After removing the Montreal Canadiens from his Twitter and Instagram bio this week, forward Max Domi has now changed his agent from Pat Brisson to Darren Ferris. Speculation is his time is done there and he has moved his way up the ‘Trade Bait’ list on TSN. Should the New Jersey Devils be interested?
Domi’s career thus far is a roller coaster. He came out of the gates hot and looked like a stud. Almost 20 goals, over 50 points, he would hit and stand up for his teammates with a willingness to drop the gloves. He was by all accounts a cornerstone of the future for the Arizona Coyotes. He followed it up with two straight years of 9 goals and they decided to sell high on him, turning him into Alex Galchenyuk.
With his new team, Domi exploded for a career high 28 goals and 72 points. This season he dropped to 17 goals and 44 points and is on the chopping block yet again. This still bears the question, should and will the Devils be interested. The answer is: for the right price. He would have been second on the team in points and goals last year behind Palmieri.
Being moved this quick the Devils should us a “buyer beware” approach, but unlike the insane price for Kasperi Kapanen the Pittsburgh Penguins paid last week, the Canadiens likely won’t hit that kind of return for Domi.
Other than his production, he is scrappy by nature much like Miles Wood, which is something else the Devils desperately need. Especially on someone who can actually play. Filling these two roles would help us a tonne and make games more exciting for the fan. All he would have to do is play his game and score 20. then odds are he becomes a fan favorite. He could and would slot into a spot in the top six on whatever line Jesper Bratt is not on giving us a good pair down the left.
The deal would be rather hard to make for the Devils since they are missing their own 2nd-round pick the next two years (but they do have the New York Islanders’ from the Andy Greene trade). If Max wanted to play in Jersey on a reasonable deal of probably $3.5 million-4 million, a small pay raise, the Devils should consider trading the Vancouver 1st-round pick. If they wanted an earlier pick, the Devils should walk away from the deal. His big 28 goal season was a flash in the pan and he will be a half-point-per-game player through his prime. He would make the team better, but not move the needle enough to push them into the playoff conversation. Progress is progress and any move that would help should be looked into.