New Jersey Devils Should Call Carolina Hurricanes Immediately

The New Jersey Devils have been good at taking advantage of other team’s bad situations. After rumors surrounding the Carolina Hurricanes, they should try and work out a deal with their division rivals.

The New Jersey Devils were very good last season, and it was all thanks to players they received in trades over the years. Kyle Palmieri came over from the Anaheim Ducks for two picks in 2015. The next season, the Devils traded Adam Larsson straight up for Taylor Hall, who’s a Hart Trophy favorite this season. In the middle of this season, the Devils acquired Sami Vatanen for Adam Henrique, Joe Blandisi and a third-round pick.

Those players are the foundation of this current Devils team, and Marcus Johansson, another player Ray Shero traded for, could soon add to that foundation. This team is definitely in the right direction, but one more trade could put the Devils in the fast lane to contention.

The Devils have a clear need for a top-line defenseman. Vatanen is very good, but he can’t do it by himself. When you pair him with Andy Greene, that’s what you’re asking him to do. Luckily enough, a team with immense defensive depth just announced that a fire sale could be coming.

The Hurricanes are willing to listen to offers on anyone not named Sebastian Aho. Anyone. Aho makes sense, because he is on his way to being a transformative player in this league, but there’s so much more to this roster.

Right now, the Hurricanes’ starting defense is all 26 years old or younger. This isn’t just any defense, either. It’s led by Justin Faulk, who’s proven himself as a very good two-way defender. They just re-signed Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce to seven and six-year extensions that keep them in Carolina until at least 2024-25. They both signed for pretty fair cap hits (Slavin $5.3 million, Pesce $4.025 million).

Then there’s Noah Hanifin. The 2015 first-round pick is already showing signs of being really good, despite needing some tweaks to his game. He’s 20 years old, and has the makings of a good defender already.

Even Trevor van Riemsdyk, a New Jersey native, would be a decent addition to the bottom pair of this defense.

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There are too many options to actually do a fantasy trade at this point. There are so many players the Devils could use from this roster, but the value the Devils bring is cap space. The Devils have around $20 million in space before the salary cap goes up. Even if it only goes up a little over a million dollars, that gives the Devils a ton of flexibility. The team can really allow the Hurricanes to hit the reset button without mortgaging the future.

The Hurricanes will likely try to add Jordan Staal in a trade. He’s signed for $6 million over a ten-year period. There’s still five years left on that deal. I don’t want to call this a deal breaker, because Staal is still just 29 years old, but adding him to the trade severely drops the value the Devils would need to give up. It would make more sense for the Devils to take Justin Williams off their hands, because he’s only paid for one more season.

There’s a lot to still be worked out here, but the Devils have future picks and prospects to make this trade happen. Shero should be calling new Hurricanes GM Don Waddell right now. Heck, call new owner Thomas Dundon, or new head coach Rod Brind Amour. Call anyone that will listen to these trade offers, because additions from the Hurricanes could be mutually beneficial for what the Hurricanes are looking to do.