Ray Shero’s Worst Moves As New Jersey Devils General Manager

5. 2017 Trade Deadline

The 2016-17 New Jersey Devils were an awful roster. Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall tied for the team lead in points with 53. Cory Schneider started to show real issues in net after years where he was one of the best in the league. The team was forced to rely on Ben Lovejoy as a first-line defenseman. The team was still relying way too much on Michael Cammalleri for offense (which he wasn’t giving them). It was no surprise the Devils were going to be sellers at the trade deadline.

The Devils had eight players over the age of 30. Schneider, Travis Zajac, Andy Greene, and Lovejoy weren’t going anywhere. However, it was open season for Kyle Quincey, Vernon Fiddler, P.A. Parenteau, and Cammalleri (who nobody bit on with that contract).

Shero had assets, and he was willing to trade them, but instead of filling up on draft picks, he went after prospects with most of these trades. Quincey had the most value, but instead of getting a mid-round pick, he went after Columbus Blue Jackets’ defenseman Dalton Prout. The best thing Prout ever did for the Devils was when he got traded for Eddie Lack.

Then, he traded Parenteau, who had 13 goals in 59 games at the time of the deal, for merely a 6th-round pick. Nashville didn’t even really use him down the stretch, and it looked like P.A. was cooked. Maybe teams were on to something, but before the trade, he was still scoring.

Fiddler was a fine defenseman, and he got the Devils a 4th-round pick. That trade isn’t too bad. Kalinin was trying to stick on the roster. The Devils traded him for Viktor Loov, who they traded again just one year later.

The moves on their own don’t look like the worst, but to take a team that just needed more talent, the Devils used their assets and got basically a whole lot of nothing for it.