New Jersey Devils: Just Trade With Detroit Red Wings Already

With news breaking that Dylan Larkin signed a brand new contract, the Detroit Red Wings are officially over the salary cap. This is where the New Jersey Devils should pounce.

All offseason, we’ve been waiting for the New Jersey Devils to make a big move. The team leads the league in salary cap space, which is a weird sentence to write. While teams around them are getting better, the Devils are relying on their youth to fill holes.

At least, on the surface that’s what it seems like is happening. However, it may be just a ploy until something better presents itself. Something like a trade, perhaps.

I have been talking about a trade with the Detroit Red Wings for more than a year. Here’s an article I wrote last July. Here’s another one I wrote two months ago. This article may touch on some of the same subjects, but after today’s announcement things have changed drastically.

That’s a lot of money for a team that has nothing to spend. Right now, with everything going as is, the Red Wings will be more than $3 million over the salary cap. In case you didn’t know, a team can’t be over the salary cap like it can in basketball or baseball. Nope, in hockey a team is not going over the $79.5 million cap.

So, basically, Detroit needs to find a way to make at least $3.25 million disappear. I’ve said it before, the Devils should always be asking about Gustav Nyquist.

For one, Nyquist has been inconsistent for the past few years. That might make him expendable in the eyes of the Red Wings. The 28 year old scored 21 goals last year. The year before, he could only muster 12. He’s hit a high of 28 goals in 57 games. There is some serious talent in that Swede.

Another reason is it will cost next to nothing. The Devils will be doing the Red Wings a favor while taking the chance on a guy with all of the talent. It also adds another Swedish national to go along with Marcus Johansson and Jesper Bratt.

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Getting Nyquist on this team could finally help his reach his true potential. He’s been struggling to find his place with the Red Wings for three years. He’s got one year left paying him $4.75 million, so the risk is relatively low. You know he can easily score you 20 goals in a season, which makes him properly valued at that price. If he can find a way to score 30 goals or more, he becomes a steal.

There is one little problem with all this, a major rumor swirling says that Henrik Zetterberg can’t go. That means Zetterberg could be headed to long term injured reserve. Now LTIR is extremely complicated, but the gist of this is the Red Wings fall under the cap if the league allows them to use this on Zetterberg. That’s not a given, however. After the flack the league got from the Chicago Blackhawks using their LTIR on Marian Hossa, it seemed a little fishy. Zetterberg is in a similar position. Since Zetterberg’s salary drops to $3.35 million this year, and then $1 million next year, it seems quite fishy.

Either way, even with the LTIR possibility, the Red Wings still have to make a move. They are too close to the cap with the need to get better. This is why Ray Shero should be on the phone with Ken Holland right now.