New Jersey Devils Trade Partner: Tampa Bay Lightning

The New Jersey Devils have a few holes to fill, but a ton of cheap, young players they can use in trades. One partner who’s very close to the salary cap with holes to fill is the team that eliminated them; the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The New Jersey Devils could sorely use a second-line center and a top-line defenseman this offseason. However, the way the team is currently constructed, adding star players at any position would help this team in the future. GM Ray Shero will not be held back by need. That’s where a trade partner comes in.

The Tampa Bay Lightning came to the end of their rope this season when three hard-fought series seemed to take the energy out of the team. They may have beaten the Devils and the Boston Bruins in five games, but both those series were about as frustrating as possible. That kind of fight night in and night out makes it hard to keep moving on, and they ran out of steam in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Both teams are in very different points. The Devils are at the very beginning of their contention. They have a plethora of good, young players thanks to picking high in each round of the draft for the past five years. The Lightning on the other hand, are Stanley Cup contenders every single year. When you have $68 million already locked in next year with restricted free agents left to sign, then something needs to be done.

Even if the salary cap jumps all the way to $80 million, that gives the Lightning $12 million to play with. The team still has to pay JT Miller and Cedric Paquette. Then, looking beyond this season things get bleak. The Lightning need to open up a bank just to pay Nikita Kucherov. Add onto that, they have two defensemen signed past 2019. That’s not a type, there’s only Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev. That’s it.

That allows a lot of money to open up, but how does a team looking to contend sign an entire blue line?

The Devils could help the Lightning out a little bit, but maybe not like their GM Steve Yzerman would hope. His number-one priority is trying to get rid of Ryan Callahan‘s $5.8 million contract. He’s signed through the next two seasons. That money causes major problems. The issue is nobody in the league wants that contract.

However, if the Lightning can make it worth it, a team may be wiling. To make it worth it, they’d have to give up players with a ton of upside.

So, how could the Devils and Lightning make a deal work?

Callahan could come to the Devils, spend two seasons as a third or fourth liner, as long as it brings a huge player in return.

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So, who could that player be? Well, the Devils can attempt to jump on the rumors that Nikita Kucherov is having issues with his team. Although, even with the rumors and the salary cap, it seems almost impossible to acquire him. The only other player the Devils may be interested in, at least enough to take Callahan’s contract, is Brayden Point. He’s 22 years old, and already has a 32 goal season under his belt. His contract ends at the end of this season, but he’s still under team control. The Lightning can’t really afford him and Kucherov as currently constructed, maybe he can be had.

The Devils can make a huge trade without giving up a tremendous amount of assets. The best asset the Devils have over the Lightning is cap space. That could be enough to get a deal done.

So, this is what I’m thinking, the Lightning trade Callahan, Point, and a fourth-round pick in 2019. The Devils give up Steve Santini to give the Lightning a defenseman with control, and a second-round pick in 2019.

It looks like an absolute steal on paper, but it gives the Lightning the ability to re-sign Kucherov, which is worth anything to the Lightning. It gives them room to add a long-term defender and allows them to try and rework Santini, who showed signs of decency to start last season. The Devils could use Callahan for one season, use his penalty killing prowess and possibly buying him out after this season.