New Jersey Devils: Five Most Tradable Players
Since the St. Louis Blues became the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions, two trades and a few high-profile signings have been made to kick off the NHL offseason. With sky-high expectations, the New Jersey Devils are on the clock to commence what’s expected to be a transformative summer.
While this year’s unrestricted free agent crop is more bountiful (but rapidly dwindling) than recent summers, General Manager Ray Shero (as we all know) has always made his most impactful moves via trade. Between their $30+ million in cap space and a flexible array of assets to include in potential deals, Shero again is expected to take this route.
Being poised to make a major trade acquisition, the Devils will inevitably have to part ways with an impactful player in virtually any deal. Especially when you look at some of the trades he’s made as New Jersey Devils General Manager, Ray Shero has made it known he won’t shy away from shaking up his roster if it means he’s getting a genuine talent in return.
Shero knows he has to make a statement and entice his star player Taylor Hall to commit long-term this offseason. This alone might prompt Shero to make bolder-than-usual moves that make a number of Devils players susceptible to being traded. Between their cap-friendly contracts and situations, along with the needs they might help teams fulfill, here are the five most tradable players on the New Jersey Devils.
Jesper Bratt, Left/Right Wing
Like many New Jersey Devils players, the speedy resourceful winger had an injury-riddled 2018-2019 campaign, but still managed to maintain his tremendous upside.
Jesper Bratt tallied eight goals and 33 points in 51 contests in his sophomore campaign, coming just two points shy of eclipsing his rookie season totals (35 points), which he accrued in 74 games (23 more than his sophomore year). Over 82 games, Bratt was on pace for 13 goals and 53 points this past season, which would have been a significant leap for the 20-year old winger.
Teams would be drawn to Bratt’s speed, dexterous stickhandling, along with his sweeping on-ice vision and ability to be used in all playing situations. If healthy and used properly, Bratt could arguably reach the 60-point mark and will be a restricted free agent when his contract expires in 2020, meaning teams will have control of the young winger beyond next season.
Bratt could fit anywhere in a team’s top-nine and help a improve team’s scoring, penalty kill and power play. Bratt will especially appeal to cap-crunched playoff contenders hoping to seek quality returns for high-salaried players they’re trying to shed.
Potential Suitors: Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers
Will Butcher, Defenseman
After winning the Will Butcher sweepstakes in 2017, the 24-year old Sun Prairie, Wisconsin native has been a prolific contributor to the Devil’s defense. Although he scored 14 fewer points in his sophomore campaign (30) compared to his rookie season (44), Butcher was still a fixture on the Devils power play, while improving or maintaining other quality aspects of his game.
His even strength Corsi For percentage was 50.1, which led all Devils skaters who played in more than 35 games—same goes for his Fenwick For (51.3 percent) and Relative Corsi For (+4.9). Simply put, the Devils possessed the puck more than 50 percent of the time and averaged 4.9 more shots while Butcher was on the ice at even strength.
These figures are also complimented by Butcher’s—GAR (Goals Above Replacement), which compares an individual player’s value to a replacement player (better known as “depth players”), based on goal differential. Will Butcher had a GAR of +6.8 at even strength—which ranked third on the team and highest among Devils defensemen—and a GAR of +1.7 on the power play, which led the Devils in 2018-2019.
Butcher is a restricted free agent and could wind up signing a bridge deal for 2-4 years, commanding a minimum AAV between $3-4.5 million—I’m sure many teams would prefer signing a recently-acquired defenseman to a short-term cap-friendlier bridge contract than make a long-term high-salary commitment. However, the only conceivable scenario where I can see Shero trade Butcher is if he’s part of a package that brings in a top-end player.
Potential Suitors: Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres
Sami Vatanen, Defenseman
I previously wrote about the pros and cons of trading Sami Vatanen, who is coming off his first full season with the New Jersey Devils that was plagued by injuries. Vatanen has one year remaining on his contract that boasts a $4.875 AAV. He’s 28-years old and despite being in line for a hefty pay raise one year from now—especially if he performs well in 2019-2020—a lot of teams could still find value in acquiring a player of Vatanen’s caliber.
If healthy and in the right situation, Vatanen is a fixture on a defense’s top-two pairings and is capable of posting 40+ points. Due to his cap hit, the Devils would probably have to use Vatanen in a deal for a high-salary asset, namely from a team that is seeking an established roster player in return.
Teams could be deterred by Vatanen’s injuries last season (he suffered two concussions) and despite the circumstances, his 2018-2019 numbers don’t necessarily help his case. It’s not to say team’s won’t be disinterested in Vatanen, but don’t expect Ray Shero to pull off any lopsided one-for-ones with the left-shooting blue liner.
Like I mentioned in my recent piece on Vatanen, the only way Shero would probably trade him is if he ever became expendable. Unless Shero is receiving a defenseman in exchange for Vatanen or acquires one in a separate transaction, it would have to be a bold or meaningful trade for the Devils to part with the tenured defenseman.
Potential Suitors: Winnipeg Jets, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers
Miles Wood, Right/Left Wing
As of writing this, Miles Wood is currently the only New Jersey Devils forward whose contract extends beyond the 2020-2021 season. Like many Devils players this past season, Wood underachieved and failed to reach the high expectations set by his encouraging 2017-2018 performance, where he posted career-highs of 19 goals and 32 points.
Like I mentioned with Vatanen, I’m sure teams will be able to look past Wood’s abysmal season and value the combination of size, speed and physicality he brings. Being that Wood is locked up for three more years with a cap-friendly $2.75 million AAV, he’s an asset teams would have control of beyond next season and at a potentially fruitful bargain.
Although Wood had a disastrously slow start to the 2018-2019 season, he picked up his play (before getting derailed by injuries) toward the latter-half of the year when he had six goals and 13 points in 25 contests. In his first 38 games, Wood only tallied four goals and 11 points.
Wood even managed to maintain a Fenwick For above 50 percent and positive Relative Fenwick For percentage (both at even strength) for the second consecutive season, which is a telling statistic for someone that played on a team that underachieved as monumentally as the 2018-2019 New Jersey Devils.
Potential Suitors: Buffalo Sabres, Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks
Pavel Zacha, Center
With the New Jersey Devils poised to select Jack Hughes with the first overall pick of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, the team will have a logjam of quality center depth on their NHL roster. Along with Hughes, Nico Hischier and Travis Zajac will comprise the team’s 1-3 center slots next season. This leaves little room for former first-round pick Pavel Zacha to build on his subtly encouraging 2018-2019 campaign and perhaps makes him New Jersey’s most expendable asset.
Despite having all the developmental components of a quality power forward, Zacha has been a relatively slow boil since the Devils selected him sixth overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to this past season, Zacha never got more than eight goals or 25 points in a single season. Although he set a new career-high of 13 goals, he merely eclipsed the 25-point plateau, but rebounded strongly from a sluggish start to his 2018-2019 year.
One of my recent pieces highlighted Zacha’s 2018-2019 endeavors, which saw him score zero goals through his first 12 games, which was followed by a 12-day AHL demotion. In his final 49 contests, Zacha tallied 13 goals, which would have put him on pace to score 20+ over an 82-game season.
While Zacha took some commendable baby steps in his offensive development this past season, he especially thrives on the penalty kill, garnering the third-highest amount of playing time in shorthanded situations among Devils forwards. Zacha might not be coveted for his offensive skill, could make a good trade chip for teams looking to improve their penalty kill. Although Zacha is slated to become a restricted free agent, he’s likely to sign a modest bridge deal no higher than $2-2.5 million, which is very absorbable.