The New Jersey Devils needed to make a trade yesterday. Oh wait, they did make a trade yesterday! One day after they were officially the last team in the Metropolitan Division to make such a roster move, Tom Fitzgerald joined the party. He sent Ondrej Palat, a third-round pick, and a sixth-round pick to the New York Islanders for Maxim Tsyplakov.
The expectation is this won’t be the Devils’ only move before the Olympic break. Whether they are going forward as a buyer or seller is still yet to be determined, but the fact that they used draft picks to move Palat says they are likely buyers.
The market is interesting, with teams like the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins being playoff contenders changing who is available. Steven Stamkos and Bryan Rust might be staying put, but maybe there are others who could move the needle for the Devils. Guys like Jordan Kyrou or Blake Coleman could put the Devils in a much more enviable position to make an unlikely run to the playoffs.
Want to know who wouldn’t help the Devils make the playoffs? Evander Kane. Yet, it sounds like the Devils have inquired about his services.
Evander Kane would be a disaster trade target for the New Jersey Devils this season
The rumors are very early and not really substantiated, but if it ever becomes more than just chatter, we have to be clear: this is a terrible idea. Evander Kane has left a trail of disaster behind him everywhere he goes. Is he good in the playoffs? Sure, we guess, but the price it takes to make him happy is often not close to worth it.
He’s never returning to a place he once called home because those teams hate him now. San Jose was in lawsuits with Kane and tried to make moves against the CBA just to get him off the roster. He helped the Edmonton Oilers get to the Stanley Cup Final, and they couldn’t wait to get rid of him. Now that he’s on the Vancouver Canucks, he’s helped them all the way to the bottom.
He can score goals, but he can also tank a locker room. We have to do a proper cost-risk analysis here, and the Devils can’t afford a wild card like Kane. They desperately need a new piece in the top six. Kane should not be it.