New Jersey Devils Heavily Linked To Martin Necas Ahead of NHL Draft

Out of absolutely nowhere, the New Jersey Devils have now begun to be heavily linked to Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes thanks to Frank Seravalli. This link caught absolute fire this week, considering the talk involves the 10th overall pick in tomorrow's draft. The scariest part might be the wording he chose on it, "part of the deal," which may mean they are asking for the 10th +.

The Devils and their GM made a very big deal about wanting to compete now and tossed out what seemed a little crazy in admitting they wanted a starting goalie, top-six forward, and top-six defenders in the offseason, but even if this does not get done, it is 100% clear he meant what he said. First, they went out and got Jacob Markstrom, became linked to Brett Pesce, and now Martin Necas, so it is just a fact that they are going to try to win now mode and not build for the future regardless if anyone agrees or not that it is a good idea.

So let's first look at the positives of Necas:
-He is 6'2, and plays right wing, though he can and wants to play center, which would either give the Devils insane center depth or a good winger beside Jack Hughes since Nico Hischier/Timo Meier is not being broken up.
-He scored 24 goals this season and 28 the previous, which is pretty good, he would probably mesh well with a creative player like Jack Hughes, giving him a guaranteed skilled winger, and he makes this team better right now.
-At 25 years old he is in his prime but also has a ton of good hockey left in him.
-He is also an RFA so he can be locked up, if discussed with the player before the deal, to a good number.

Now, let's look at the bad side of this.
-He is an RFA, and it was clear that the Hurricanes were moving on a while ago.
The Canes are a very successful team but always blow it in the playoffs, and they are very clearly trying to shake things up, which, by the looks of it, means Pesce/Necas out and trying to sign Guentzal and another player long-term. They know exactly what these guys bring and are out on them, which is not the best sign.

-6'2 and soft. The second most surprising thing was that Necas is not, in fact, the size of Nico because Necas plays a very small and soft game compared to everything I have seen watching him play for a division rival. He is pretty skilled, but this team has a lot of the same players, and the vast majority of Devils fans know this team needs some toughness, and this moves the needle backward for that.

-Money. While there is no guarantee this is true, the rumor floating around was he was looking for $8-9 million a season, and that was a big part of why the Hurricanes were going to trade him. If this is true, it is absolutely insane, and I wouldn't bring him here and sign that if they gave us a first-rounder and we traded nothing. The contract would put him as a top 10-15 bad deal in the NHL, probably on day one, and would hamper this team's ability to make moves as we advance, including fixing the defense and maybe even having to bridge L. Hughes or Nemec then get them on a worse deal later or just straight up losing a guy like Mercer, who probably has the same ceiling as him.

-Prospects and young players. To put it bluntly, the Devils have no one coming up at all, especially at forward, and they need something in the pipeline to be a cheap, effective deal in a few years. Shango is gone, Zetterlund is gone, Foote is 23 and might be a bottom-six guy but is on this last shot at that, while the top forward prospect is Holtz, who they have 0 faith in. On defense, they have Casey, who is a good small puck-moving defender, but after that, nothing is coming up. The team already has no second-rounder this season and no first next year, so if they go that long without a high pick, they will almost certainly be in massive trouble down the line.

-Plus minus. Not the best stat but it is astounding to see a guy go -9 on a team that was over +60. They run such a strong defensive system, have good supporting depth and he still couldn't stay in the positive which in no way is a good sign.

With all of that laid out, this trade would be a win for the Hurricanes right away if the rumors are true and a massive win for the Hurricanes in the long run. The Devils need not panic and toss away a very good prospect to take on a potential albatross contract. The only way they should even be thinking about this is if the price was way lower, like Holtz or Casey, and a second-round pick, which they probably would not accept in the division. On top of the trade value, Necas will get overpaid because of the cap going up, but he has shown nothing to even consider a $7 million deal, let alone $8-9 million.