3 Things To Know For New Jersey Devils Ahead of NHL Trade Deadline
The New Jersey Devils are in a very different position with days from the NHL Trade Deadline than they were even a month ago. Still, there are plenty of reasons to pay attention from now until Friday.
The New Jersey Devils just fired Lindy Ruff, sit in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division, and they are coming off a loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. The Devils are basically out of the playoff race with 20 games left in the season. Now, they are looking at what's next.
Well, the next thing on the calendar is the NHL Trade Deadline. On Friday, March 8th, the NHL will be fast and furious trying to make deals before 3 p.m. EST. Will the Devils be a part of the fun, or will they sit this one out?
What should New Jersey Devils fans look forward to ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline?
There's a lot to get through when it comes to the Devils. As we said, Ruff was replaced by Travis Green. He now has 20 games to prove he deserves to remove his interim tag and become the head coach. He has an uphill battle, as this will probably be Tom Fitzgerald's last head coaching decision if he doesn't get it right. That also makes this deadline important. Ruff was a major contributor to the Devils lack of success, but Fitzgerald took some risks this offseason that almost exclusively failed (sticking with the goalie tandem and not replacing Severson or Graves).
1. Goalie is still in play
The Devils aren't playing for the playoffs (at least not realistically), but the goalie situation is going to be addressed. We are not talking about like when the Devils traded for Andrew Hammond in 2022 as somewhat of a mercy move. The Devils want to sure up their goaltending moving forward.
Juuse Saros is out. The Nashville Predators are very much fighting for a playoff spot after a nice winning streak, mostly led by Saros. There have been no rumors about John Gibson, so we assume he's not a part of this conversation. That leaves us with Jacob Markstrom.
We assume Markstrom's comments about hating the process, the Flames falling now seven points out of a playoff spot, and the Devils being less stingy on retained salary could get the process going. The Flames are sellers. They sold Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev, and they are about to sell Noah Hanifin. The dream is over, and Markstrom will play just as many playoff games in Jersey as he does in Calgary.
2. Tyler Toffoli is "not being sold"
The most logical solution for the Devils is to "sell" at the trade deadline. They have some pieces that are on expiring contracts that could bring assets to use in future trade or to replenish the pipeline. The player that would bring the largest return in terms of expiring contracts is Tyler Toffoli.
The Devils acquired Toffoli this offseason, sending Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick to the Calgary Flames. Shargo is having a career season, scoring 23 goals and putting up 41 points including his fair share of clutch moments. The Devils are seeing that from afar, but it's not like Toffoli hasn't been good. He leads the Devils in goals with 26, and he's been providing more offense as of late.
The Devils could join a market that's not exactly flooded with talent. We mentioned Hanifin, who joins Jake Guentzel as the top players on the market. Outside of that, teams are looking at Vladimir Tarasenko or Adam Henrique as the best players on the market. Toffoli would be worth more than both of those players.
Yet, Tom Fitzgerald made it very clear he wasn't looking to trade Toffoli and was actually looking to extend. However, the extension was hitting a rough patch because of term. So, the Devils might still sell at the last possible moment. If that's the case, the return may suffer, but a team that lost out on Guentzel might take their best offer and make it for Toffoli. Let the process play out.
3. Defense Doesn’t Seem To Be A Priority
The Devils have needed a defenseman since December, when Dougie Hamilton got hurt. We learned again that his situation is still considered serious, and we shouldn't expect to see him for months, if not the rest of the season. Jonas Siegenthaler and John Marino are both having career-worst years at the worst time. Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec were leaned on to save the unit, but now Nemec is watching the game as a healthy scratch.
Yet, the Devils are nowhere in the defensive market. They were tied to Hanifin for a hot minute, but it sounds like he didn't want to re-sign in New Jersey. In fact, it sounds like Hanifin will only re-sign in Tampa Bay (a no-tax state is hard to compete with). Some wanted Tanev, while others wanted Ilya Lyubushkin. Both have since been traded.
Besides Hanifin, some realistic defensive options include Jakob Chychrun of the Ottawa Senators, Sean Walker of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Matt Dumba of the Arizona Coyotes. The Devils might get involved with a player with term, but would they want to spend trade deadline prices for a defender when they could just target someone in the offseason?
It seems like it's goalie or bust as far as buying is concerned. The Devils need a defenseman, but it sounds like the Devils will go to the bottom of the barrel for it. They claimed Nick Desimone from the Flames and traded a seventh-round pick and Zakhar Bardakov for Kurtis MacDermid, formerly of the Colorado Avalanche.
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