Should New Jersey Devils Claim Ryan Spooner?

The Edmonton Oilers traded Ryan Strome to the New York Rangers prior to the season for Ryan Spooner. After clearly not working out with his new team, the New Jersey Devils should at least consider bringing in Spooner off waivers.

The Edmonton Oilers made another move that had everyone in the NHL world throwing their hands up wondering what was going on. Once again, this could be a move the New Jersey Devils could take pounce on to make themselves better.

The Oilers just placed Ryan Spooner on waivers. They also place Ty Rattie on waivers, but he’s not a place this Devils team should be interested in, because his upside is much smaller. Spooner, on the other hand, has proven himself to be a good complimentary forward, and he’s yet to hit his prime.

Spooner hasn’t been the same player since he was traded from the Boston Bruins. He’s been the part of two pretty big trades, one sending Rick Nash to the Bruins at the trade deadline, then the move that brought Ryan Strome to the New York Rangers this season.

Before he was traded last season, he had 9 goals and 16 assists in 39 games. Over an 82 game season, he would have had 19 goals and 52 points. Unfortunately for him, the second he put on the red, white and blue jersey, things went down hill fast.

He was good in the final 16 games of last season, posting 4 goals and 12 assists in the final 20 games. Then, this season, something went horrible wrong. He has 5 points between the Rangers and Oilers, while posting a -11. Plus/minus is a flawed stat, but it still tells certain stories for struggling players.

Since he was traded to the Oilers, his coaches have buried him on the depth chart. He’s averaging just over 9 minutes of ice time per game, and after November 25th, he has just four games where he has more than 10 minutes of ice time. He’s not really getting a lot of opportunities to score goals.

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Also, the bottom six of the Oilers is one of the worst units in the NHL. There’s zero offense coming away from the top two lines, and there’s nobody there to set him up. Say what you want about the Devils bottom six, but the Oilers would kill for players like Travis Zajac, Blake Coleman, Miles Wood and Brian Boyle.

Spooner clearly needs to go to a team that will let him settle down. Things have been crazy for him this season, and Oilers fans rejected him the second he entered the building. All they cared about was the fact that Jordan Eberle was turned into Spooner, instead of just letting him play his game. There’s no way a player can get his head right after two trades in a year under that kind of scrutiny.

Spooner will turn 27 years old at the end of the month. He’s entering his prime now. This is a player that already has a 49-point season.

His contract isn’t so great. He’s making $4 million next season, but that’s when it ends. That means if he doesn’t work out, that money won’t impact any money the Devils decide to give to Nico Hischier, Taylor Hall or Sami Vatanen. This seems like it might be worth the risk.

The Devils are currently testing out players like Blake Pietila, Kevin Rooney and Nathan Bastian. Sure, Spooner doesn’t help the Devils lack of size, but he could play a similar style as Coleman, and most would agree you can’t have enough of those types of players. If he doesn’t work out, the Devils could send him to his fourth team of the year. If he plays well, the Devils could even spin him at the trade deadline. It seems like he might be worth the risk.