The New Jersey Devils added more this offseason than they may have ever added in one offseason. This shows Taylor Hall their serious about contending, and he needs to decide if he’s trying to be part of the future.
The New Jersey Devils stole the headlines again when they traded two draft picks for Nikita Gusev. The player that is considered the best player not playing in the NHL is coming to the NHL. He’s coming to the Devils. The Devils made a big-boy move on Monday, and put their chips on the table.
They already added a TON of talent this offseason. Before adding Gusev, they added Jack Hughes in the NHL Draft, P.K. Subban through trade then Wayne Simmonds in free agency. Now, instead of hoping that Joey Anderson or Nathan Bastian could play above their heads, they just need to develop in the AHL for a future role.
This all came after the last words Taylor Hall said while representing the New Jersey Devils was he needs them to “get more talent”. Well Taylor, that talent is here.
This offseason, the Devils got the best prospect, the best international player, one of the best defensemen, a role player and three of their own prospects that were playing in pro leagues internationally. That’s seven players who weren’t with the Devils last season. So basically, the Devils turned Brian Boyle, Marcus Johansson, Ben Lovejoy, Stefan Noesen, John Quenneville, Steve Santini and Kenny Agostino into P.K. Subban, Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev, Jesper Boqvist, John Hayden, and Wayne Simmonds. Seriously.
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That’s more talent. That’s an insane amount of talent acquired in just 40 days. This takes most franchises three years to get, and the Devils did it in 40 days.
Hall has a decision to make. Prior to this move, we were willing to let him play it out. Take until December to make a decision because it was still a question mark whether this was a playoff team. Now, this Devils team has top-five talent in the Eastern Conference. Before this move, it was top ten, which might or might not be a playoff team. Now, without unforeseen circumstances, the Devils need to be a team that plays in the postseason.
The way the Devils are built, they are built for now and in the future. The Devils will put a team on the ice that doesn’t have Anderson, Bastian, Michael McLeod, Fabian Zetterlund, Reilly Walsh, Aarne Talvitie, and Brett Seney. That doesn’t even include the Devils 10 draft picks outside of Jack Hughes they took this season. There’s not only great young players on the Devils (11 players guaranteed to make the roster are under 25 years old as of this writing), but a great pipeline on the way.
Now, the only thing left for Shero to do is re-sign Taylor Hall. That whole “we aren’t focused on that” is over. This move for Gusev finalizes a great roster. Hall has to know that.
The Devils, even with all these moves, have plenty of money to pay Hall. Let’s say that Will Butcher and Pavel Zacha end up getting a combined $7 million that will roll into next year. That still leaves the Devils with $31 million in space. Of course, they have to re-sign Nico Hischier on top of Hall, and that could lead to taking up $20 million of that, but they still have wiggle room if the cap goes up by $3 million like it did this season.
Hall needs to decide whether he wants to be a Devil or not. Ray Shero should go to him now, see the team he’s about to play on, and give him his best offer. If Hall says no, then trade him for assets. The Devils are missing three picks in the next two years. Trading Hall would get them that and then some.
If Hall sees this roster and still doesn’t want to come aboard, maybe he never wanted to stay in the first place. That would be a huge surprised based on what he’s said literally up until this offseason, but it’s possible being this close to free agency changed him. The Devils can’t take the chance. They need an answer.