New Jersey Devils: 3 Trade Deadline Deals With St. Louis Blues

This one is incredibly complicated. Brandon Saad is over 30 and has three more years left on a contract that pays him $4.5 million per season. The contract is just fine, especially since he signed it in unrestricted free agency.

A trade for Saad would catch Devils fans off guard. He doesn’t really fit the bill like Buchnevich does, but he comes at a much lower price. The Devils could get Saad for something like Nolan Foote and a fourth-round pick. The Blues are looking for a little bit of a reset. Most teams aren’t looking to take on Saad’s contract.

He only has 22 points in 45 games this season. He’s at just about a half-point per game. Saad needs something to click somewhere else. He has 15 goals, so something is going right. He should be able to keep scoring 20 goals throughout the contract.

However, the contract pigeonholes the Devils for a while. They might not be able to get superstars like Meier in the offseason because they committed $4.5 million to a player like Saad. The Devils need help on the wing, and there are players out there that won’t cost a lot in acquisition. On the other hand, it would cost them in the future in salary structure. The Devils are a salary-cap team, and that comes with challenges. Making this move has to be something Fitzgerald thinks really makes them better in 2023.