3 Trades To Make Colorado Avalanche And New Jersey Devils Better

The Devils came into the season with two 3rd-round picks, but this seems like it would make a lot of sense to trade them both in a deal like this. The Devils sent one pick to get Jonas Siegenthaler. So, here’s another decent defensive upgrade that can play penalty kill, which the Devils were terrible at last season.

This seems like a deal that would come after the expansion draft since both players in the deal need to get protected. Actually, if both players are getting protected anyway, it could happen at any time.

The Devils are focusing on making their special teams better. They need to keep spaces open for younger players, but asking someone like Bahl to revamp the penalty kill is too big an ask for a player like him. He might do best spending a more normal season in the AHL. The Devils would have to replace Michael McLeod after his best season, but there are options within the organization to do that. There aren’t many options to fix the penalty kill within the organization.

Colorado has the fourth-best penalty kill in the playoffs so far. They had the eighth-best penalty kill in the regular season. Ryan Graves played the most minutes on the unit with 177 according to Natural Stat Trick. This would really help the Devils at the price of a forward who finally hit his stride. Devils fans might not like losing one of their former 1st-round picks to get someone who can kill penalties and play on the third line, but it’s a necessary evil of this situation.