New Jersey Devils: 5 Huge Offseason Moves To Get Jack Hughes A Winger
The New Jersey Devils have a lot of pieces in the right places, but they are missing one major piece right now. They don’t have a top-line winger. That goes for the left side and the right side. They’ve tried many different players with Jack Hughes this year. The best linemates he’s had so far were a scorching hot Andreas Johnsson and Jesper Bratt. However, Bratt is perpetually in the doghouse (for seemingly no reason) and Johnsson is ice cold and actually got benched on Tuesday night.
So, the Devils clearly need wingers to help Hughes go to the next level. There is help coming eventually in the form of Alexander Holtz, but his recent struggles in the SHL show it’s unlikely he’s ready to be a 30-goal scorer in the NHL immediately. He is the long-term solution to the Devils’ wing problem, but in the short term, he might be better suited in the middle six.
Jack Hughes needs the New Jersey Devils to find better wingers.
There are other young wingers who make sense. The Devils have tried Yegor Sharangovich and Janne Kuokkanen. That was at least fun. Theoretically, Kyle Palmieri should fit next to Hughes, but he’s just off right now. Nikita Gusev’s skill should work next to Hughes, but he’s playing worse than Palmieri. The rest of the team’s wingers don’t work with Hughes’ abilities. He needs someone to set up around the net while he skates around two guys to get someone open.
Nolan Foote might fit on Hughes’ right in the long term, but expecting him to fully hit his potential is asking a little too much out of a flawed player. Foote should be a great shooter in the Palmieri mold, but putting first-line pressure right out of the gate could be asking for trouble.
So, the best way the Devils can find a great wing for Hughes is to look outside the organization. They need to add to this roster. The Devils have $38 million in cap space next season. Gary Bettman already said he expects the cap to be flat for four years, so the Devils shouldn’t go crazy, but they need to spend $17.1 million just to hit the cap floor. That’s also not considering the Seattle Kraken taking one of the Devils’ players. If they take P.K. Subban, then the Devils need to find a way to spend $26 million just to get to the floor.
There are wingers out there that the Devils could sorely use. Here are five stars the Devils could target in trades and free agency that would work perfectly next to Hughes.
Patrik Laine
Let’s just start with the huge get. The New Jersey Devils have always made a lot of sense for Patrik Laine. He’s an incredible scorer who is frustrating on defense, but the Devils have enough really good two-way forwards across all levels that they can afford to go all in on scoring. Laine is capable of scoring 40 goals in a season.
The Devils haven’t had someone with that much ability since Ilya Kovalchuk retired. Even Taylor Hall wasn’t expected to be a consistent 40-goal scorer (even if he scored 39 in his MVP season). Adding Laine to the team would change the outlook for the offense immediately.
Laine is currently on the Columbus Blue Jackets after he was traded for Pierre Luc Dubois. It always felt they made that trade to keep Jack Roslovic and get assets for Laine. The Devils have a ton of assets to trade for Laine, although his value is hard to peg.
John Tortorella has benched Laine in the past, so it’s hard for the Blue Jackets to demand the world for Laine. The coach said he wants Laine to be a power forward, which seems like he is trying to make him something that he is not. If he realized that by the offseason, the Devils could make a deal happen. It would cost something significant, but it’s not likely going to cost an uncomfortable package. The Blue Jackets could probably ask for Dawson Mercer or the Devils 1st-round pick, but asking for both would be a no.
Filip Forsberg
The Nashville Predators are expected to have a fire sale this season at the deadline, but reports say teams aren’t really looking to spend money. There are certain teams looking to add like the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets, but most of the league is looking to cut payroll with arenas likely going with reduced capacity for the playoffs. Also, without the capacity and playoff gate, teams who are close to the playoffs are missing that motivation to try and sneak into the playoff as a final seed.
That could put the Predators in an unenviable spot with Filip Forsberg. He’s 26 years old, and in a normal year he should fetch quite the haul. Unfortunately, it’s not a normal year. The Predators are toiling near the basement of the Central Division, and there’s no help in sight. Roman Josi is now hurt, and things might only get worse before it gets better.
So, this could be an opportunity for the Devils to swoop in. Obviously, the Devils don’t need Forsberg this year. The team just isn’t going to compete for a playoff spot. It’s out of the cards. They are already 11 points out of the final playoff spot, which is currently held by the Boston Bruins. The Devils could literally win 10 games in a row, and they wouldn’t be in a playoff spot.
