New Jersey Devils: Three Things We Learned At Trade Deadline
The New Jersey Devils were somewhat active this year at the 2020 NHL trade deadline and it taught us a few things about them.
The New Jersey Devils are having a bad season. They are not going to the playoffs in a year that had aspirations of doing so. After a summer of hype, they failed expectations from the first game of the season on. That led to them being sellers all season long. They didn’t even necessarily wait for the deadline to start selling off parts. They have been making moves to improve this team’s future while acknowledging a lost season for months.
It started back in December when they traded Taylor Hall to the Arizona Coyotes for picks and prospects. Then in the week leading up to the deadline, they traded Blake Coleman to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Andy Green to the New York Islanders within hours of each other. It has been tough to watch some fan-favorite players go out the door but sometimes it needs to be done.
Then, on the trade deadline day itself, they made three moves to try to better their future. The first move made was when they sent Wayne Simmonds to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. Then, they traded Sami Vatanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for picks and prospects. They closed out their day by sending Louis Domingue to the Vancouver Canucks for Zane McIntire.
Those moves were somewhat expected, but the return was a little different from what we expected. They might not have gotten the return for Simmonds or Vatanen that they thought they were going to. They also showed that they are committed to the future, no matter how you look at it. These are the three things we learned from the trade deadline:
Kyle Palmieri might be a part of the future
The New Jersey Devils moved some key pieces for key future assets over the past little while. One guy that they have kept through it all is Kyle Palmieri. He has been one of the leaders on this team for a long time. The Devils were clearly not given the right offer for him so they decided to keep him. He has the rest of this season and all of next season remaining on his contract.
This could mean that he is a part of the future of this team. He is not a superstar player that will command 8-11 million but he is a very good player that you put around star players like that. Palmieri is going to be there for the rest of the season which gives endless possibilities to the rest of his career with the Devils.
There is no guarantee that Palmieri sticks around to see this thing through but the chances got better after he was not traded away at the deadline. If all of the young players clicked next season to keep this team in a playoff race, Palmieri would be the perfect veteran to have there with them in the top-six. He very well could be a part of the future if they come to a nice contract extension once he is eligible on July 1st. If not, they still should be able to get some sort of good return in a trade either at the draft or later.
Tom Fitzgerald has a plan in mind
It is no guarantee that Tom Fitzgerald is going to get the “interim tag” removed from his job title. He was named as the interim general manager following the firing of Ray Shero in early January. He has already put his stamp on this team in such a short amount of time. There really hasn’t been much negative talk about him, but he hasn’t necessarily won fans over yet.
He got a good return for both Blake Coleman and Andy Greene but fans are attached to both of them so it might take a while for fans to see that. He was okay on the trade deadline but he also didn’t make any serious mistakes. Nobody offered him what he felt was enough for Palmieri so he kept him. That could prove to be a pretty big decision down the road.
Whether or not he stays, he has a plan in his head. If he is allowed to try to execute said plan, he has already begun the process. It is clear that he is going to try to build around Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, which is what any smart GM would do. At the very least, it is good to have a general manager that has a plan in mind. The way that the rest of this season goes will be a big deciding factor on whether or not he stays.
The future is so bright if played well
The New Jersey Devils have stunk this season. The odor of Taylor Hall’s contract situation was a big problem at the beginning of the year and it was taken care of. MacKenzie Blackwood has come on to be a very good goalie that could perhaps be their guy going forward. If the offseason goes well, this team could have a bright future.
They struck gold when they won the lottery twice in three years. They got Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes out of it and should have another chance at the lottery again this season. If they don’t win the lottery, a top-five pick should still be in their future. That means that another high-end player is coming into the organization in June. They also have three first-round picks in total so there could be some sweet additions here soon.
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They will join the likes of Hischier, Hughes, Blackwood, Nikita Gusev, Joey Anderson, Ty Smith, Kevin Bahl, Nolan Foote, Jesper Bratt, Jesper Boqvist, and Nick Merkley among others. It is a young team that has a lot of promising prospects on the way as well. If a good amount of these guys hit their full potential, this is going to be a good team.