New Jersey Devils: 5 Players Worth Trading 1st-Round Pick In NHL Draft
New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said during his season-ending press conference that he was willing to trade away his first-round pick in the NHL Draft. Then, that pick became second overall. It became a much different conversation. On paper, the difference between a second-overall pick and a fifth-overall pick (the Devils’ original position) should be menial at best. In reality, its value is impossible to really show.
This year, this is especially true. There are five superstar prospects in the NHL Draft. It’s Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovsky, Simon Nemec, Logan Cooley, and David Jiricek. There are others that analysts will fall in love with, but those seem to be the consensus top five. Now that the Devils have the second-overall pick, they have the pick of whoever isn’t named Shane Wright. Actually, there’s an outside chance they might get to take Wright if the Canadiens somehow fall in love with Slafkovsky.
The New Jersey Devils are reportedly still willing to trade their second-overall pick in the NHL Draft.
This is an incredibly valuable spot for the Devils to be in. Many assumed the Devils were now out on trading the pick away. Then, Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday that it isn’t the case. He spoke on Saturday Headlines with Sportsnet and said the Devils might actually still move the pick.
“The information we have is the Devils will still consider it (trading their first-round pick) and are in the process in the next couple of weeks firming up a list of players that they would consider moving that pick for. So it could be interesting at the top of the draft.” Friedman said on Saturday Headlines.
This makes things very interesting. Of course, the original rumors were the Devils were poking around at Kevin Fiala, but this can’t be the player they get with the second-overall pick. He is still a relative risk. They need a guarantee if they are giving away the chance to draft Juraj Slafkovsky. So, who would that guarantee be, exactly? Here are five options.
Side note: we will try to address realistic options. Of course, the Devils would trade this pick for Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid. Neither is going anywhere. These are the options that are crazy, but like in this galaxy crazy.
Matthew Tkachuk – Calgary Flames
The Devils desperately need Matthew Tkachuk. He’s the one player that comes in on offense and changes everything. He gives the Devils an edge, he forces the opposition to fight for every inch, and he would make this team an instant playoff contender. Tkachuk is coming off his first 100-point season. Of course, it’s a little worrisome that a player who made sure he had a deal set up to pay him an insane premium in the final year of his contract would be motivated to put up insane points in the final year of this deal.
Let’s talk about that contract because it is the only reason Tkachuk would get moved. He’s still a restricted free agent, and his average annual value is sitting at just $7 million, but it’s his current salary that’s going to throw everything off. The Flames have to give him a $9 million qualifying offer because that’s his pure salary in the last year of his current contract.
Tkachuk is worth that money. He’s just been a superstar in every aspect of the game. Of course, he been close to a point-per-game player for most of his career, and he just exploded this past season. He will likely demand a contract that pays him $9 million per season. He deserves it, and the Devils should give it to him.
Of course, the Devils would have to add on to the second-overall pick to make this deal happen. Also, the Flames are looking to stay in Stanley Cup contention for the foreseeable future. However, they have to choose between Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau. Gaudreau is an unrestricted free agent, and he might get a $9 million per season contract of his own. It’s an interesting dilemma, but it might be a tad too unrealistic, so time to move on to others.
David Pastrnak – Boston Bruins
What the heck is going on in Boston? The Bruins are apparently considering a move behind the bench. Bruce Cassidy has been a great coach for a long time, but it seems like the Bruins are considering their options. They also have a very hard offseason coming. Patrice Bergeron is likely done with the Bruins. He said if he is coming back he comes back with Boston, and the Bruins desperately need him, but they have just over $2 million in cap space. He would probably just retire before he makes that little.
The Bruins need to reevaluate what they are doing next. Will they just move their star players, or are they trying to move around the edges? This likely has a lot to do with what’s being offered. Getting the second-overall pick really helps a prospect pool that’s ranked near the bottom of the NHL every season. This is what happens when a team has five first-round picks between 2015 and 2016 and all that really came out of it was one star (Charlie McAvoy) and two supporting players (Jake DeBrusk and Trent Frederic).
This is how we get to David Pastrnak. He’s in the final year of his contract, paying him much less than he’s worth. He accepted a deal worth $6.66 million per season. The Bruins might be looking at the situation at hand, and they could look to get the most for their superstar winger.
