The Devils Stand Pat at the 2026 Trade Deadline: Why Tom Fitzgerald Did the Right Thing For Now

This may have been as quiet of a trade deadline day as possible, but it was not just the Devils.

We all knew coming into today that the New Jersey Devils were not in position to be “buyers.” They are well out of a playoff spot. The general consensus has been that the Devils were, primarily, sellers. What was odd, though, was that there was not a consistent message from reports on what direction the team would be selling in. Rumors swirled about players from Dougie Hamilton to Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnny Kovacevic to Simon Nemec. Last night, I started seeing Paul Cotter’s name floating around.

None of that came to pass. But I am not going to lie: I am not really upset with it.

I could sit here and harangue about how I think that Tom Fitzgerald is a terrible general manager and that only a fool would sit here and have done nothing for a team that has performed this poorly. I will say that I am only disappointed with Tom Fitzgerald today because he gave out so many full no-trade clauses. I think some moves that would have been very reasonable today were prevented by full no-trade clauses. But by no means am I unhappy with any player who would be unwilling to waive a no-trade clause: they have negotiated for the right to use it and I think players get too much flak when exercising those rights.

Sometimes the best decision is not to make changes for the sake of making changes. At most, I think the Devils could have pulled off some players in the first or second group of my trade target suggestions from a few days ago. I think they should still think in those terms over the offseason. They do need a few new pieces on the peripheries of the team. But I have never been of the belief that the core (that is: Hischier, J. Hughes, Bratt, Meier, and L. Hughes, maybe with Hamilton and Nemec thrown in there) is fatally flawed. So I was not really looking forward to any trades if they involved either of Hamilton or Nemec. Whether I thought Fitzgerald might end up accepting an offer below their true value or there were not any top six forward targets who I thought would be available at this point, this just did not seem like the moment for those big moves. I am glad they did not go down.

That said, allow me to defend Tom Fitzgerald on one specific Twitter rumor I saw after the deadline passed: one saying that the Sharks offered William Eklund to the Devils, which was later contradicted by James Nichols. Now, I think Sharks fans would have hated that trade, but I also don’t think it makes sense for the Devils. If you believe that Simon Nemec is going to be a top-pair caliber defenseman at the height of his career, then William Eklund is not a good enough centerpiece to look for.

Don’t get me wrong — Eklund is a good player, but he is by no means a top-line forward. He might play those minutes for the Sharks, but they are not a complete team yet. At 23 years old, producing at a 16-goal, 40 assist pace, but also playing over 19 minutes a game for second season in a row (17 goals, 41 assists in 77 games in 2024-25), I would not be able to imagine him taking a leap with the Devils, who would not be able to offer up as much ice time. If the Devils trade Nemec, they need someone who can come in and put up 30 or 40 goals and 70 or 80 points tomorrow. You might recall that Jesper Bratt took his big leap to being a 70+ point producer in his age-23 season, so Eklund is a bit behind the curve in terms of becoming an elite player.

I am concerned that the Devils are still going to trade Nemec, given Tom Fitzgerald’s post-deadline conference, which you can see above. I agree with Fitzgerald that the CBA rule change disallowing same-day double salary retention largely hurt trade deadline activity around the league, because it really was not just the Devils who were quiet today. Fitzgerald did surprise me a bit, saying that Dougie Hamilton’s name was not being put out there by him and that it was more noise than substance that he wanted to move Dougie. I am not sure that I believe him, at least not entirely, but the overall message at hand was making hockey trades and looking for more established players to help the team compete. He did admit, though, that he will be looking to “shake one of those (defensemen) loose” in the offseason, but he said that in response to a question about re-signing Nemec, in which he pointed to Nemec’s relative lack of free agency rights as reason not to worry about the situation.

Of course, only Johnny Kovacevic and Brett Pesce have full no-trade clauses on July 1, 2027. Jonas Siegenthaler, Brenden Dillon, and Dougie Hamilton will have partial clauses, while Nemec and Luke Hughes are too young and ineligible for no-trade clauses. If none of these players had trade protection, I think Kovacevic would be the easy odd man out, but he has the right to stay in New Jersey. I honestly do not think the Devils should be shy about having him as a seventh defensemen with Hamilton, Pesce, and Nemec, but I also have no issue with using Pesce as a left-side defenseman.

