New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings Should Talk Trade
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings find themselves in similar spots this season. Both teams can help each other build for the future.
The Detroit Red Wings go into their bye week on a loss, basically putting them out of contention for good. To make it back into playoff contention, the team would need to make up eight points and jump seven teams.
One of those teams is the New Jersey Devils, who find themselves in a similar hole.
Both teams are going to be perceived as sellers at this point. If they aren’t sellers, then who is?
A trade between the two teams could be mutually beneficial, something that the NBA’s DeMarcus Cousins trade showed is very hard to do.
The Devils aren’t going to want the obvious trade piece in Thomas Vanek. There is no need for a guy that is a glorified rental who wouldn’t even make it past the expansion draft.
The Red Wings also won’t want P.A. Parenteau or Kyle Quincey, two more rental players.
The teams could talk big, however.
The Red Wings have awesome high-end scoring options. One the Devils should ask about is Gustav Nyquist. The Red Wings center is having a down year, with just 29 points. He’s seen his scoring go down every year since lighting the lamp 28 times in 2013-14 (in just 58 games). Nyquist was considered one of the best young talents in the game at the time. Now, he could probably be had for the right package.
Tomas Tatar is another player that, for the right price, could be had. He’s having a better season with 14 goals. While this isn’t his peak production, it is about what he did last season on a better team.
Dylan Larkin would be lovely in a Devils uniform, but where the Red Wings are there is literally no way they’d get rid of a 20 year old with a 45 point season under his belt.
The real question remains, what would the Devils have to give up?
The Red Wings are likely going to start a full-blown rebuild next season. This season, they rank bottom five in goals for and goals against.
Their goalie of the future Petr Mrazek looks like a mess. The team could sorely use a goalie. No, I am not talking about Cory Schneider. The Devils do have Mackenzie Blackwood. He was drafted in the second round two years ago. He is only 20 years old and already playing significant time in the AHL. He needs seasoning, but a rebuild could give him just enough time to develop into their goalie for the next ten years.
The Devils have an abundance of center talent in the pipeline to replace a Nyquist. Obviously, the team isn’t likely to make Pavel Zacha available, but players like John Quenneville, Blake Coleman and Alex Kerfoot could be available if the team gets a talent that can make them contenders next year.
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The Red Wings will likely ask about Damon Severson. That would be a hard pill to swallow, and could eventually be the deal breaker between these two teams. He has been rumored in deals for years, even tied to a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deal prior to the Devils trading for Taylor Hall. The Devils are just too light on defense to give up a 22 year old with all the upside in the world.
Another possible young defenseman with some experience is Seth Helgeson. He also needs seasoning, but defenseman are a hot commodity.
Obviously, since the Devils would probably look for an NHL ready player for some considered prospects, the team would need to give multiple, plus possible picks, in order to make the deal work.
These trades are not imminent, but both teams should make a call. It never hurts to ask.