The New Jersey Devils are one of the worst teams in the NHL. It honestly doesn’t make much sense. This is as talented a Devils team as we’ve seen in a long time. Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonas Siegenthaler are in their primes. Dawson Mercer, Luke Hughes, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Simon Nemec are all young stars who are incredibly talented. This team has incredible players doing very little on the ice.
The reason that’s happening is for another article. The autopsy of this season is going to be ugly. Want to know what else is going to be ugly? The fire sale that’s going to his this franchise.
Obviously, it’s going to be hard to make moves on this team because the Devils and GM Tom Fitzgerald gave out no-trade clauses like they were going out of style. However, no-trade clauses don’t mean that players can’t be traded. It just means that players get a say if they leave or not. We can’t see players signing up to finish the season here if they don’t have to. With that said, who is getting traded before the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6th?
1. Dougie Hamilton
Dougie Hamilton has been in rumors for more than six months at this point. Things hit a fever point when the Devils benched Hamilton for a game. Many thought he would stay a healthy scratch until he was moved, but it was only one game. Hamilton has been in the lineup every game since, and he’s been really good.
He has a $9 million cap hit, so there are complications there, but with how good he’s been since his return to the lineup, we expect multiple teams to come knocking. One of the most obvious teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs, is basically in the same spot as the Devils, but there are multiple other teams that could really use a top defenseman like Hamilton.
2. Dawson Mercer
There were reports that the Devils want to make a big move that impacts the franchise and changes the core, but that seemed to be misinterpreted. While some thought the Devils might trade Jesper Bratt or Timo Meier, it seems like the move is Dawson Mercer. The former first-round pick has had a strange career with the Devils. It started off so well, but it slowly went in the wrong direction.
Mercer looked like the next great top-six forward to join Hughes and Hischier. Now, he’s basically a guy who disappears for weeks on end. He’ll score three goals in a week, then stay off the scoresheet for the rest of the month. This season, he has 13 goals. In 22-23, Mercer had 27 goals and 56 points. He looked like a future 80-point player. If he’s going to hit his ceiling, it will be with another franchise.
3. Evgenii Dadonov
The Evgenii Dadonov made so much sense for the Devils. It was $1 million on the salary cap for a player who had 20 goals with the Dallas Stars last season. This year, Dadonov played in one game before he got hurt. He’s been hurt multiple times since then, starting a pretty terrible trend that derailed the season.
Dadonov has zero points this season. It’s been impossibly bad for him so far. With some pretty reckless bonuses in the contract, the Devils will want to get out of this situation. The Devils will be willing to send Dadonov for a mid-round pick, and a team will be willing to take that chance. His low cap hit and history of success will make this an easy move to make.
4. Cody Glass
This one might come as a surprise. Cody Glass is one of the only Devils players who is playing above expectations this season, and that’s exactly why he might be on the move. There aren’t many Devils players who have increased their value this season. Cody Glass is one of them. He also has another year on his contract at $2.5 million, which is a very easy number to swallow.
Glass is thriving under Sheldon Keefe. However, it’s pretty clear Keefe isn’t going to be the head coach following this season. Something didn’t mesh with the rest of the roster, so it’s a risk keeping Glass when he has more value than what they sent to the Penguins originally to trade for him. There is a value situation here. The Devils should take advantage of the increased value for the asset.
5. Brenden Dillon
Even if the Devils trade Dougie Hamilton, there is a logjam on the back end. They have seven defensemen who deserve NHL minutes on the roster right now, and they have two defensemen in Colton White and Seamus Casey, who deserve to show what they can do on the NHL level. Now, it would make sense to trade Johnny Kovacevic to let another team see if his new contract is worth the risk, but we can’t see another team sending anything of value for him.
Brenden Dillon is the interesting name here. He had a scare earlier this season that some thought would knock him out long-term, but he came back rather quickly. He had a serious injury in the playoffs that many thought would force him to miss significant time in the next season, but he ended up getting neck surgery that fixed the issue. With his career facing multiple scares, he might be willing to waive his no-trade clause to bring his skills to a team with more value to him and with a playoff push.