So, I do not think that being left-shots should alone save Siegenthaler or Dillon this offseason, though Siegenthaler is obviously much younger and a better long-term fit for this roster. Dillon, for now, has a full NTC, which changes at the start of the new league year. That change alone may be what the team is waiting for in terms of waiting for a better return while solidifying a defense that plays full-time. I think we know that Colton White is a very serviceable seventh defenseman if Fitzgerald is able to move one of those guys.

What I really do not want to see is the team moving either of Hamilton or Nemec before they have a replacement, whether that be a Hughes tri-force union or something else. There are not a lot of trade ideas I would be okay with seeing either be a part of, as the Devils defense is really hard-split between shutdown defensemen and offensive creators. Only Brett Pesce lies in that true two-way middle ground having great offensive instincts but not being supremely skilled, while also being a very good instinctual defensive defenseman and not being some sort of aggressively net-clearing bone cruncher. Given that the defense has had problems with transition play and puck movement, I think it would be better to keep the three offensive creators intact. As much as it would genuinely pain me to see Brenden Dillon or Jonas Siegenthaler play for a different team, I think we could be heading down that path in the offseason.

Otherwise, maybe the negotiation with Nemec goes poorly and the Devils move him. I would not be happy. Yes, I am very critical of Nemec’s performance at times. But I think he has incredible talent, and the way he is able to create offense from pretty much any angle from the right side is something to behold. He is incredibly smooth when in a rhythm, but he just needs to work on three things:

• His skating (which will likely never be that great, but it can certainly be better)
• His defensive compete level (this in anyone’s power to fix)
• His willingness or drive to shoot (he does not trust his shot nearly enough)

I would be unhappy if the Devils traded him and did not get a great (I mean great) top-line player as part of the deal. Does he deserve a big contract right now? Absolutely not. But he will one day, and I would much rather see that contract given out here than somewhere else. After all, the rest of the team is going to be older one day, and those effects will start becoming visible. When that day comes, the Devils will need players like Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec to be the best players on the team. With all of their offensive talent, I do not think they should give up on that long-term picture now.

So, am I disappointed that the Devils did not get anyone new to check out for the rest of this season? Absolutely. But given that the rumors I heard most last night and today were about Simon Nemec, I am genuinely thrilled that the Devils did not do anything today. I would have liked to see Dadonov off the roster, but Glendening being claimed by the Flyers did something to open up a spot for a younger player to get a chance. Of course, Tsyplakov also stayed put despite him being on waivers yesterday, but Fitzgerald already did some of the work he needed to do this season when he traded Palat for Tsyplakov in January, in addition to trading for Nick Bjugstad to push Glendening out of the lineup in the first place. It just seems that Dadonov will be scratched for most of the remaining games, while Tsyplakov could hopefully show more at the end of the year. It’s not much, but the bottom six has also had most of its necessary shuffling done.

I would give Tom Fitzgerald a B, on the whole, for the day. He already did decent work shedding Palat and getting Bjugstad to be a fourth-line center, so he did not have a ton to do today. This is partially his fault because of no-trade clauses, but I am not judging him for those clauses today. Right now, they are what they are. Given that, he avoided the mistake of trading Nemec or someone good without trade protection (such as Cody Glass or Dawson Mercer) for the sake of shaking things up. With the team actually playing interesting hockey right now, I prefer it this way. I would rather see the team start playing consistently good hockey so players do not get so disgruntled and disaffected going into next season. I think they could have added a potential supporting-cast player without stirring up issues in the locker room, though, which is why I don’t give Fitzgerald an A. I really do not mind the lack of movement.

Does this mean I am okay with Fitzgerald on the season? No. But that will be a different discussion later in the season. Today was a good day where he made the right decisions, though, and I don’t think getting worked up over it is really all that warranted.

But what do you think of the day? What grade would you give the decision to stand pat? What do you think of Fitzgerald’s press conference? Who do you think will now end up moved in the offseason? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.