Vladimir Tarasenko Is New Jersey Devils Best Johnny Gaudreau Backup Plan
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils are running out of options to get a superstar to pair with Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes this season. Right now, they have Jesper Bratt and Yegor Sharangovich as locked in top-six wingers. The other options at this very moment are Dawson Mercer, Tomas Tatar, Alex Holtz, and (gulp) Pavel Zacha. Free agency hasn’t started, and this is just the beginning.
All signs point to the Devils going hard after Johnny Gaudreau. However, more and more signs point to the Philadelphia Flyers doing everything in their power to sign the South Jersey native. If that happens, the Devils will have to go after some of the secondary players on the market. That includes Valeri Nichushkin, Ondrej Palat, and Andre Burakovsky.
The Devils won’t get anyone losing their minds over those three. If they miss on them, it gets a little bleaker. That’s why the Devils are likely going to hit the trade market to find a star. They already looked at Matthew Tkachuk, but that would have cost just about everything. They offered the second-overall pick in the NHL Draft, which the Devils ended up keeping and using on Slovak defender Šimon Nemec.
Since that didn’t work out, the Devils have to change their pursuit. Obviously, option number one is Gaudreau. If that is as done a deal with Philly as it seems, then the Devils need to go to the trade market to find legit top-six wingers. The Devils can’t spend any more time with players who could be in the top six. They did that with Andreas Johnsson and Tomas Tatar.
There are some options, but one we keep going back to is Vladimir Tarasenko. Reports say he hasn’t rescinded his trade request. Reports last year also said the Devils were trying to find the price it would take to get Tarasenko.
Next. Jesper Bratt Was Never Available. dark
This year, Tarasenko is going into the last season of his deal. He gets paid $7.5 million this season against the cap (it’s actually just $5.5 million in cash). The Devils could easily make his salary work, and they could even talk about giving him an extension. Tarasenko is only 30 years old. Giving him a five-year deal wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
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The Devils need to find a backup plan. They no longer have the second-overall pick as a bargaining chip. It would be near impossible to trade Nemec after the hype they put behind him. So, they have to find a deal that makes sense for everyone. The Devils have a major need in the top six, and they have a plethora of assets to get a trade done. Bring Tarasenko to New Jersey, and most people will be happy with the outcome of the offseason.