The Detroit Red Wings are in a bad way salary cap wise. The New Jersey Devils have been good about exploiting teams in similar situations.
Right now, the New Jersey Devils have one glaring hole on the team; the defense. The team has some decent options, but its sorely missing a number one guy. While that’s definitely the case, there is still room to add a forward in the right deal.
The Detroit Red Wings just signed Tomas Tatar to a four year, $21.2 million dollar deal. That’s actually pretty good for a player of his caliber, but it puts the team in a bad spot. The front office has to figure out what to do with its salary cap, already being over the limit.
The Red Wings aren’t losing too much off the cap next season, and have two major contracts to sign according to Cap Friendly. The only major contract coming off the books is defenseman Mike Green, who will open up $6 million for them. However, the team needs to sign phenom Dylan Larkin, who will become a restricted free agent. He’s just 20 years old, but already has 40 goals in his career. The team also has to re-sign Anthony Mantha, who was very good in his own right last season.
As we’ve already seen with the trade for Marcus Johansson of the Washington Capitals, the Devils are good at finding the teams in need of losing salary cap and taking advantage.
The Devils should ask about a couple players, but the one that both might be willing to make happen is Gustav Nyquist. He’s coming off a rough season under coach Jeff Blashill. After showing he had the ability to score close to 30 goals when he first entered the NHL, Nyquist fell off in a big way. He scored just 12 goals last season in 76 games on a dwindling Red Wings team.
The main issue with a Nyquist trade is his no-trade clause. Would he be willing to make a move to New Jersey, who’s core makes them better in the future over right now?
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The reason Nyquist might agree to the trade is he clearly needs a change of scenery. Something just isn’t working for him in Detroit. On top of that, the Red Wings would love to open up his minutes for some of their younger players.
With the Red Wings in a precarious situation, it probably wouldn’t cost much to bring Nyquist to New Jersey. Ray Shero could even sweeten the deal by agreeing to take Mike Green’s contract off their hands this season. That could be a win-win, giving the Devils another defensive option, one that has great offensive skills even at 31 years old.
This may all be moot, if Nyquist doesn’t agree to a deal to New Jersey. Many fans would also argue the Devils should save its assets to get a defenseman. The problem is a defender will cost so much more than Nyquist will. Plus, the Devils could use Green as a one-year BandAid while Shero figures out what to do next with his defense. The deal helps the Red Wings get flexibility to sign its future, while the Devils start to look like one of the most formidable top sixes in the Metropolitan Division.