New Jersey Devils: Time To Trade For Johnny Gaudreau

The New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames make a deal for Johnny Gaudreau.

The New Jersey Devils just traded Taylor Hall to the Arizona Coyotes back in December. He was the best player the team has seen in a very long time. Well, we hope that Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes continue their trend towards being that good but another proven star would go a long way for them. If the Calgary Flames make Johnny Gaudreau available, the Devils would be very smart to pursue him.

The kid known as Johnny Hockey is a very good player. He rose through the college ranks quickly and his arrival in Calgary turned some heads. He is a small-sized forward that has shown that he is too good to look at his stature. He has developed into one of the best offensive players in the National Hockey League.

In 2018-19 he was MVP good. He had 36 goals and 63 assists for 99 points in 82 games. This season, he was a little bit off the mark of a point per game as he had 18 goals and 40 assists for 58 points in 70 games. His goal scoring was a bit down so his total points took a hit but there is no doubt he was still a very good player. If he brought that exact “below his standard” production to the Devils he still would have been their best player by far.

The Calgary Flames are rumored to be a team going after Hall. He is a native of the area so him going to play at home makes some sense. It would also put them in a crunch as far as money so moving one of their higher-paid contracts might need to happen. Hall doesn’t have to be the only player that goes home to play, as Johnny is a New Jersey native. He grew up a Flyers fan living in South Jersey but the Devils would be able to turn his heart towards his home state’s team.

If the Devils added a dynamic player like Gaudreau, it would be a lot of fun to see him help the younger guys. He will be 27 years old by the time the next season starts, so he isn’t old by any means. He has much more experience in the league than some players on the Devils. He would be an awesome winger for someone like Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes. Hischier would likely get the first crack at him because Hughes is the more offensively minded one. However, stranger things have happened

The Devils have not been shy about making big moves in any year no matter who the general manager is. If there was a really solid move to make, it would be adding a star like Gaudreau who has two years left on a team-friendly deal. Then after those years pass, they could decide on extending him or trading him along for more assets. Either way, it would be nice to see more talent come into the Devils organization.