3 Trades New Jersey Devils Can Still Make Before Season Starts
The New Jersey Devils have been wheeling and dealing all offseason to put together the best possible roster on short notice. They signed the top free agent on the market in Dougie Hamilton. They traded for necessary defensive help in Ryan Graves. Tom Fitzgerald finally got a backup goalie who can be reliable in Jonathan Bernier (although, he paid handsomely for him). A few weeks after this flurry, the Devils announced they signed Tomas Tatar to help the forwards. It really finalized a roster that was looking to still give a chance to its younger players.
Or, did it solidify the roster? The Devils were tied to star players through trade, and some even mentioned them when it came to offer sheets. They still have $12 million in cap space (luckily, the Travis Zajac one-day contract did not impact this). That’s a lot of money to make moves with. Only five teams have more cap space, and one is the Minnesota Wild who still has to sign Kirill Kaprizov to a massive deal. The other four aren’t expected to make big moves towards being contenders this year.
The trade market has been quiet for weeks as many NHL GMs take some time off after a very long two years. Officially, there were zero trades in August. There was only one trade in September, and it was Montreal reacting to the loss of Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet. Teams are preparing for training camp, and some might really like what they have. Others, however, might want to make moves to tweak the roster.
The Devils are absolutely a team that is looking to make tweaks. Some of their top prospects looked really good at the Prospect’s Challenge over the weekend, but that doesn’t mean that Fitzgerald is going to rest on his laurels. Competition is a good thing. He could still make some moves to change this roster before opening night.
Vladimir Tarasenko trade
Yeah, we’re still here. Bally Sports Midwest reporter Andy Strickland says that Vladimir Tarasenko has people raving about how good he looks both on and off the ice. Word is he arrived at training camp in great shape. Of course, that is what is going to come out. All offseason, there were reports teams were concerned about Tarasenko’s shoulder when discussing a trade. He’s missed most of the last two seasons with injuries, and teams are obviously skeptical.
The Blues aren’t going to give Tarasenko away. If they were just looking for salary cap space, this deal would have been done already. It sounds like St. Louis still thinks a king’s ransom can be had in a Tarasenko trade. It’s hard to see some of the trades across the league that come for star players in their late 20s and understand that your star just doesn’t have the same value.
Once we get closer and closer to the season, the Blues will face more pressure to make a move. Tarasenko officially requested a trade. The Blues still have to re-sign Robert Thomas. There are moves this team wants to make moving forward.
There are few teams that can actually make a Tarasenko deal work. One of the other teams reportedly in on Tarasenko was the New York Islanders. With new deals for Kyle Palmieri, Ilya Sorokin, Casey Cizikas, and Adam Pelech, along with free agent signings Zach Parise and Zdeno Chara, there’s no way the Islanders can fit any kind of salary on the books. The Devils are probably one of the few options for the Blues, and they are likely the only option if they want someone to eat his entire salary. Tarasenko has a no-trade clause, so if he doesn’t want to go to New Jersey he’s not coming, but it’s looking like it’s either New Jersey or St. Louis for Tarasenko this season.
Prospect For Prospect Trade
The Devils have done trades of once highly-touted prospects in the past. It never actually works out that well, but it’s always nice to see the Devils take a chance. They already did this once this offseason when they traded Nick Merkley to the San Jose Sharks for Christian Jaros. Merkley was fine during his time in New Jersey, but they could have used an extra defenseman more than an extra forward.
The Devils still have a plethora of prospects who will be fighting for roster spots this season. Alexander Holtz, Nolan Foote, and Dawson Mercer are getting the headlines after their Prospect Challenge performances, but there are others like Jesper Boqvist, Marian Studenic, Chase De Leo, and AJ Greer who are young players with experience who hope time in the AHL will give them an edge.
If the Devils can’t find spots for everyone, they might look to give some of those “older” prospects a chance somewhere else. They can then give someone else’s prospect a second chance with another organization.
The most likely candidate is probably Boqvist. If Dawson Mercer beats him out for a roster spot, he might watch as other candidates pass him by too. Boqvist once had a ton of hope, but he hasn’t lived up to that hope. Now, he needs to prove something or it might be better to give him a change of scenery.
The Blockbuster Contract Dispute
Again, the New Jersey Devils have more than $12 million in cap space right now. They can afford to make a major move. That could be for a player who might be coming off an injury for a team looking for cap flexibility, or it could be trying to find a player who can’t come to an agreement on a contract extension. There are a surprising amount of players still negotiating terms of their next deal with training camp about a week away.
We’ve already mentioned Kaprizov and Thomas as restricted free agents who need deals, but they are very likely never getting traded. The Wild would rather watch Kaprizov spend a year overseas for free instead of getting assets but losing his rights. Thomas is a player the Blues really want to build around.
However, there is still Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Brady Tkachuk, Rasmus Dahlin, and Kieffer Bellows trying to negotiate contracts. Reports came out that Tkachuk was close to a deal, but we’d expect it to get announced by now. Quinn Hughes obviously already has ties to the Devils with both of his brothers here, and Jack Hughes has said a lot out loud about his contract dispute.
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This is highly unlikely, but it’s definitely not impossible. The Devils have the assets to make a deal work, and they have the space to add a superstar. Teams are trying to figure out their entire roster today, but the Devils can be patient and take advantage of a team that gets frustrated.