January 17, 2025 | 11:59am ET
TheFourthPeriod.com

DEVILS EYEING CENTRE, BUT OPEN TO BIGGER MOVE

Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald

The New Jersey Devils have just three wins in their last 10 games but remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division, three points up on the Carolina Hurricanes, who have two games in hand.

While the club has stumbled of late, they remain confident in their group and GM Tom Fitzgerald has been impressed with his team’s performance, overall, this season.

But that doesn’t mean Fitzgerald is sitting back and comfortably looking towards the playoffs.

With just over $1.85 million in current salary cap space, as per PuckPedia, Fitzgerald is believed to be in the market for a bottom-six centre, and has been linked to Montreal Canadiens pivot Jake Evans, as multiple reports have suggested.

During Thursday’s edition of “The Latest” on TFP, David Pagnotta acknowledged New Jersey’s desire to bolster their bottom-six, but he also reported the team is open to exploring larger moves if the opportunity presents itself.

“Tom Fitzgerald has had conversations, like everyone else, doing his due diligence, finding out what the price tags are going to be for potential targets as we get closer to the deadline,” Pagnotta said, noting Evans as a target and also indicating that Evans and Montreal are having extension talks.

“(Fitzgerald’s) also been looking, from what I’m hearing, at potentially creating cap space if the right larger deal falls into place for him and the Devils. But we’ll see where they go. There’s still a lot of runway left for them and for everybody else in the league. But the bottom-six, at the pivot position, looks to be an area that they would like to address at some point this season.”

It is unclear, at this point, what type of bigger move Fitzgerald may consider, but he is keeping his options open between now and the March 7 trade deadline.