The New Jersey Devils played just a pathetic game on Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres. It makes us wonder who isn’t available in trade this season.
This may feel like deja vu. The New Jersey Devils are a really bad team, but they’re so bad that now we have to ask who on this team should be offered in trades, who on this team Ray Shero should at least pick up the phone about, and what player is absolutely untouchable.
We tackled this topic last season. Luckily, we could wait until January to write that one. This year, it’s December 3rd, and we already have to write this same article. Last year, we called Taylor Hall untouchable. That’s obviously not true this season. Granted, at the time Hall was injured and his value in the immediate future was worthless, it still didn’t make sense to trade a player one year from an MVP season if he still had time on his contract.
Other than that, there are some funny things to look back on. We said that John Quenneville might need a change of scenery, which he got this offseason. He was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for John Hayden. A hip issue has derailed his season, and he’s never gotten started there.
We also claimed that Michael McLeod could be had for a high price, but things are starting to look bleak for his chances to become a regular NHLer.
This year, we have at least two obvious players who are still untouchable. Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier are not going anywhere. The two number-one overall picks are going to be great in this league for a long time. Hughes has already shown signs he can run his own line, despite his linemates inability to finish for him.
Everyone else gets less obvious. Is Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood untouchable? Things are bleak behind him, with Louis Domingue likely heading elsewhere after a terrible performance against the Sabres, the Devils would be relying on Cory Schneider we suppose. Schneider is currently sporting an .871 save percentage and 4.11 GAA in the AHL. That’s not what you want from a $6 million goalie.
The situation seems to indicate that Blackwood is untouchable. There just aren’t any other options. The Devils can’t go forth with Evan Cormier, Gilles Senn and Akira Schmid as the future when none of them are anywhere near ready.
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This is where things get really difficult. Outside of those three players, who is a player the Devils future could not live without. There are five players that come to mind, but we’re talking about untouchable here. Blake Coleman is a great asset on a value of a contract, but he’s already 28 years old and his contract only has one more year left on it. There are deals that teams can offer where Coleman is no longer on the Devils.
Beyond him, you have the long-tenured Devils. Is it worth it for the Devils to trade Andy Greene, their captain who spent his entire career here? It’s a hard decision, but there’s no chance the Devils bring him back next year. Maybe he would want to go somewhere and have a chance to go for a Cup on a team that needs a great penalty killer.
Travis Zajac is another long-time veteran that spent his entire career in New Jersey. When everyone was purging themselves of the Garden State, Zajac signed on long term. He’s a player that could have his number retired one day. Can they really trade him? Well, in a word, yes. Zajac did not repeat what was a bounce back for him last season. He’s just not the player he was even nine months ago. If a team, like maybe Winnipeg, comes calling, Shero will answer.
Nikita Gusev is an interesting case. The Devils literally just traded a 2nd and a 3rd-round pick for Gusev. Trading him now likely wouldn’t get you those picks back, so does it make sense to trade him? That’s not the question, though. Gusev is absolutely not untouchable. If a team wants to over pay, or even pay the price New Jersey paid for him, we think Shero would strongly consider it.
Jesper Boqvist is untouchable. He’s the last one, but it’s only because of his immense upside. He’s getting used to the North American ice, and even a 1st-round pick wouldn’t get the Swede out of New Jersey.
There’s nobody else on this team that is untouchable. Pavel Zacha and Jesper Bratt were just scratched, so we doubt the Devils would make them untouchable. Will Butcher and Damon Severson are signed to nice contracts, but they’ve been inconsistent. P.K. Subban is trying to do too much, and because of that he hasn’t played like a $9 million defenseman. Kyle Palmieri is a really nice piece to have, but the reality is his prime might not line up with the Devils window. Sami Vatanen is close, but he’s up and down. Also, he’s on the final year of his contract, so if he wants to leave then he’s gone.
It’s been a rough season, but the only silver lining is the Devils have much better assets to sell than they did last season. Taylor Hall, Vatanen, Greene, and Wayne Simmonds are much better expiring contracts than Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy and Marcus Johansson. A fire sale is coming, and it will be for the best of the franchise.