Sometimes, the best trades are the ones that are never made, and that certainly seems to be true of the New Jersey Devils and star defenseman Dougie Hamilton early in the 2025-26 season.
Hamilton, 32, emerged as a popular trade candidate over the summer not necessarily due to his play, but due to the reality of the Devils' cap situation.
Luke Hughes was still unsigned at the time, and we all knew that the Devils were (and still are) going to need to make moves to clear cap space for the eventual return of defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic.