Should New Jersey Devils Try And Jump On Dallas Stars Situation?

The Dallas Stars are the laughing stock of the NHL right now after comments made by their CEO. This is the perfect time for the New Jersey Devils to try and take advantage of this situation.

There are certain things players, coaches and front office personnel say behind closed doors that become public, and it’s embarrassing. We’ve had multiple instances of it, like the Ottawa Senators complaining in the back of an Uber. We’ve also had unconfirmed reports, like when Erik Karlsson was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then, there is what happened in Dallas today.

Wow. That’s… wow. What makes this even worse That’s what Stars CEO said to a media member. On the record. Knowing that the Athletic’s Sean Shapiro was going to print it. Maybe he was speaking without thinking, but this was an interview. Wow. Okay, moving on.

The Stars are dealing with a fire storm right now, and their two star players are right in the middle of it. Two very dirty words could change this franchise on its head for a very long time.

The New Jersey Devils need to call the Stars and see if they can get things going while this is going down the tubes. Ray Shero should see if he can get one of these stars that this whole conversation was about.

Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn currently have 32 and 30 points respectively. They are amazing players on a team that just can’t get the rest of the team to catch up. There are other good players, but it seems when the offense has depth, the goalie goes to hell. When the goalie is playing well, the defense is bad. You get the point. Either way, the team is about to pay them a combined $19.35 million per season. My goodness, that’s a crazy number, but it’s what star players go for in this league.

That’s an especially high number when the Stars have only John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen signed as defensemen next season.

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The Devils could very easily come in, make an offer to the Stars, and bring one of these Stars onto the roster this season. Of course, this would not be a move for now, but one for the future.

I’m sure many people would complain about taking on those crazy contracts, but think about this: Gary Bettman believes the salary cap is going up to $83 million next season. That would give the Devils $35 million to play with next offseason. That’s not before signing Taylor Hall. That’s not before signing Nico Hischier and Sami Vatanen. That is with those contracts on the books.

Seguin and Benn both have no-movement clauses in their contracts, but will they really want to be in a situation where they are leading the team, and they get cursed out by the team CEO? Also, Seguin and Hall have been tied together for a very long time. They went one-two in the 2010 NHL Draft. So, not only would he possibly want a trade to the Devils, but he could cause Hall to want to re-sign.

I think for Seguin, the Devils would take his contract straight up. For Benn, they might ask the Stars to eat at least $3 million per season of that deal. They may not want to do that, but he’s too much of a risk at this point to take that chance on him when he’s on the wrong side of 30.

Who knows what this deal might cost. Getting a star player who’s signed for eight more seasons, but at a very high price. We never, ever seen a player like that get traded. However, that doesn’t mean Shero shouldn’t try. Seguin would change this team immediately. You can immediately put him on the top line with Hall and Kyle Palmieri, then put Nico Hischier on the second line with Marcus Johansson and Jesper Bratt. That gives the Devils two legit lines, and a spry third line who can score in Miles Wood, Travis Zajac and Blake Coleman. Well, depending on who goes back in a trade.

Honestly, I think the Stars ask for the Devils first-round pick, Blake Coleman and another pick. They can see the pick going very high, they get a Texas boy, and they shed a major contract. Whether that’s enough is neither here nor there. I’ll let Shero take care of that. What I want is for Shero to make the attempt to sign him.