Trading 7 New Jersey Devils To Playoff Teams For A Special Run

If the New Jersey Devils could loan players for the 24-team playoff, who would be the best fit?

This week while scrolling through the various articles tied to the NHL’s announcement we found an interesting one on The Athletic. Sean McIndoe wrote about each team drafting one player from the seven teams left out of the 24-team playoff. We love that idea, so we decided to put our own spin on it. If the New Jersey Devils best players were available for a loan to teams in the playoffs, where would be their best fits?

Obviously, this isn’t a traditional trade, this is just allowing certain players on the team to go through a playoff race before coming back to New Jersey. It would give them pivotal playoff experience while also allowing a team to make a deeper run in the playoffs thanks to one of the Devils’ stars.

Right now, the Devils are staring 10 months of no competitive hockey. Just to get some of these players on the ice in that time is crucial. There’s no telling what the Devils are going to look like come December or January, but in the meantime, the ones that are coming back can get some crucial experience.

Finding a fit isn’t difficult, but finding the right fit needs to make sense. The Devils will want to find a team fit that’s going to go deep into the playoffs. We don’t want to loan a player to a team that’s just going to get swept in the play-in round. Playing three games here doesn’t make a lot of sense. So we dug through the team needs of all the playoff teams, and we placed seven Devils on the candidates.