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New Jersey Devils Trade Deadline Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 03: Marcus Johansson #90 of the New Jersey Devils trips over the stick of Ryan Callahan #24 of the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at the Prudential Center on December 3, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 03: Marcus Johansson #90 of the New Jersey Devils trips over the stick of Ryan Callahan #24 of the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at the Prudential Center on December 3, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils are certified sellers at this upcoming NHL Trade Deadline. How could they optimize their assets with the Tampa Bay Lightning?

The New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning are on opposite sides of the NHL standings this season. Come last season, at this point in the season both teams were fighting for positioning in their respective divisions, and they ended up facing off in the first round of the NHL Playoffs.

This season has been the opposite for the Devils, while the Lightning look well on their way to the President’s Trophy. Being that these teams are taking different routes for the 2018-19 season makes them perfect trade partners.

Despite having the best record in the NHL, the Lightning could always use another piece to solidify their run to the Stanley Cup. They’ve had stacked teams like this before, but this core group of players has never raised the Cup. If they got that right piece during the trade deadline in previous years, it might have meant this franchise had more banners to raise in Amalie Arena.

There are some obvious players the Devils are going to look to unload before February 26th. Marcus Johansson, Brian Boyle and even Ben Lovejoy could be a piece the Lightning look to give them serious depth.

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However, of all the players they could focus on, Johansson is the man here. They’ve had Boyle on the Lightning before, and they traded him at the deadline to the Toronto Maple Leafs. There could be reasons he doesn’t want to go there, and if they do move him they will only move him where he wants to go since he’s been such a good soldier.

Johansson seems like a perfect fit for the Lightning right now. Tampa has so much depth, but with teams like the Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins already gunning for it, the Lightning will need to go for one more major piece.

This trade can go one of two ways, the Lightning could use this trade to set them up for future deals or they could just use this as a pure rental for draft picks trade.

If they want to set themselves up for the future, look at the Devils set their sights on Tyler Johnson. He would be the second-line center they desperately need, and Johansson could immediately replace his production for the Lightning. He’s in the second year of a seven-year contract. However, the one thing that hurts this scenario is he has a full no-trade clause. That could put the kibosh on any move.

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That leaves what we’ll likely see if these two teams make a trade. The Lightning can’t trade a first-round pick because it could be on the move to the New York Rangers. They also can’t trade their second-round pick because certain conditions could tie it to the same trade. However, they will be getting one of those picks back so they might be willing to give up their third-round pick this year and their second-round pick in 2020.

So that’s the trade, Marcus Johansson goes to the Lightning, and the 2019 third-round pick and 2020 second-round pick comes to the Devils. This makes both teams happy that they are optimizing their assets, and gives Ray Shero some really good assets on the trade market. The Lightning get one more piece to play on the second or third line.

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