The New Jersey Devils are trying to acquire a forward to make this team better. They haven't been shy about that. In fact, Tom Fitzgerald has never been shy about saying what he wants. He was very open last season about his pursuit for a goalie. Now, he's looking for a center. There are rumors that the Vancouver Canucks are looking at their options with J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson.
This isn't the first time the Canucks have been in trade rumors with Miller. We wrote about a Miller trade back in 2022. Back then, we talked about the Canucks wanting the second-overall pick in the trade. That was ironic since all the rumors are talking about Simon Nemec, the player the Devils took with that second-overall pick.
The value is much different now. Miller signed a massive extension, paying him $8 million per season. He’s 31 years old and will turn 32 in March. And now, there are rumors abound about Miller’s impact on the locker room. They are nothing but rumors right now, but that does impact his value. So, those calling for the Devils to move Simon Nemec in a Miller trade, adding to Nemec, or the one person calling for it to be a Timo Meier-Miller swap are just wildly off on the value of a Miller trade. Let’s find a value that makes sense for the Devils but doesn’t put the Canucks out completely.
Thanks to Puck Pedia for helping us make the money work.
If the Devils are going to put Simon Nemec in a J.T. Miller trade, it's going to net them multiple years of contention, and we're not sure if Miller alone does that. However, adding Miller AND Conor Garland probably does that. The Devils would have to add a little more than Nemec to make the deal work, and they need the Canucks to take on Ondrej Palat to make the deal work. That's a lot to ask, but that's why the Devils are giving the Canucks a second-round pick on top of the Nemec acquisition.
The Devils know how valuable Nemec is. All of these rumors about the former second-overall pick are pretty unsubstantiated and based on a loose translation of an interview, but it's more likely the Devils keep him. So, for the Devils to lose him, it would take a huge move.
This is that huge move. It adds a massive piece in Miller with a lot of risk, and then another middle-six forward in case Miller has his own issues in New Jersey. This is the type of risk that's worth Nemec, and it gets them out of the end of the Palat deal.
To make the salaries work, the Devils would have to put Haula on LTIR, but that's not that huge a deal. If this trade were to happen, the Devils wouldn't need to accrue any more cap space. The Devils also have to convince Palat to waive his no-move clause, but that's a huge "if."