New Jersey Devils Gaining No-Move/Trade Clauses in 2024-25

It’s hard to believe that New Jersey Devils franchise forward Jack Hughes doesn’t own any no-move or no-trade protection in his contract until the 2026-27 season. Even then, it won’t be full protection as a 10-team no-trade list kicks in for the final four years of Hughes’ eight-year, $64 million contract. As of July 1st, a handful of other Devils players will have new no-move or no-trade clauses activated for the 2024-25 season.

As a refresher, there are a few differences between a no-move, no-trade, and modified no-trade clause.

A no-move clause simply means that a player cannot be traded, sent to the minors, or waived without the player’s approval to do so.

Devils players who own that full protection as of the 2023-24 season are forward Ondrej Palat and defenseman Dougie Hamilton.

A no-trade clause doesn’t allow a player to be traded to another team without their approval, however, they could be sent to the minors or waived.

Erik Haula was the lone Devils player with a full no-trade clause in the 2023-24 season, a clause his camp negotiated for the first year of his three-year deal in New Jersey.

Jake Allen is the only other Devils player who owned trade protection in 2023-24. Allen owned a modified seven-team no-trade clause last season. Ironically enough, the Devils were one of the seven teams listed on his no-trade list, however, he opted to waive his protection eventually and is now a Devil.

Depending on the parameters of a player’s contract, the clauses can change as the contract ages. A good example of that is Allen, who is downgrading from a seven-team to a three-team no-trade list in the 2024-25 season. Allen is the only Devils player whose trade protection is downgrading in 2024-25.

When July 1st hits, five Devils players will go from no protection at all to some sort of protection depending on their contracts.

In the second year in each of their eight-year contracts signed last summer, Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt are gaining full no-move clauses. Both are fully protected under their no-move clause through the entirety of their contracts. However, beginning in the 2028-29 season, Meier and Bratt will each gain a 15-team no-trade clause in addition to their no-move clauses. Basically, the two clauses allow the Devils forwards to be traded to one of the 17 teams not on their no-trade list, but still cannot be sent to the minors or waived without the players’ permission.

There are no signs of it getting to that point in the future, and Devils fans are certainly hoping it stays that way.

The remaining three Devils gaining trade protection will see modified no-trade clauses kick in on July 1st.

Devils captain Nico Hischier and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler each gain a 10-team no-trade clause. Each clause lasts through the end of the respective player’s contracts, Hischier’s ending in 2026-27 and Siegenthaler’s ending in 2027-28.

John Marino is gaining an eight-team no-trade clause through 2026-27.

If there are any new clauses that General Manager Tom Fitzgerald will hand out, it will come via re-signing pending free agents. Otherwise, any new players in New Jersey that have protection in their contract would have to be acquired, and that’s if the Devils aren’t on their no-trade list.

The Devils’ pending free agent most eligible to negotiate no-move/trade protection in their next deal is Dawson Mercer.

We’ll see how the summer shakes out.