The New Jersey Devils entered the 2018 offseason and unrestricted free agency period with plenty of salary-cap space to spend serious money and make headlines across the NHL on Sunday, July 1. In fact, the team had over $20 million in cap space entering one of the NHL’s more anticipated days on the year.
Though, general manager Ray Shero and company didn’t make any significant signings, but the team was probably better off not overpaying for a number of skaters that Jersey’s fans may have wanted to Devils to acquire.
While New Jersey was a pleasant surprise last season and clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2012, the reality is that the Devils are still in a rebuild and need to stay on course for developing younger skaters at the NHL level.