New Jersey Devils: 5 Players To Target On TSN’s ‘Trade Bait’ List

Patrik Laine

This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about Patrik Laine at Pucks and Pitchforks. This weekend, we put forth four possible trades it would take to get Laine. Back in June, we told you how the Devils could pull off getting both Laine and Hall. Earlier in June, we gave you five reasons a Laine trade makes sense. Without beating a dead horse here, we’ll make this one quick.

Laine is the perfect addition for the Devils right now. They can either use him on Nico Hischier‘s side to put Laine with someone who is defensively responsible while also being able to set him up, or they can put him next to Jack Hughes to have one of the most skilled second lines in the game. (Imagine a Nikita Gusev, Hughes, Laine line just merking teams every might. Just have to keep them in the offensive zone.)

Laine has 102 goals over the past three seasons. He’s a little inconsistent on the score sheet, which could be a good thing honestly. It’s impacted his value at this point, but he needs a system that will get him just a buffet’s worth of chances. That sounds like a Lindy Ruff system.

With the amount of youth on the Devils, adding a 22-year-old superstar and former second-overall pick would finally put some substance behind the Devils hype. Things look bad on paper, but a move like this can immediately change their fortunes. With the New York Islanders heading to the Eastern Conference Finals and the New York Rangers getting the number-one overall pick, the Devils need a win this offseason. This would be exactly that.