Assessing 5 New Jersey Devils Trades On Capfriendly’s Armchair GM
By Nick Villano
There were a lot of Devils-Lightning trades just because of the situation the Lightning find themselves in. If you look at the salary cap space of every team, the Devils are at the bottom of the league with $17 million in space (although that will change once the Devils sign Mackenzie Blackwood and Jesper Bratt). Meanwhile, the Lightning are in the middle with over $2 million, but they still have to sign Anthony Cirelli, Erik Cernak, and Mikhail Sergachev.
So, the concept of this is the Devils would pay a small price in order to get a big prospect and a decent NHL player. Most would think that the Lightning would try to dump Tyler Johnson in a deal like this, but the same person making this trade has Johnson going to Detroit. (That deal seems extremely unlikely.)
The Devils would almost certainly do this deal, and honestly, the Lightning might seriously consider it. Foote is a nice player that could turn into something, but he’s not projected to become a star. The star is Sergachev, and the Lightning have to find a way to sign him.
It’s not like Killorn has no value. The Devils would love to add him to their left wing depth. He scored a career-high 26 goals last season despite the season getting cut short by the Coronavirus. It’s more realistic to expect 18-20 goals from him over the course of his contract, but getting that kind of value at $4.45 million over the next three seasons is really good. Adding in a pick for the Lightning, and this feels like as close to a win-win as you’ll see on the CapFriendly. The Devils would probably have to upgrade it to a 2nd-round pick, and probably could add a middle-of-the-pack prospect, but it’s still a nice deal.
Next. Worst Moves By Ray Shero With Devils. dark
Who won this trade: Everyone