The New Jersey Devils have started to develop a good core that’s still very young. While that’s mostly a positive, they could use the addition of players with some experience that could grow with the team. A player who fits this perfectly is winger Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks. In his five career seasons, Meier has shown an ability to put up points while playing a solid two-way game which is something the team needs. His Corsi has never dropped below 50% and his career average is an incredibly solid 56%. His Fenwick numbers tell the same tale. This is all the more impressive because San Jose went from a strong team to a bad one over the last few seasons. It has not had much of an impact on his numbers and what he brings to the table in that area.
Why would the Sharks move him?
The Sharks still have a lot of money locked up long term in players who will not be moving. Evander Kane, Logan Couture, and Tomáš Hertl all make sizable amounts of money with no-movement clauses while on defense things are worse. Erik Karlsson’s deal at $11.5 million per season is a disaster. Brent Burns was also one of the top defenders for a long time, but now he is 36 and signed till 2026 at $8 million. Then there’s 34-year-old Marc-Edouard Vlasic. He is on the books at $7 million for one more year.
The only option if they wish to change up the team in a meaningful way in the next half a decade is to trade more draft picks and pray these players can make a late-career surge or move a bigger contract without a no-trade clause to try and get some depth or picks.
So what could the Devils offer them?
The obvious choice is Pavel Zacha. They were drafted the same year and Zacha had a breakout year production-wise leading the Devils in scoring. Fans of the Devils have some very different opinions on him and it is incredibly hard to tell what the organization thinks of him let alone other teams or GMs. He is a young center who nearly put up 35 points in a shortened season and has one season left at the low cost of $2.25 million.
If this was an offer that they would accept, the Devils should take it and run. If not adding a mid-round pick would be something to strongly consider for both sides.
With the emergence of Michael McLeod, the Devils have three solid centers and this saw the movement of Zacha to the wing, a position that he does not normally play. The team is in the market for a consistent player, or at least they should be and Meier would slot in right away with fellow swiss player Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt, giving the team a two-way line that can play top-six minutes for years but also one that has a good amount of experience. They could take the harder jobs and leave easier matchups for Jack Hughes along with whoever is going to be scoring goals for him the next few seasons be it Yegor Sharangovich or possibly Alexander Holtz.