The New Jersey Devils need to find help this offseason. It’s complicated because the Devils only have a little over $14 million in cap space with only a few avenues to shed contracts from their books. They just made one of those moves, trading Erik Haula to the Nashville Predators for a fourth-round pick. They have to fit Luke Hughes’s new contract within that $14 million. It’s going to be a hard offseason for Tom Fitzgerald, but he could make some magic happen on the trade market.
The Devils will likely try free agency to add some names to the middle six, but the right players are going to cost way more than they are worth. The trade route is the most cost-effective route right now. Who could make sense for the Devils?
1. Jared McCann
Current Team: Seattle Kraken
This is the ideal trade target this offseason. McCann is two years removed from a 40-goal season, but his 22-goal season last year will likely bring his value to a more realistic place. However, that 40-goal season wasn’t a fluke. McCann is a really good player who makes sense in the right situation. Seattle is not that situation.
On top of that, McCann only came up with 12 even-strength goals. This isn’t helping our argument, but let the facts lie. He shot just 10 percent this past season. This was after he shot 21 percent in 2022-23. He’s probably somewhere in the middle of those two.
This past season, McCann struggled to make his own offensive opportunities, finishing the season with just 42 individual high-danger chances according to Natural Stat Trick. It was his smallest opportunity since joining Seattle.
McCann looks like a clear 30-goal scorer with the right center. Pairing McCann with either Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes should lead to a really good finisher on those lines, and that’s what the Devils need.
2. Filip Chytil
Current Team: Vancouver Canucks
Filip Chytil is a former New York Rangers prospect who had their fans thinking he would be great. He was the center of the “Kid Line” that brought the best out of Kaapo Kakko and Alex Lafrenière. That was a few years ago, and Chytil hasn’t been the same guy since he showed some heart that season.
Chytil had 22 goals in 2022-23, but he hasn’t come close since. After an injury-riddled 2023-24 season where he had no goals in 10 games, he was disappointing again last season. The Rangers ended up trading him to the Vancouver Canucks as part of the J.T. Miller trade.
This is the type of risk that makes sense for the New Jersey Devils. They want to have a guy who has a decent floor but has an insane ceiling. Chytil can still hit a ceiling if he stays healthy. Chytil was a throw in for the Canucks, so we think they’d be willing to move him for the right price.
Chytil has two years left at a little over $4 million per season. He hasn’t lived up to that contract since signing it, which might make his acquisition much cheaper. There has to be some motivation behind coming back to the Tri-State area and proving his old team wrong. Player center is a huge bonus.