The New Jersey Devils have another rumor surrounding them regarding Kyle Palmieri, but it might be wise to keep him around.
The New Jersey Devils just traded away Taylor Hall. That makes their team worse on paper, but they’ve been playing better. Now, less than a week later, the team is in more trade rumors. Most people believe that Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes will be the team leaders over the next decade-plus, but Kyle Palmieri is still the heartbeat of the team. He is the guy that is all of a sudden out there as a guy that the Devils are taking calls on.
Kyle Palmieri has been one of the best players playing on the New Jersey Devils ever since he came to this team. So far this season, he has 14 goals and eight assists for 22 points. The goal-scoring numbers are very good. He is the best pure goal scorer on the team. The team is filled with guys who are pass-first players so having a guy like Palmieri is very important.
Obviously being a really good player is a reason to not want to trade him, but it even goes beyond that. He is a great team guy who the young players benefit from having around. Guys like Hischier and Hughes are obvious, but also a guy like Jesper Boqvist amongst others can learn from the way Palmieri plays the game.
It is obvious that Nico Hischier is the captain of the future but it would surprise nobody if Palmieri gets the honor for a few years before it gets handed to Hischier. Even if they do give the role to Hischier right away, Palmieri having the alternate captain role is very important. Veteran leadership is very important to a young team and Kyle Palmieri might be able to bring that more than anyone. He has been a great player for the Devils since arriving there and it would be nice for him to be able to see this through with the younger players.