The New Jersey Devils will be looking for different ways to improve their roster for the present and future, and there might be some help currently in Sin City.
The New Jersey Devils appear to have a bright future, especially when you compare it to some other teams in the National Hockey League. It was a tough tread on the ice this season, but it is easy to point the finger at the inconsistent goaltending in the first half of the season and the plethora of injuries to all of their most important players.
The Vegas Golden Knights have a player that could really make a major impact to the Devils if Ray Shero could somehow pull off something huge. Almost as big as the Taylor Hall trade in terms of making an impact on the team. That player is William Karlsson, or Wild Bill as he is known by many now.
Karlsson was given to Vegas by the Columbus Blue Jackets along with a 1st-round pick in 2017 and a 2nd-round pick in 2019 to take David Clarkson‘s dead cap hit from them. That really worked out so far for Vegas. William Karlsson wasn’t really much with Columbus but since his arrival in Las Vegas, he has become a superstar center.
In his final year with the Blue Jackets, he only scored six goals and his career high in goals was nine. He was finally given an opportunity in Vegas and he ran with it. In year one of the Vegas Golden Knights franchise history, he scored 43 goals and added 35 assists good for 78 points. He was truly one of the main reasons Vegas was good enough to win the Pacific Division in year one centering a great line with Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault.
This year that line of Smith-Karlsson-Marchessault got off to a bit of a slow start, but they are white hot right now and William Karlsson now has 23 goals and 30 assists for 53 points with about a week and a half left. Karlsson is a restricted free agent after this season, and he is really the only major piece on Vegas without a long term contract so it will be interesting to see how they handle him.
That could be where Ray Shero and the Devils come in. We know he has the ability to make great trades that would help out the team on the ice and for the future. It is hard to imagine the Devils sending an offer sheet Karlsson’s way because of what it would cost them if Vegas let him go. This is probably the type of player that it would be smart to trade for instead.
He had a cap hit of 5.25 million this season and he is probably going to see a slight increase in salary this summer. He is an elite two-way center and when he has great offensive minded linemates he can really be a great player. He is basically a more developed version of Nico Hischier, maybe a bit of a lower ceiling but if Hischier ever became William Karlsson people would be thrilled.3
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Karlsson forced the Hischier topic because they are both capable of centering a top line in the NHL as proven by both already. If Wild Bill put on the red and black then it wouldn’t matter what number you put on either of the top two lines. They both can play power play, penalty kill, and 5 on 5 in all three zones for their coach.
Due to the fact that Hischier already has well-known chemistry with Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri, it would be likely that he remained the top line with all healthy. Now imagine a healthy Jesper Bratt on a line with Karlsson. The Swedish connection is obviously the first thing that comes to mind, but Bratt is a very good offensive player. If he were to get a centerman like Karlsson full time that might do wonders for him. Bratt has spent time with Hischier and Hall and that is amazing for him, but he isn’t always given time in that spot. If he were given a centerman like that we could be talking 20+ goals year in and year out.
So in addition to being the second-line center, or first depending on how you look at it, it would push everyone else into better positions to succeed. Travis Zajac can be a third line center on a Stanley Cup winning team, especially if he scores like we know he can. Pavel Zacha might make a great transition to a middle six winger if the Devils got themselves a premier center in addition to Hischier and Zajac. This would really change the entire outlook of the forward group and having three centers really capable of defending like Hischier, Zajac, and Karlsson that would really help out the defense and goalies.
So those are some of the reasons that the New Jersey Devils should really go after Wild Bill. That would really be something. This really promises to be an interesting and important offense for them as a franchise. The draft, trades, free agency, and development are incredibly important.