New Jersey Devils: Players They Should NOT Trade

The New Jersey Devils are having a tough season and appear to be sellers at the trade deadline. That said, there are some players they should not trade.

The New Jersey Devils have had a very tough season. They are in all likelihood not making the playoffs. They are clearly going to be sellers at this deadline. They have already made that pretty clear, but how far will that go?

They began by trading fan favorite Brian Boyle to Nashville in exchange for a second-round pick. That sets the bar pretty high for some other guys around the league, and perhaps even in the Devils’ locker room.

The Devils have Marcus Johansson, Keith Kinkid, and Ben Lovejoy on expiring contracts. All three of them could be on the move and be added by contenders for depth.

Marcus Johansson is a very skilled winger who just didn’t pan out the way everyone might have hoped. That’s not to say he was bad, but he had lots of injuries and maybe wasn’t as productive as he was in Washington. Some think that if Boyle earned the Devils a second-round pick, maybe Johansson could earn them more.

In a season where you are going nowhere, there is no reason not to trade those expiring contracts and collect assets for next year and beyond. Those guys have been good Devils and represented the team well, but if an opportunity presents itself to better the organization and give the guys they trade a chance to win then they should do it.

That brings us to who the New Jersey Devils should not trade. That is subject to your opinion of the team next year and beyond. I believe the team is in a good spot moving forward because their young guys are improving and they have Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri leading the way.

They need to get better defensively and they need their goaltending to be much better. I don’t think any of their players that are not on expiring contract are worth trading because they would not return much value.

Nico Hischier is really becoming a great two-way center and the team will build around him. He can really grow into a true Selke Trophy candidate and that is one of the three main pillars to winning the Stanley Cup. Taylor Hall is a game breaking offensive player and Kyle Palmieri can snipe with the best of them. Those three guys are really not in trade discussions as long as they’re not on expiring contracts.

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The other players on the roster could feel some pressure as the deadline approaches, but I don’t believe that the team should trade any of them if they are signed through next year. Most players that are not rentals would have less trade value than they would if they were rentals.

Obviously if the Devils are offered a package that cannot be refused then they should absolutely accept. For example, Ray Shero was likely not actively shopping Adam Larson. He saw that Hall was available and pounced on it. Shero has a pretty decent track record when it comes to trades.

The Devils are a young growing team and taking pieces away just because this is a bad year is not always the way to go. It is not like this is an old past its prime roster. The best days with some of the guys in this group are likely in front of them. The goal should be getting Hischier and Hall locked up long term on deals that do not hurt the team long term and not have an overreaction to a bad season.

Nobody is promised anything in the NHL so just because the Devils are not going to be in the playoffs after making it last year is no reason to trade anyone for no reason.

There are many reasons they are low in the standings but Taylor Hall being injured is a huge factor. They are far out of the playoffs but Hall is over a point per game when healthy this season and has missed some significant time. If he was in the lineup it is possible things would be different.

The team has also suffered because of lackluster goaltending this season so if they can get that with some defense taken care of over the summer there is no reason to believe they won’t be back in contention next season. That is why I believe they should NOT trade anyone who isn’t on an expiring contract unless it is a monumental offer.

The NHL trade deadline is on February 25th. It will be interesting to see what Shero does but they will certainly be sellers with the expiring contracts but one can only hope he doesn’t overreact to a bad year. We should trust him based on his resume. It also seems like he saw this coming and has a plan.