The New Jersey Devils are more than likely not going to the playoffs so they may be smart to move some of their expiring contracts.
The New Jersey Devils are not a very good hockey team. They traded their superstar in Taylor Hall and have an interim coach and general manager. It has been about as much of a disaster season as humanly possible. Things are not right as we stand and they need to make some moves. Everything right now is about the future so a year like this doesn’t happen again. One thing that may help is trading away the expiring contracts this team has.
Nobody outside of Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes should be untouchable. Those two are going to be the team’s leaders down the middle for the next decade. Their development is going fine but everyone else on the team should be expendable. Nobody should be a guarantee because the team has been bad for too long now. Yes, there are other players like Kyle Palmieri, Nikita Gusev, and Blake Coleman that we would like to see stay but if an awesome package ever comes up they shouldn’t hesitate.
With that said, they should focus on getting something for all of their expendable assets. Losing valuable players for nothing in the summer is not a way to increase the speed in which this team gets competitive. There is no predicting how good or bad this team will be next year, but they can get it off to a good start by making some smart decisions. Trading these three players for draft picks or prospects would be awesome for the team’s infrastructure: