5 Rental Forwards New Jersey Devils Should Target In Trades

The halfway point of the 2022-23 season is fast approaching, and the New Jersey Devils find themselves in an interesting spot, sitting comfortably near the top of the league without the services of Ondrej Palat and Mackenzie Blackwood. Still, without Palat, and now without Nathan Bastian, GM Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils should be proactive in securing proven, veteran scoring depth on the flanks. But who could be available?

A few of the many needs the Devils filled in this past offseason remain unsolved. One of which is supplying Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier with elite partners on their wings. The Devils don’t have a Jesper Bratt clone, so he can only play on one line at a time.

Many of us hoped that Alexander Holtz would be that guy, but Holtz hasn’t earned the coaching staff’s trust with his average foot speed and pace of play. Never mind his play at 5v5. They won’t even consistently plop him at the left circle for one-timers on the powerplay. The Devils relied on Yegor Sharangovich’s chemistry with Hughes, but he hasn’t had a great season, either.

Erik Haula usurped Sharangovich’s spot next to Hughes, and now Haula has become one of the most snakebitten Devils we’ve seen in years. As a result, with several pending FAs struggling, the Devils’ goal, besides acquiring the following players, is to keep them around even after the season to ensure that they can build a consistent contender as well as a well-oiled machine.

#5. Vladimir Tarasenko

Vladimir Tarasenko would be the opposite of a snakebitten Erik Haula. The St. Louis Blues’ Russian sniper scored 30 or more goals from 2014-15 to 2018-19, including a 40-goal season in 2015-16. Injuries limited Tarasenko to seven goals in 34 games between the 19-20 and 20-21 seasons before he bounced back with 34 goals and a career-high 82 points last year. In addition to his goal-scoring exploits, Tarasenko comes with 90 games of playoff experience, including a Stanley Cup victory with the Blues in 2019.

These days, the Blues are a pretty bad team all around, and Tarasenko is slated to hit free agency this offseason. Tarasenko comes with a fairly high cap hit of $7,500,000. Still, injured goalie Jonathan Bernier is no longer expected back after a setback in his recovery, meaning the Devils will have a much easier time making the requisite cap space needed to bring Tarasenko aboard. While he is a rental with a contract presently set to expire, the Devils will probably seek to extend him beyond 2023 if they acquire him. If the price is right, Tarasenko should be a no-brainer.

Tyler Bertuzzi

Sometimes, the best ability is availability, and for Tyler Bertuzzi, that hasn’t been the case lately. Bertuzzi is an all-offense winger who also plays an agitator style, similar to Brad Marchand. As a result, Bertuzzi can and will draw a ton of penalties. He and Jack Hughes could give opponents migraines that would last a lifetime playing on a line together, but there are a few roadblocks preventing the Devils from accomplishing that.

Bertuzzi has managed to play 70 games or more only two times in his career: 2018-19 and 2019-20. He also managed 68 last season, but last season and 2019-20 bookend a 2020-2021 season where he appeared in just seven games. Bertuzzi is sitting at nine games and is expected to be out until mid-January with his broken hand. In his nine appearances, he’s only managed one goal for a streaky Red Wings squad.

The Wings are fighting for a playoff spot, for now, but if they begin to falter. They could move Bertuzzi for the right package. In addition to the health issues, Bertuzzi is also one of the older and more costly players in the squad. It could make more sense for the Wings to continue to stockpile picks and prospects who better fit their timeline. If he’s acquired, it means the Devils will have an agitator capable of producing a ton of goals, directly and indirectly, for now and in the long term; re-signing him would be a top priority.

Andrei Kuzmenko

The New Jersey Devils have long been a rumored trade partner of the Vancouver Canucks. From Damon Severson to Quinn Hughes to J.T. Miller to Connor Garland to Thatcher Demko, the hypotheticals have always swirled. But how about Andrei Kuzmenko?

The right-shot Russian winger signed with the Canucks as a UFA this past summer after four highly productive years with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. Interesting note: he was traded by CSKA Moscow in exchange for ex-Devils center Sergei Kalinin.

In his first season in the NHL, Kuzmenko has spent the bulk of his time next to Elias Pettersson, shooting a whopping (and unsustainable) 24%. Kuzmenko is up to 13 goals and 12 assists, with seven goals coming with the man advantage. In normal circumstances, such a player wouldn’t be available. Still, the Canucks have some serious cap issues, and retaining Kuzmenko won’t be an easy feat if the team continues to struggle.

Kuzmenko could have a happy NHL life ahead of him, potentially being on the receiving end of more scoring chances than he knows what to do with. A trade across the continent could be a boost for both Jack Hughes and Kuzmenko, as the former has had some slouches for linemates in the scoring department. In addition, the presence of Kuzmenko could allow the Devils to allocate more highly-skilled players to their second power-play unit that has suffered all season long so far.

Lastly, the Canucks have managed to accrue about half of their season’s win total over their last 10 games, thanks to Miller, Kuzmenko, Bo Horvat, Ilya Mikheyev, and Dakota Joshua all shooting above 17% this season. This is an unsustainable rate, and if the Canucks really do come crashing back down to earth, they’ll need to secure some picks and prospects to truly start the rebuilding effort.

Max Domi

Having once been one of the most highly touted prospects during and shortly after being drafted, Max Domi has certainly had an interesting NHL career. After three so-so seasons with Arizona, including two consecutive seasons with under 10 goals, Domi was shipped to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Alex Galchenyuk. Domi lasted only two seasons in Montreal but scored a career-high 72 points in his first season there. The following year, his total dropped to 44 points and went goalless in 10 playoff games.

Since then, he’s spent two years on a bad Blue Jackets team before joining the Hurricanes on their playoff run last year at the deadline. This past offseason, Domi bet on himself, signing a one-year, $3 million contract with a Chicago Blackhawks team dead set on selling and rebuilding.

Domi’s bet has paid dividends so far and turned himself into a sellable asset for the Hawks, having already posted nine goals and 10 assists in 26 games (as of December 12). For those keeping score at home, that is a 28-goal, 60-point pace over a full NHL season. On top of his positional flexibility, Domi plays an agitator style that the Devils lack. To unlock Domi’s potential, the team must keep him out of the box and on the ice to take advantage of other teams’ mistakes; Domi surprisingly hasn’t logged more than 100 minutes of time on the man-advantage since 2019-20.

The Blackhawks have already stockpiled a host of draft picks, but they’d probably seek even more for a low-budget asset like Domi. For the Devils, getting a player like Domi, who can take faceoffs and score next to Hughes can be invaluable in the long run.