an interesting team at the NHL Trade Deadline. President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald placed Evgenii Dadonov, Luke Glendening, and Maxim Tsyplakov on waivers on Thursday. With about $2.9 million in the current position, the additional $4 million in power gives him about $7 million in position to reposition the underperforming system.
Fitzgerald is trying to make a hockey trade that could improve the roster. This team has done a little bit, but they are missing pieces especially up front. Whether it’s a center where Jack Hughes can move to the wing, or bringing in a goaltender he didn’t trade for in the Tyler Toffoli trade.
They were reportedly playing with Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland before he faced the Columbus Blue Jackets. Garland to New Jersey was impossible. The Devils were bottom of the division. Also, did the Devils want to take a player who is about to sign a new six-year extension at $6 million AAV with trade protection?
If the Devils are going to do anything, it’s likely to add a young player to grow with the team. But it would be at Simon Nemec’s expense. As TSN’s Pierre LeBrun told Insider Trading, when asked about the Devils Nemec trade potential.
The New Jersey Devils talked to teams all week about Nemec, the second pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, LeBrun said. The only way they can go down this path and make a blockbuster is if they take the type of first line forward, preferably a center, who can expand their forward group. That’s what the teams ask, that’s what the teams notice. It would be easier to call the teams that didn’t call than the ones that called because it’s rare to have a guy like that on the market.”
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On Friday morning, LeBrun spoke twice about Nemec and the Devils looking for a top-six forward.
The Devils continue to listen to Simon Nemec, who needs a new contract this offseason. New Jersey will only move him to the right package for the team’s 6-touch young forward.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 6, 2026
Can the Devils play St. Louis? Louis Blues and forward Jordan Kyrou? That would be the kind of move the Devils want to make at the deadline.
As for Simon Nemec, who is a restricted free agent at the end of the season. So the Devils have control. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, he has switched agents from JP Barry at CAA to Craig Oster in Newport. It is believed to have happened recently. Nemec needs a new contract, and Fitzgerald’s comments about the contract extension were not a permanent guarantee.
“Well, you need a contract,” Fitzgerald said. “When that comes in again, that’s part of my job, but it’s not for today.”
As LeBrun noted on TSN’s Insider Trading, Nemec could start with Luke Hughes’ extension signed earlier in the season as the starter.
“His deal is good at the end of the year, and you saw what kind of contract Luke Hughes signed last year, it wasn’t an easy negotiation, I tell you, Simon Nemec and his camp might start with that comparison and say well ‘we want a big contract again.’
However, if Nemec doesn’t leave by Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline, this could happen in the June Draft or during Free Agency. Nemec wants a bigger role and has shown that he can handle those minutes.
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It will be interesting to see if the Devils move on from this promising young player. In addition, they have defenders like Jonas Siegenthaler, Brenden Dillon, Dougie Hamilton, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Paul Cotter on the market.
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