2. Ahead of the trade deadline
The New Jersey Devils are not going to the playoffs. Due to that fact, they are likely not going to keep many, if any, of their expiring contracts. They would be smart to trade those for picks and prospects that will help them in the future. There are a couple of candidates that contending teams would really want. It is definitely going to be an interesting part of the season for the Devils as they look to take more steps towards playoff contention.
There are going to have Tom Fitzgerald running the show for the 2020 trade deadline. They fired Ray Shero a little before that day comes which is strange. He was allowed to handle the Hall trade but he isn’t allowed to trade any of the other expiring contracts. You would think that it would be the other way around depending on how the team felt he was doing as GM. It is just really odd timing to fire him.
There are guys like Wayne Simmonds and Sami Vatanen that have apparently been on the trade block. There have also been trading rumors surrounding a guy like Kyle Palmieri who is not on expiring contract. It makes you wonder if ownership hated the Hall trade and does not want Shero trading anyone else. This is without a question a weird aspect of the trade.