No, New Jersey Devils Shouldn’t Trade Nico Hischier For Cole Caufield

It’s happening again. The hockey world is telling the New Jersey Devils to trade their young stars for struggling players. It happens every year, and it’s the situation when the team stinks year after year after year. The New Jersey Devils are trying to build a foundation around Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. No doubt, people will say that the Devils should trade everyone from Jesper Bratt to Pavel Zacha to Michael McLeod to more obvious players like Damon Severson and P.K. Subban. Severson is in trade “rumors” literally every single year because of his affordable contract. Most of the time, these trade rumors are just crazy fans looking to steal players from a bad team. This latest trade comes from a legitimate source.

So, Nico Hischier, former number-one overall pick who gets better each year at a 200-foot game and is looking like his best offensive self since his year next to the literal MVP for Cole Caufield. Caufield has one goal in 29 games this season. He literally needed a video review to get that lone goal. Caufield is having a dreadful season this year, and now Montreal wants to trade him for a legit first-line center.

Let’s try to look at this legitimately. Hischier isn’t exactly at the same value as he was when he was drafted in 2017. He’s starting to form into what he’s going to be, which is a center who is really good at both sides of the puck but not necessarily great at either. This isn’t supposed to be anything against Hischier. He’s amazing to have, and he’s only going to get better once the Devils get him better wingers.

Caufield, on the other hand, has seen one of the biggest struggles of anyone this season. Don’t get us wrong, he is still incredibly valuable and the Devils would love to have him on the team, but he just doesn’t look like a guarantee when it comes to an NHL player. Again, his entire game is scoring, and he has one goal in 29 games.

Caufield and Hughes played together for the U.S. Development Program back in the day. They were drafted together, and they played their best when they were together. This would give Hughes a legit winger for basically the next seven years as long as Caufield’s terrible season is just a fluke. However, that’s just not what Caufield’s value is right now.

To be fair to both players, their teams are a mess. The Devils have enough first-line wingers to supply one center, and they chose to give them to Jack Hughes. Hischier has been left with a struggling Tomas Tatar, Pavel Zacha, Jimmy Vesey, and Nathan Bastian. In Montreal, he would get a couple of interesting wingers, but what does that do for the future of Nick Suzuki?

The Canadiens signed Suzuki to a massive contract extension, and it makes a lot of sense. You gotta pay your centers, which the Devils already did.

On paper, we understand why teams are going to target Hischier. The Devils have Jack Hughes as the team’s top center. They also have Dawson Mercer, who despite his recent struggles, has been really good as a rookie center this season. They will also have a very high draft pick this season. This is a center-heavy NHL Draft.

Is this deal preposterous? If it’s one for one, then yes it’s preposterous. If the Canadiens throw in a few significant pieces, ala a first-round pick and Kaiden Guhle, then there is a conversation to be had. However, it still probably isn’t worth it for the Devils. We get it. Patience hasn’t worked. We’ve been bad for a long time now, but panic trades just to move pieces never work. Caufield would be fun, but losing Hischier to make it happen isn’t the right move.