How much dough can Lou throw?
That’s the question that will guide the Devils’ hopes to beef up for the playoffs by Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. The team’s financial picture may hit home as it operates under a secret payroll budget apart from the salary cap while it receives advance revenue from the NHL.
The trade deadline overshadowed even last night’s visit by the powerhouse Canucks, and is expected to do so again tomorrow afternoon when Tampa Bay invades Newark, the Devils’ final game before the deadline.
Sources insist the league offers no interference in the Devils’ moves, provided they honor the payroll budget. It is believed the Devils acquired Kurtis Foster ($1.8 million) and Alex Ponikarovsky ($1.5 million) under those terms.
New Jersey would be able to add nearly $10 million in a full-season cap hit and remain beneath the $64.3 million cap, but it is believed that issue is not the concern.
The Devils are believed to be seeking help on defense, and perhaps a center or defensive winger.
A name previously rumored has become a full-fledged possibility for New Jersey, with Columbus expected to move forward Samuel Pahlsson by Monday. The Devils saw Pahlsson with Anaheim in the 2003 finals, and the 34-year-old checker would add veteran depth to the third or fourth line.
Pahlsson will have about $575,000 left in salary Monday, and the Devils might be able to handle that under their secret payroll budget.
Columbus is believed to have an offer on the table of a third-round pick for Pahlsson, and the Devils have two second-rounders handy, their own and that of Washington, acquired this time last year for Jason Arnott.
New Jersey has its first-round pick, but they must forfeit that or next year’s from the Ilya Kovalchuk cap circumvention case. They sent their fourth- rounder out in the Ponikarovsky deal, and their seventh for Foster. They own Toronto’s fourth for Dave Steckel and Calgary’s fifth for Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond.
Carolina’s Bryan Allen, the Islanders’ Mark Eaton, Milan Jurcina and Steve Staios, Montreal’s Chris Campoli, and Tampa Bay’s Brett Clark are the major suspects who might provide rental help on defense.
Campoli has been mentioned as a possible fit, but any of those, if healthy, would be helpful.
* Devils center Ryan Carter was set to rejoin the lineup last night after missing nine games with a broken thumb. Foster was scheduled to come back after sitting out two with a back ailment. … The Devils honored Mike Emrick last night or his years as the team’s TV play-by-play announcer.
