New Jersey Devils: 3 Toronto Maple Leafs Trades To Consider
The New Jersey Devils are looking for ways to make their team better this offseason. They have a budding core thanks to some good drafting and a little bit of luck. They won the draft lottery twice and that landed them with Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, both of which are impressive young centers. They also drafted some good players like Ty Smith and Alexander Holtz in the 1st round which has made the future look bright.
Landing some other later-round picks like Yegor Sharanovich and Jesper Bratt give fans something to look forward to. Now, they go into this offseason with the fourth-overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. They also have a lot of cap space to make any sort of moves if they want to do so. There are a few teams that may be willing to make big trades.
The New Jersey Devils are going to have a long offseason of trying to get better.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a team that might overreact to yet another early playoff exit. They have some very expensive players and they might be looking to use some of that money in other areas. A lot of that money is being given to young stars that would fit right in with the New Jersey Devils. It is certainly something to think about when evaluating the offseason for both teams.
New Jersey and Toronto have made trades with each other in the past. The Devils need a lot and the Leafs might be able to help. The Devils also have young cheap assets that might be able to help the Leafs with what they are doing. These are three trades for each team to consider:
William Nylander would help the New Jersey Devils a whole lot as they try to score more.
The New Jersey Devils would get a lot out of having someone like William Nylander in their lineup. He would solidify the top six and be amongst their best players. He would also more than likely be at or near the top of their scoring lead by the time any given season is over. He is a bit overshadowed by players like Auston Matthews and John Tavares in Toronto but he would be one of the main guys in New Jersey.
Giving up two top-quality picks for Nylander would be smart for the Devils. The New York Islanders first-round pick that New Jersey owns is now going to be somewhere between picks 28-31 so getting it to the Maple Leafs isn’t a bad idea if someone like William Nylander is coming back. The second-round pick that also belongs to New Jersey from the Islanders is also something that would be easy to move in a trade like this.
Damon Severson gives them another high-upside option on defense. There have already been rumors the Maple Leafs have been curious about Severson. He’s someone who’s shown flashes of greatness while being maddeningly inconsistent. Maybe the Leafs think he fits better in their system and can become a star there.
Nathan Bastian is someone who is a good bottom-six forward but you move him in a deal like this if you have to. He might be exposed in the expansion draft anyway. He would be a cheap hard-nosed player that the Leafs need anyway. As for Nylander, he would probably get looks with both Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier as both try to continue their development into top-quality NHL centermen. It is a trade that would be hard to convince Toronto on saying yes, but trading a young defenseman who has proven his worth like Severson comes with a price. Adding in a 1st rounder and another prospect (who could be switched out with another prospect if the Leafs so choose), and it could be close to what they want.
If the New Jersey Devils landed someone like Mitch Marner, it would change everything.
Mitch Marner has the ability to be a top-ten NHL scorer. He gets a large portion of his points from being a setup man but he can score some goals as well. He carries a large-cap hit and the Leafs have a lot of players with that right now. If they were to move any of their double-digit cap hit players, Mitch Marner is probably the first in line. Auston Matthews and John Tavares are probably pretty safe.
If the New Jersey Devils wanted to get a player like this, they would pay a lot but they would be getting the best player in the deal. A 2021 1st-round pick (NYI), Jesper Boqvist, Will Butcher, and Tyce Thompson is a lot but you make that deal 10 out of 10 times. You don’t know exactly what the future holds for the three young players but they are all cheap options that the Leafs could use. The first-round pick for the Islanders should be in play as we go into draft season.
If Marner played with New Jersey, there would be a lot of places to fit him in. You would think that he plays on one of Nico Hischeir’s or Jack Hughes’ wings. Hughes and Marner are both “pass first” guys so you would think that Nico would get the first crack. Hischier is also less gifted offensively than Hughes so having someone like Marner there would really help him reach his ceiling.
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.