New Jersey Devils: Potential Trade Partners Without First Round Picks
By Mike Luci
Pittsburgh Penguins
Like New York, the Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have a first or second-round pick in this year’s draft. Collectively, Pittsburgh has around $20 million in salary coming off at season’s end, but have quite a few restricted free agents to re-sign, including goaltenders Matt Murray and Jarry Tristan.
Between the salary increases both will command, Marcus Peterson’s new contract kicking in, and looming possibility of the cap going down, it’s unlikely the organization won’t need some degree of cap relief. The retracted cap space may force Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford to trade one of his netminders. Despite his pivotal role in Pittsburgh’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, Murray was ultimately outperformed by Tristan this season, but still may demand a lot more money than his counterpart.
The presence of Cory Schneider makes it unlikely the New Jersey Devils would swing a trade for Murray, however if it’s part of a broader series of events—Schneider getting traded, bought out, or Devils flipping Murray—the cap relief Pittsburgh would be getting, in addition to one of New Jersey’s 1st-round picks might warrant the Penguins to package another worthwhile asset with Murray. The Devils would make out well if they also acquired someone along the lines of Jared McCann, John Marino, or (in a more groundbreaking deal) Bryan Rust.