However, Forsberg has one more year left at $6 million. The Devils could give him an extension this offseason. They could get a preview of what Forsberg brings to the table with Hughes right away. It could bring life to the Devils 19-year-old star. Or, the Devils could just target Forsberg in the offseason. He’s right around the same age as players Tom Fitzgerald has targeted. The Devils have been a frequent pairing with the Preds in the past. Even if its not Ray Shero in the seat, David Poile likely has an affinity for Tom Fitzgerald based on his past with Shero (unless there is something we don’t know). This trade makes sense on a lot of levels, but it all depends on how much it would cost.
Reilly Smith
People have been mocking trades of Reilly Smith for two years, but the Vegas Golden Knights have not budged. Either, he’s incredibly valuable to them in terms of trade value, or they have no plans to move him at all. The Golden Knights are always up against the salary cap, and a flat cap will not help.
However, the Knights have always found a way to make one or two moves to get out of trouble. They traded Nate Schmidt to the Vancouver Canucks last offseason to get some breathing room. They also moved Paul Statsny to the Winnipeg Jets. The issue is teams are less willing to take on salary this offseason after they didn’t get full capacity all season. Maybe the ESPN deal changes their mindset, but we can get into that in a future piece.
The Golden Knights only have $3 million in cap space. The Seattle Kraken aren’t eligible to take anyone from Vegas, so they aren’t capable to make room that way. The good news is they can add Jack Dugan to the forward group without having to re-sign anyone.
Smith only has one year remaining on his contract, so the Golden Knights only have one more year to move him. He only has nine points this season, but the Devils should be looking to buy low on former consistent 20-goal scorers since the pandemic might be having an effect on these players. Smith shouldn’t be on the top of the Devils’ list, but for the right price, he should absolutely be an option.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
With so much cap space this offseason, the Devils might be looking to break the bank on one major free agent. It would be nice if they can shock the world and get Alexander Ovechkin to leave Washington with an insane offer, but we’re trying not to be unrealistic. Gabriel Landeskog would be another great option, but he seems destined to stay in Colorado. One player who might not be destined to stay at the only team he’s ever known is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The Devils would have to spend significantly to get Nugent-Hopkins in the building, however it might be worth it. He’s a proven talent that was a former number-one overall pick. Did he live up to that expectation? Probably not, but he’s supremely talented and is still just 28 years old (at the time free agency starts).
The Devils might have to hit $7 million to sign Nugent-Hopkins. Sounds like a bad idea for a player who has never hit 70 points despite playing with Connor McDavid. He actually played more with Leon Draisaitl last season, who ended up winning the Hart Trophy. He’d be a massive signing that could give Hughes the veteran winger that is still able to put up 25 goals on his own.
Nugent-Hopkins is a major risk, but he costs nothing in assets. The Devils don’t have to lose out on their 1st-round defenseman this year or a future that involves Dawson Mercer. He comes for the price of cap space, which the Devils expect to have in spades for at least the next three years.
Blake Coleman
Blake Coleman is a jack of all trades, as Devils fans know more than anyone. He’s a different player than anyone on this list. He’s usually used as a change-of-pace player in the bottom six, but he has the skill that could be worthwhile on the top line. He definitely has 20-goal upside, and he’s a free agent at the end of the season.
He’s been great for the Tampa Bay Lightning since the Devils traded him near the deadline last year. He only has 11 points in 23 games this season, but those goals are incredibly clutch including this overtime winner from Tuesday night.
Coleman has always been a really valuable player. He can play center and wing. He’s an incredibly penalty killer. He proved that when given the opportunity, he’s easily a 20-goal scorer. He did it two seasons in a row with the Devils.
The Devils know and still love Coleman and his family. They’d be willing to give him a long-term deal at pretty decent money. They aren’t going to pay him $7 million per season, but nobody would be that upset with him getting Kyle Palmieri’s current deal (five years, $23 million). It’s a long length of time for a player who’s already 29, but it still makes sense for the short and the long term.
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So, why would Coleman make sense with Jack Hughes? He has an extra gear in his game that would push Hughes. He gets open very easily, and he takes advantage when teams forget about him. He also can go on breakaways or 2 on 1s with Hughes. It would be thinking outside the box, but the Devils have been forced to do that with Hughes anyway. This is a way to get Hughes an incredible winger for now at a reasonable price.