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.
By Nick Villano
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.