William Nylander And 5 Other Players New Jersey Devils Could Trade For Today

NINO NIEDERREITER

Nino Niederreiter is a player we had pegged for the Devils to go after in the offseason. He’s one year into a very friendly contract, and the Wild have been pretty good to start the year. This one would be a hard one to get the Wild to do, but there may be a way to get Niederreiter off their books.

There is no clauses about trades in Niederreiter’s contract. He can get to 20 goals in his sleep as long as he is healthy. He would be the secondary scorer the Devils really need. He basically gives the Devils all the production that Nyquist would have, but he’s three years younger, and signed for much longer at a reasonable price.

Niederreiter is not having a good start to his season. He’s on pace for eight goals over an 82-game pace. Despite the rest of the Wild coming on strong, Niederreiter just hasn’t played up to their standards. That doesn’t mean the Wild wouldn’t budge, but it might cost the Devils someone who’s actually on the roster.

The Devils could also play a trump card. There’s a well known former Devils player, currently on the Wild roster, that’s thought of as the worst contract in the league. The Devils could agree to talk on a little more than half of Zach Parise‘s contract, and Niederreiter could be a sweetener. The Devils would also have to give up some pretty good prospects or roster players, but the Parise contract might not be as bad as it looks. Parise comes with a $7.54 cap hit every season, but he only makes big money for four more seasons. After that, he will likely take his bad back out to pasture, and he will be on long-term IR. Sure, it’s a bad way to plan ahead, but every team has done it.

This is not the first deal I would do, but it is an option that is out there.