Pucks and Pitchforks Official Trade Deadline Predictions

Sami Vatanen/Ryan Murray

Nick Villano: Sami Vatanen and Ryan Murray should be in the same breath because it’s extremely likely one goes, but with the Devils’ current defensive depth, losing both while also trading Kulikov seems unlikely. My prediction is Vatanen goes for an extremely low price (4th-round pick?) and the Devils try to re-sign Murray to a cheap contract for next year. He’s played better as of late after he finally figured out his role in the Lindy Ruff system and when he didn’t need to fix P.K. Subban.

Vinnie Parise: Out of Murray or Vatanen, it would make sense to trade both but if they had to keep one it would have to be Murray. Vatanen landed them a nice package last season so he should be sent away again this year.

David Lebovitz: I’d love to see the world where Ryan Murray doesn’t have bones made of paper-mâché and gets the career rich talent richly deserved. Alas, we live in this timeline, where he’s traded for a 5th-round pick – and my prediction is that if he leaves, the Devils get a fifth rounder in return, or at least a sixth and seventh. Vatanen just makes me too sad to write about, I don’t know if anyone wants him after the delayed signing and the lackluster year. Godspeed, Vatman, wherever you land. I can’t find a mite of trade chatter around Vatanen, and why would there be? He took way too long to sign and he hasn’t been all that good this year. Maybe he’ll fetch a low pick somewhere. I’m going to use my brainpower for other things now.

Charlie Borges Jr.: Ryan Murray did not really get a good start with the Devils and then Lindy Ruff decided to scratch him for a few games for no apparent reason. While Murray should be given an extension, he is for sure someone the Devils would benefit to trade. Murray will be traded to the Winnipeg Jets with half of his salary retained for a 3rd-round pick. When the Devils traded Vatanen last season, no one knew the type of player Janne Kuokkanen would be in a Devils uniform. However, his play really has dipped this season. His non-usage on the powerplay has been a drawback for him this season. His cap hit is much more manageable this season than it was last. Vatanen will be traded to the Boston Bruins for a 4th round pick and a prospect.

Rob DeLuca: These two have been playing together for a good chunk of the season, so it only makes sense to have them written about together. Neither of these guys has any real trade value right now. Sami Vatanen’s time in New Jersey is over, it is just a matter of whether or not the Devils trade him away for something cheap or if he just walks away next season. Ryan Murray on the other hand is a little trickier. He will not be traded but to say whether or not he is re-signed is the interesting part of it. If he takes a significant pay cut he can stay around. Otherwise, let him go.

Andy Studna: I hate to get on the case of Sami Vatanen because he was instrumental in the Devils’ march to the playoffs in 2018. However, he hasn’t been good this year, at all. I was sold on this being a great pickup for the Devils’ d-core just weeks before the season started, but maybe the fact that he was still available should have been a warning sign to Tom Fitzgerald. I don’t know what his value is to other teams this year, but it certainly isn’t Janne Kuokkanen + anymore. He’ll stay and walk as a UFA. It seems as if it’s been a tale of two seasons for Ryan Murray. Before the Devils’ COVID-pause, he was fantastic. It appeared he was the true stay-at-home d-man the Devils have longed for in prior seasons. He missed the first few games the Devils played after their pause with a mysterious illness that wasn’t COVID and he spent the next few games after that as a healthy scratch to boot. He’s been a bit better of late, but I don’t know where the wheels fell off and how he ended up in the doghouse. The Devils will deal him to their rivals down I-95 in Philadelphia for a 4th rounder.