New Jersey Devils Trade Deadline Profile: Vegas Golden Knights
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils are bonafide sellers at the NHL Trade Deadline this season. One team that’s looking to go all in is the Vegas Golden Knights, which could make them a good fit.
The Vegas Golden Knights continue to surprise the league despite going all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. They’re still led by what seems like an ageless Marc-Andre Fleury. However this team is not without their flaws. This is a situation where the New Jersey Devils could help them.
The Golden Knights have been a team that makes big moves in the past. They traded three picks last season for Tomas Tatar, which by the way did not work out. In the offseason, they traded for Max Pacioretty and signed Paul Stastny to a major deal. This team is going for it.
With the mentality of these Golden Knights, they want the big names to come to their team. Unfortunately for the Devils, they lack in big name stars that are available for them to trade. There is one player who’s playing his best hockey, and was a proven scorer in the past. The Knights will likely want Marcus Johansson.
The Knights have a plethora of draft picks over the next two seasons to make trades to try and win it all. This season, they have eight picks in the first five rounds of the draft, including three in the third round. They also have three second-round picks in the 2020 NHL Draft.
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This seems like the easiest deal of the NHL Trade Deadline for the Devils. They give Mojo a chance to really step up in a playoff situation, while the Devils get to add to their assets with draft picks.
There really isn’t any other player that would be a great fit for this Golden Knights team. Their defense is stacked, so they don’t need any of the Devils depth. They could use some salary cap space to re-sign William Karlsson in the offseason, but they can make trades once the playoffs are over to focus on that.
Again, this trade just makes sense. I see the Knights giving up the Nashville Predators’ third-round pick this year, and their own second-round pick next season. They seem to love to bet on themselves, and this is a way to do it.
So here’s the trade: Vegas gets Marcus Johansson, New Jersey gets a 2019 third-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick. It’s straight, and to the point, and it could be the most likely trade of any of these in the series.