Trade Trees Lead New Jersey Devils To Timo Meier, Massive Success

Back in 2011, Adam Larsson was drafted 4th overall under Lou Lamoriello. The right-handed defenseman got traded five years later on June 29, 2016. The trade is largely considered a fleecing with the New Jersey Devils acquiring Edmonton Oilers star forward Taylor Hall. A few seasons later Taylor Hall and Blake Speers were dealt to Arizona for Nick Merkley, Nathan Scharr, 20201st (Dawson Merce), and Kevin Bahl as a prospect left-defender who played for Hockey Canada.

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Blake Coleman was a 2011 3rd-round power forward who turned into a key part of the Devils and was traded at his highest value to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tom Fitzgerald got what was eventually the 20th overall pick in 2020 (Shakir Mukhamadullin) on top of Nolan Foote.

Joey Anderson was a prospect who looked pretty good at times, but an injury set him back in growing in the New Jersey Devils’ bottom six. The time was right and the Devils swapped him for Andreas Johnsson of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Andreas Johnsson, Fabian Zetterlund, Nikita Okhotiuk, Shakir Mukhamadullin, a 2024th 7th round pick from New Jersey, and a 2023 1st rounder, and 2024 2nd round pick with conditionals tied into it for Timo Meier, Scott Harrington, Zacharie Emond, Santeri Hatakka, Timur Ibragimov, 2024 5th rounder via Colorado in the Sharks trade for Timo Meier.

What really happened was 12 years of drafting, developing, and trading players from three regimes of general managers led to the trade that helped the Devils get the final piece of the puzzle. All that started with Lou Lamoriello in the tail end of his prime with the New Jersey Devils.

Lou Lamoriello hiring Ray Shero, who then hired Tom Fitzgerald, is the key variable in this timeline. Without the Taylor Hall pick-up and eventual trade, then it’s far less likely the Devils will become the lethal post-rebuild team they are now. After Ray Shero “mutually parted ways” there was a lot of talk and speculation that teams outside of the New Jersey Devils were poaching interim GM Tom Fitzgerald to go elsewhere to become a full-time General Manager.

Devils ownership of Joshua Harris and David Blitzer stood by Tom Fitzgerald in becoming the full-time GM despite interviewing other candidates in the 2020 offseason. He’s is a really solid asset manager, prospect pool manager, and extremely good free agent recruiter getting guys like Dougie Hamilton and Ondrej Palat to join this process of long-term growth.

A long trade tree from Adam Larsson to Taylor Hall to what became Mercer and Bahl set the foundation. Moving Coleman for Mukhamadullin then became a linchpin in this trade to bring in the superstar winger from Switzerland. Meier brings a power forward, sniper, agitator, leadership-type character and skillset to a constantly growing lineup with guys like Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Ondrej Palat, and Dawson Mercer, to name a few.

Can Meier’s skill on the top 6 shift someone really good to improve Yegor Sharangovich’s game? This has yet to be seen if Coach Lindy Ruff can tap into his potential. This is a huge addition after teams like the Rangers got Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, and the Islanders got Bo Horvat.

As of now, this trade tree has been very bountiful and fruitful and has been feeding New Jersey Devils’ fans exactly what they deserve. The fruit is being juiced, and now fans are ready for Timo Time!!!!