Pastrnak would be huge on the Jack Hughes-Yegor Sharangovich line. That would put them in the conversation as one of the best lines in the NHL. Would the Devils be willing to pull the trigger on a player with one year left on his deal? The good news is the team can at least negotiate a contract with Pastrnak before the deal is done.
Timo Meier – San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are in a strange space this offseason. They still have a ton of veterans on this roster, but they seem nowhere close to playoff contention in an increasingly competitive Pacific Division. With Los Angeles making the playoffs ahead of schedule, the Vegas Golden Knights likely going shopping this offseason, the Oilers and Flames finding their footing as constant playoff contenders, and the Canucks and Kraken looking to make moves to get back into the conversation, this leaves the Sharks in a strange space.
Despite the issues with the Sharks, they only have a little over $5 million in cap space this offseason. With that $5 million, they have to re-sign Mario Ferraro (who makes us sad because he was the player they got in the Mirco Mueller trade), and they have to upgrade the roster. They have a lot of young players on the roster, so there is hope to get out of this, but it only gets harder the next season.
That’s because Timo Meier’s contract has a similar trajectory as Tkachuk’s. He’s going to make $10 million dollars next season in pure cash. That means his next qualifying offer is $10 million. The Devils, or whatever team ends up with Timo Meier, has to deal with a very intense final year of his deal. If the Devils give up the second-overall pick for Meier, can they really avoid giving him that $10 million deal?
It’s obviously a risk in terms of the deal, but Meier has a ton of chemistry with Nico Hischier already. Getting Hischier a winger would be huge. If the Devils have a Penguins-type approach to this where they just try to find the best fits for their top-two centers, and they don’t care who is traditionally their “top” line, then this trade makes a lot of sense.
William Nylander – Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to figure something out. How can they finally get past the first round of the playoffs? There’s no shame in losing to the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning, but it’s hard not to feel offended as a Leafs fan after years of failure in the first round. Obviously, a young Devils team with no playoff experience doesn’t exactly entice the Leafs to finally get to the next step. However, the Leafs aren’t just going to make one trade this offseason. Making an earth-shattering deal comes with reactions, and the Leafs would need to keep the moves rolling to keep the wolves at bay.
So, the Devils dangling the second-overall pick for William Nylander would then come with another deal. The second-overall pick could easily get the Leafs a great asset who could help them in the playoffs. It might even get them the best goalie on the market. It also takes close to $7 million off its salary cap. This could be a win-win for the Maple Leafs.
Well, as much as losing a player like Nylander can be considered a “win”. The Devils have the assets to make a team consider moving a superstar, especially if those assets can be flipped to make teams move their own star players.
The Leafs would need to have another deal in place before making this move, but the Devils would be happy to take on Nylander in a trade for the second-overall pick. He still has two years left on his deal making just under $7 million, and he’s just 26 years old. He can still grow with this Devils team, and even if it came in heartbreak, he brings valuable playoff experience to a young roster that needs it from a star.
Quinn Hughes – Vancouver Canucks
Alright, we’ll bite. While Vancouver Canucks fans continuously make trade proposals sending J.T. Miller and his one year left on his deal to the Devils for the second-overall pick (and somehow sometimes asking for more), the Devils aren’t doing that. If the Canucks call, there are three players they would even accept in a deal. The conversation starts with Thatcher Demko, but the Canucks likely say no pretty quickly. It would then go to Elias Pettersson, which would give the Canucks front office a good laugh. Then it goes to Quinn Hughes.
This seems incredibly unlikely, and it’s just a pipe dream to get all of the Hughes brothers together when Jack and Quinn started on different teams. The Canucks pretty much shot down any hope of the Devils getting Quinn when they signed him to a six-year deal last offseason. They could have signed him to a short-term deal like they did Pettersson, but it’s clear Quinn was willing to commit to his team long term.
It just seems close to impossible, but the second-overall pick makes things interesting for Vancouver. With this pick, the 15th pick, and some good young players on the roster make it an intriguing future for the Canucks.
Next. 5 Goalies Devils Should Avoid At All Costs. dark
The Devils should be looking at the options for goalie and defense out there, but the realistic possibilities are few and far between. Would the Jets trade Connor Hellebuyck in a deal for the second overall pick? We know this type of deal would intrigue the Arizona Coyotes when it comes to Jakob Chychrun. Outside of those two, who else is there? It seems like if a trade is going to happen, it will be for a forward.