Where do the 2025 New Jersey Devils go from here?

It would be easy for the Devils to chalk this up as "just one of those years."

They came in with a lot of aspirations, of course, but long-term injuries to Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes put a damper on their regular season, and then Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon got hurt in the playoffs. If you're missing two of your best players for months at a time, then two or three defensemen in the playoffs, there's not really a lot you can do but say, "It happens."

If they were to run it back with more or less this exact lineup next year, and hopefully just get something close to the full 82 from their best players, they could maybe count on a solid playoff run. The good news is, basically all of their important (and expensive) players are signed next year and beyond, and all eight of their pending unrestricted free agents make less than $2 million and seem fairly replaceable.

The bad news? Even if they want to move some of their more expensive players for any reason — Ondrej Palat being a prime candidate here — 11 of the 19 players signed to the roster have some form of movement protection.

But let's start, first, with the UFAs: Tomas Tatar, Nathan Bastian, Curtis Lazar, Daniel Sprong, Justin Dowling, Brian Dumoulin, and Jake Allen. Again, none of these guys cost the Devils more than $2 million against the cap, and if you want to bring a few of them — like Sprong, Bastian, Tatar, and especially Allen — back on similar deals, that shouldn't be a problem. But the rest of these guys were net negatives or replacement-level, and letting them hit the market would be a perfectly reasonable course of action. Frankly, with almost 20 guys signed for next season, there isn't a ton that needs to be done on the UFA front one way or the other, and even with Allen, who was quite good in a kind of super-backup role this season (31 appearances), it might be put-up-or-shut-up time with Nico Daws, who's signed for next season at just over $800,000.

But that "now's the time" feeling applies to a couple of the team's restricted free agents as well. At 24 years old, it's starting to feel like Nolan Foote is a "first call-up" guy and not an NHL player, and his contract will likely reflect that. The same applies, to a lesser extent, to Cody Glass. There's no question Glass is an NHLer, but is he the kind of guy you give a $3-million AAV for multiple years, or do you take it more one season at a time? That's something the Devils have to figure out for themselves.

(You could also ask a lot of questions about Simon Nemec, who is signed for next year, but at this point it seems like it's just not gonna work. Wouldn't be surprised if they trade him, nor if they keep him as one last attempt to get him to live up to the hype.)

The Devils currently have a little over $12 million in cap space, and don't really need to add too much to a roster that, when healthy, I think everyone agrees is at least "very good, but maybe not quite ready to compete at the highest level." So this all seems pretty straightforward, but I frankly don't think the Devils are just going to accept getting steamrolled by a clearly superior Carolina team in the first round as "one of those things," and I expect them to be a little more aggressive than that.

Palat is maybe the obvious trade target in the league this summer, making $6 million against the cap for the next two years, and he was well below replacement level this season. Not sure who would want him, even if the Devils eat some money (I wouldn't do half, but…), because at age 34, he seems to be pretty much cooked. He also has a 10-team no-trade list, which makes it a bit tougher, but as we've seen with other teams, that kind of thing can be cajoled.

Meanwhile, a buyout would cost the Devils about $3.5 million against the cap this season and $2.5 million the next, but once it gets to 2027-28, it's down under $1.5 million for the next two years. I think a lot of teams aren't thrilled with having to do buyouts, but sometimes circumstances force your hand.

Moving on from Palat would free up some money and a roster spot, with which they could target either a mid-tier UFA or perhaps a more tantalizing talent on the trade market.

There's also, I expect, some concern about what Jacob Markstrom can do for them. He has one more year on his current deal ($4.125-million AAV) and a full no-move clause, and is 35 years old coming off a solid but not outstanding season. There needs to be a contingency plan in place, even if they bring back Allen, because one thing the Devils can't afford to do with an exciting young core is have another replay of the previous few years when no one had any clue what kind of goaltending they would get from one game to the next.

So it's not like there's no work to do here, but all the stuff they might do seems cut and dried. A little maintenance, a couple swap-outs, and try it again next year, hoping against hope that Jack Hughes can stay healthy.