New Jersey Devils: 5 Kyle Palmieri Trades We’d Love To See

The New Jersey Devils are sitting Kyle Palmieri despite him being healthy. He’s not struggling on the ice. In fact, he’s been one of the best players on the ice over the past few weeks. However, the Devils are making him a healthy scratch for quote “precautionary reasons”.

We’ve been here before. The Devils started sitting Taylor Hall for precautionary reasons last season, and he was traded days later to the Arizona Coyotes for a big package of picks and prospects. The hope here is the Devils do the same thing with Palmieri. It’s clear the last-ditch effort to get him to agree to a contract extension went terribly. It usually doesn’t work out unless the team comes with a Godfather offer like the New York Rangers did with Chris Kreider. So, a trade seems imminent.

How can the New Jersey Devils win a Kyle Palmieri deal?

The Devils still have needs not only on the team but along the prospect pool. There are a lot of decent defensive prospects in Kevin Bahl, Nikita Okhotyuk, Reilly Walsh, and Michael Vukojevic, but none of them are considered top prospects. They could all make the NHL one day, but seeing one of them as a top-line defenseman seems unlikely.

Maybe the Devils take a flier on a high-upside defensive prospect that could jump into a top-line role. There are needs at the wing with Palmieri likely gone that the Devils could fill. Palmieri seems like the first domino to fall, and the Devils clearly think they are close to a deal, so let’s take a look at some of the best possible deals the Devils can make. We will attempt to be realistic and stay within the salary cap thanks to CapFriendly’s trade machine tool.

Unfortunately, the Devils aren’t getting Noah Dobson or Oliver Wahlstrom in these deals. There are some good team fits and others that might not really hit what the Devils need. The Boston Bruins aren’t on this list since the only good deal to be had (unless you’re a big Jake DeBrusk fan) can be seen here. The Devils will do well when they finally pull the trigger on a Palmieri trade sometime within the next week.

The New York Islanders are actually okay in terms of salary cap situation since they put Anders Lee‘s $7 million on LTIR. So, getting Palmieri to the Islanders without going over the cap won’t be a problem. That will make things a little easier for Lou Lamoriello and Tom Fitzgerald to get a deal done. This would also be a good situation for Palmieri himself since he won’t have to leave his wife or his home during a pandemic.

Making the deal work will be a little more complicated. Obviously, Devils fans will want some of the top players/prospects the Islanders have to offer, but some of them are already making contributions to the NHL squad. The Islanders aren’t going to take away from the current foundation that has them fighting for first in the East Division and a possible Stanley Cup contender.

So, the Devils look down the prospect list and go for high upside at a needed position. Robin Salo has been very good for his Örebro HK SHL team. He put up 30 points from the blue line, and he’s shown poise while playing big minutes for a team looking to make a push for the playoffs. The Devils have plenty of offensive defensemen, but Salo is good in all three zones. He could develop into a really good defenseman.

Ruslan Iskhakov is another former 2nd-round pick like Salo, but he’s a little further away from NHL readiness. He’s currently playing in Europe after leaving the University of Connecticut during the pandemic. Not sure if he plans on going back, but he’s played well in Finland this season. He has 37 points in 57 games.

Since the Devils are getting two pretty good prospects in this deal, they have no leg to stand on to ask for a 2nd-round pick. A 3rd-round pick might be a little too spicy, but it’s a bad draft so teams might be more willing to give up the assets. The Devils will retail a quarter of Palmieri’s salary if they don’t see the need to retain other salaries in other deals.

This one is going to take some begging, but the Devils and Avalanche were working on a Taylor Hall deal last year that never came to fruition. The bevy of Avalanche prospects being off the table probably got to the then-GM and they moved on to a team in Arizona that was willing to give up some of its best young players. Bowen Byram is off the table. Alex Newhook is off the table. They probably weren’t even trading Connor Timmons.

However, this year is a little different. Palmieri is a good candidate to re-sign if the situation works. The pandemic has teams considering all their options, and the Avalanche went through another postseason where they didn’t come close. This might have the team a little more desperate to make a move to push them over the top. Palmieri is a perfect candidate to get a team over the top.

The Avs will still keep the aforementioned prospects off the table for a rental, but an interesting name is a defenseman they took in the 2nd round last year. Justin Barron fell in the NHL Draft due to issues with blood clots, but they haven’t come up this year. He’s having a really good season in the QMJHL, and none of the injury issues that plagued him have come up. He’s a dynamic skater that could be quite good in the NHL, but it’s hard to see him getting a real shot.

The Avalanche could add a 3rd-round pick, but they might say it makes the deal too rich since they only have one pick between rounds two and four. Maybe the Devils accept a 5th rounder or move the pick to 2022 to keep it in the 3rd round.

The Vegas Golden Knights could really use some offensive help at 5v5. They are actually pretty good on the power play, so that’s not the issue, but even-strength scoring is what this team needs to make some headway in the playoffs.

A deal here is complicated, but the Devils and Knights can make it work. The Devils will want one of the Knights top prospects. Jack Dugan, a former teammate of new Devil Tyce Thompson, would be the first ask, but the Knights would almost certainly say no. Brendan Brisson is a player they won’t want to lose, but the Devils can do some convincing here.

Brisson was the team’s 1st-round pick last season, and he’s currently playing at the University of Michigan. He could sign an ELC this offseason, ending his college career and starting to make moves towards the NHL. However, he’s not going to help the Knights in the playoffs. Vegas has been so close to lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup, and Palmieri helps them now a lot more than Brisson does.

The Devils would have to retain half of Palmieri’s salary and take Nick Holden’s contract to even get this close to working. Holden has another year left on his salary, which pays him $1.7 million per season. Helping them out with this deal might help push the Knights to give up on a former 1st-round pick.

This is the type of deal where the Devils choose a bevy of prospects over a top prospect. This is very similar to the Taylor Hall deal, except they take back a contract in Blake Comeau to make the salaries work. Comeau is a free agent at the end of the season, and honestly the Devils might try to flip him again so he can help another playoff team.

Antonio Stranges is a player that has a ton of upside, but there are clear flaws in his game. He’s someone I liked enough to put him as the 3rd-round pick in the Devils mock draft. The Stars were able to wait until the 4th round to get him. His hectic playstyle needs to be fixed, but if it is, he has star power. He needs great coaching, but with a veteran like Lindy Ruff behind the bench, he could get the most offensively out of Stranges.

Ben Gleason is currently playing defense with the Texas Stars of the AHL. He’s 23-years-old, and he is still trying to see where his best shot is to make the NHL. He’s actually playing a lot better this season, adding more defensive prowess to his offensive game. He can already make plays at the AHL level, so it would work as another shot at a defenseman who could be near NHL ready.

The 2nd-round pick gives the Devils the ability to pick a player of their own. Adding another 2nd rounder should get them more pieces in a draft that might have some hidden gems thanks to a lack of scouting. The Devils can take advantage of the Stars situation and help them make the playoffs with a Palmieri trade.