The New Jersey Devils are the ones who could be trading players for picks.
The New Jersey Devils might certainly be in the market to add someone to their roster that can help them start winning. As they start to rise in the Metropolitan Division, there are certainly a few older teams that might start to take big steps back. However, that doesn’t mean they should be done adding picks either. There are some players on the Devils’ current roster that had good years that can be moved while their value is high.
That is why a trade of Pavel Zacha and Nick Merkley in exchange for two picks and Travis Dermott is something that New Jersey should consider. It looks like Pavel Zacha had a good year on the surface based on his point total. He certainly didn’t have a bad year but it is clear that this might be an outlier. He did a lot of damage late in games and on the power play. His analytics weren’t that good which also shows that this might not be sustainable.
Nick Merkley is a good fourth-line player but he isn’t changing any games. The Leafs might be able to get the most of these two players without relying on them too much. The Devils would be much better off with some draft picks and a defenseman that they might be able to use effectively.
It still remains to be seen if the Leafs will be sellers or buyers during the summer. Either way, you can probably expect some sort of change because they continue letting themselves down once the playoffs roll around after good regular seasons. Hopefully, the Devils are able to take advantage if they decide to overreact to another bad playoff year.