5 New Jersey Devils trade targets to help replace injured Curtis Lazar

The New Jersey Devils are expected to be without stud fourth-line center Curtis Lazar for a while after the team announced on Oct. 31 that Lazar had undergone a procedure on his left knee and would be out for an indefinite period of time.

Lazar himself already posted from his personal X account that he is "already looking forward to seeing you all later on this season," though neither the Devils nor the player himself have indicated when later this season will be. And based on the nature of Lazar's injury, it will likely be months and not weeks.

With fellow fourth-line forward Nathan Bastian injured, the Devils are in a real bind when it comes to bottom-six forward depth. Is boxer-on-skates Kurtis MacDermid, a player who plays forward and defense but excels at neither position, a suitable replacement for Bastian, particularly when it comes to killing penalties and not being a defensive zone liability? Probably not.

Is Justin Dowling, a career AHLer with 102 total NHL games to his name at the age of 34, a good enough answer for a Devils team, and perhaps a general manager, desperate to prove that the 2023 playoff run wasn't a fluke? That, too, is unlikely.

The Devils already had an opportunity to claim forward Nils Aman on waivers from Vancouver, but they and 30 other NHL teams chose not to, and now the 6-foot-2, 24-year-old Swede has been safely stashed away in AHL Abbotsford.

Therefore, if the Devils want to add an NHL-caliber center to replace the injured Lazar, they will need to turn to the NHL trade market to do so.

5.) Jake Evans, Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are having a horrendous start to the 2024-25 regular season. Budding superstar Juraj Slafkovsky has already missed some time due to injury, and sharpshooter Patrik Laine has yet to appear in a game after suffering a knee injury towards the end of the NHL preseason. Combine the injuries up front with the lackluster defensive play, and you get a Canadiens team that sits 30th in the NHL with a record of 4-7-1. The Habs' minus-17 goal differential is the second-worst mark in the NHL, trailing the lowly San Jose Sharks by just one.

Veteran center Jake Evans is a plausible trade candidate early in the year. Evans has one year remaining on the three-year, $5.1 million contract he signed with Montreal on Oct. 3, 2021, and carries an affordable $1.7 million cap hit.

The 28-year-old center is currently averaging a career-high 1.76 points per 60 minutes, so it is likely the Canadiens will not want to sell Evans for cheap, especially so early into the season, as teams always grow more desperate towards the NHL trade deadline in March.

Evans has scored north of 25 points twice in his career and potted a personal best 13 goals in 72 games back in the 2021-22 season, so there is some offensive upside here with the limited ice he gets. Comparatively, Lazar scored a career-high 25 points with the Devils last season and had never produced more than 20 in a single season before that.

Evans will undoubtedly be a popular name in trade talks as teams continue to evaluate their current squads, but the Devils should be among the first to register interest if they want to remain competitive in the playoff hunt through the winter.

4.) Noah Cates, Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia Flyers forward Noah Cates, like Evans, is a free agent at the end of the 2024-25 season. The key difference between the two, and perhaps even more appealing from the Devils' perspective, is the fact that Cates is only 25 years old and will be a restricted free agent. There is more long-term appeal to adding a Cates rather than adding an Evans, though there are other factors to consider.

First and most obviously is the fact that the Flyers, like the Devils, are a young team. The two franchises are also Metropolitan Division rivals, so there will undeniably be an additional cost to pay for that reason in any potential trade.

Additionally, Cates has yet to score for the Flyers in his eight appearances this season and has served as a healthy scratch for John Tortorella's squad at times. Cates is already making $2.625 million against the cap, so would a raise on an already healthy number be something the Devils are willing to consider after having the player for only part of a season, if that? That is doubtful.

Cates is still young at 25, though, and would likely perform better at both ends of the ice on a more competitive team like the Devils. Further adding to the trade appeal is the fact that Cates can play left wing in addition to center. Once Lazar and Bastian return to the Devils' lineup, Cates can flex over to the left wing and give New Jersey a more traditional checking line. He is far more suited for that role than Tomas Tatar is, for example.

It is more than likely that the Flyers will listen to the Devils or other NHL teams if a reasonable offer is made.

3.) Scott Laughton, Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers again? Seriously?

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald likes to trade for players with team control or term. Lazar came from Vancouver with term, Jacob Markstrom has term, Jake Allen had term, and Paul Cotter has term. This is deliberate, as Fitzgerald is aiming to bring in certain players with certain profiles with the hope that they help the Devils contend for a Stanley Cup over the course of multiple seasons, locked in at a specific price.

Scott Laughton, 30, is locked in with the Flyers for two more years at a $3 million cap hit, and his much greater offensive output makes him a better bargain than his teammate Cates. Laughton, who wears the 'A' for the Flyers, is a well-respected leader in the locker room and does a ton for the community. He is a player the Flyers have rejected offers on in the past, including one that allegedly included a first-round pick,

That would be a steep price to pay, and one that the Devils probably cannot afford or make possible given their previous transactions. However, everybody has a price, and the Devils can meet it with prospects, too, not just picks.

Laughton, like Cates, can play wing and center and contributes on both the penalty kill and the power play. He's an Erik Haula-esque player who can do a little bit of everything, contribute to the locker room, and remain relevant once Lazar returns from his knee injury.

This one is admittedly far-fetched at this time, but if Laughton makes sense for anyone this early in the season, it's the Devils.

1.) Nico Sturm, San Jose Sharks

Of every other center on this list, Sharks center Nico Sturm fits what the Devils need to a tee. He's big, he's physical, he's excellent at faceoffs, he can score a little bit, and he's elite defensively. If the Devils are to add a bottom-six forward of any kind, Sturm must be the No. 1 priority.

Sturm, briefly a teammate of star Devils winger Timo Meier, has won no fewer than 55% of his faceoffs since joining the Sharks in 2022. The 29-year-old scored a career-high 14 goals, 12 assists, and 26 points with the Sharks in the 2022-23 season, but as the team has gotten worse, so has Sturm's offensive output. He won't have that problem in New Jersey.

Sturm currently has two goals, two assists, and four points in 13 games with San Jose, but he's averaging a career-low 10:11 of ice time on a Sharks team prioritizing its young players. Once a Stanley Cup champion with Colorado in 2022, Sturm knows what it takes to win a championship. It was Sturm's Avalanche that defeated Devils forward Ondrej Palat in the Final that year, though Palat has a few Cups of his own.

It would be hard to find a better, more underappreciated bottom-six center than the undrafted Sturm. At 6-foot-3, he has the requisite size needed to bolster an average New Jersey Devils bottom-six that just lost the 6-foot-4 Bastian. The Devils can work out who moves to left wing and whatnot later, as Sturm should clearly be at the top of their wish list.