The New Jersey Devils are another one of those fringe teams that is, for all intents and purposes, out of the playoff race.
However, following four consecutive wins in the week leading up to the trade deadline, general manager Lou Lamoriello doesn't seem ready to bail on his team's chances quite yet. The Devils might be clinging to the infinitesimal possibility of snagging a postseason berth, but they still need to be smart and think about the long-term plan here.
"You balance it in the most realistic way that you can possibly do it," Lamoriello told ESPN.com when reached by phone this week. "There's a commitment to the players, a commitment to the franchise, and all of that weighs in on decisions made."
Status: SELLER
Available: The big name for the Devils was 43-year-old winger Jaromir Jagr, who made waves earlier this week after venting about his diminished role and declining minutes under the new coaching regime. Though Jagr did not outright ask for a trade, his clear lobbying efforts did not go unnoticed.
Jagr got his wish Thursday when he was dealt to the Florida Panthers, netting a nice return for Lamoriello: a second-round pick in the 2015 draft and a conditional third-round pick in 2016.
That might embolden Lamoriello to move some of his other pending unrestricted free agents, most notably Marek Zidlicky. The 38-year-old blue-liner will certainly garner interest, especially given the shortage of rental defensemen on the trade market. Zidlicky does have a full no-trade clause, however, and as of earlier this week, he had yet to be contacted by the Devils about waiving it.
Other players who could be on the move? Martin Havlat, Michael Ryder and Jordin Tootoo.
Finances: Cap space isn't an issue for the Devils. If they did want to go after a miraculous playoff run they could afford to do so, with 2.879 million in space, according to NHLNumbers.com. The biggest eyesore on the books remains the ill-advised Ryane Clowe contract, which pays him $4.85 million annually over the next three seasons.
The Devils have plenty of pending UFAs who will hit free agency in July, giving them flexibility to retool their roster in the offseason.
Scouting the GM: Lamoriello is notoriously furtive when it comes to his business dealings, with contract negotiations, trades and virtually everything in between. That hasn't changed with the deadline approaching.
He has made some shrewd, under-the-radar acquisitions in the past, adding both Zidlicky and Alexei Ponikarovsky before the 2012 deadline before the team's run to the Stanley Cup finals that spring. Last season, Lamoriello added Tuomo Ruutu from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Andrei Loktionov and a pick in the 2017 draft, but he held on to veteran netminder Martin Brodeur despite speculation that the Devils legend wanted out.
The situation unfolded differently for Jagr, who was granted a welcome change of scenery in South Florida, but whether fellow veteran UFAs will be as fortunate remains to be seen. Lamoriello told reporters Thursday night that the Jagr deal should not be read as any indication that the team has given up on its playoff chances. In fact, Lamoriello did not rule out the possibility of adding a player before Monday's deadline.
