Now, obviously we know the Boston bruins are in an ever so slight bind due to salary cap constraints and the desperate need to ensure that they can keep Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo with the team long-term. The blatantly obvious way to do so is to rid themselves of David Backes and his $6 million cap hit.
The New Jersey Devils, by comparison, have $18 million going spare with just a few restricted free agents to tie up; none of which is going to cause too much damage. Their key concern would be ensuring they maintain enough cap space next season with new contracts required by Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier and Wayne Simmonds among others.