Devils Rumors: 2 Players With Trade Protection Who Could Be Dealt

The New Jersey Devils were one of the teams in the mix and that made an offer for Quinn Hughes, but the Minnesota Wild landed the star defenseman. That doesn't mean the Devils aren't going to continue trying to upgrade, but there are two players they can do without who are taking up a lot of cap space. Unfortunately, they have trade protection, so it's tougher to move them.

Elliotte Friedman said, "Ondrej Palat is the one I think a lot of people are talking about, but he has protection, and I think Dougie Hamilton is another one. He has some protection."

Palat's deal has looked very bad for most of the duration, and he still has another year left on it at $6 million AAV. The 34-year-old has two goals and five points in 31 games, but with Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, and Evgenii Dadonov all out, it forces the Devils to move Palat up the lineup.

Palat's contract turned from a no-trade clause to a 10-team trade list this year, but that is still pretty limiting considering the teams he probably has on the list that he can be traded to. It's unlikely that too many bad teams willing to take on money or bad contracts are in his 10, but they could get lucky. If the Devils want to be a contender, Palat can't be on the team with how little he is contributing on his contract.

In the meantime, it seems like Hamilton has been very quickly passed over as the offensive go-to's on the team. The two young Devils' defensemen, Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, have taken on that role. Hamilton has four goals and eight points in 27 games while the other two are sitting at 17 and 18 points and swapping in on the top power play.

Hamilton still plays over 21 minutes per game, but when Brett Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic return, one of the everyday defensemen will be out of the lineup, and there's still Seamus Casey ready to be in the NHL lineup full time. Hamilton has two more years left on his contract at $9 million AAV after this season and also has a modified no-trade clause where he can be dealt to 10 teams. This one will be a little easier, but also not a breeze to pull off.