With superstar forward Jack Hughes suffering an apparent gruesome shoulder injury in Sunday night's 2-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, the New Jersey Devils' 2024-25 season hangs in the balance, and that's not an exaggeration.
With a 33-23-6 record, the Devils are four points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have two games in hand and sit in the Eastern Conference's first wildcard playoff spot. Only six points separate the Devils from the No. 2 wildcard, the Detroit Red Wings, who also have two games in hand.
Essentially, a disaster like this could cause the Devils to drop out of a playoff spot entirely in short order.
Since Christmas, the Devils have a 10-12-3 record, and that's with Hughes in the lineup. The team did, of course, welcome Jacob Markstrom back, but it didn't matter against Vegas with zero goals getting put up on the scoreboard.
This loss to the Golden Knights also marks the seventh time the Devils have been blanked this season. Here's the full list: 3-0 Calgary, Nov. 1; 1-0 San Jose, Nov. 10, 4-0 Tampa Bay, Nov. 16, 3-0 St. Louis, Nov. 27, 4-0 Colorado, Dec. 8, 3-0 Los Angeles, Jan. 1, and 2-0 Vegas, March 2.
Scoring has been an issue for the Devils all season, but general manager Tom Fitzgerald has no choice but to make a move now. It would be a disservice to players like Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier, as well as the veterans in the room who signed to compete for a championship. Is that likely without Jack Hughes? No, but it's worth a try.
Devils must trade for Ryan O'Reilly
Very few players available on the NHL trade market come with the pedigree Ryan O'Reilly has.
O'Reilly, 34, is a former Stanley Cup champion, three-time NHL All-Star, and Frank J. Selke Trophy winner. And with over 1,100 total games under his belt in the NHL, O'Reilly knows what it takes to win.
O'Reilly's current team, the Nashville Predators, have no designs of making the playoffs with their 30th-place 21-32-7 record. Seems bad, right?
O'Reilly has 14 goals, 22 assists, and 36 points in 57 games for a Predators team that ranks dead-last in the NHL with 153 goals scored, and he's just a year removed from a 26-goal, 69-point campaign that was the second-most productive of his NHL career.
Multiple reports have indicated that the Predators, who are still trying to compete again next year, would be willing to move O'Reilly if they receive a suitable trade offer and if O'Reilly identifies a suitable landing spot for himself.
If he needs convincing, O'Reilly can draw on a number of former Devils players and coaches, like his head coach in Nashville, Andrew Brunette, and former Devils forward Wayne Simmonds, who played with Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and others during his time in New Jersey.
Simmonds and O'Reilly overlapped during their time with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022-23, where they played under current Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Another connection: Fitzgerald was the first captain in Predators history under Barry Trotz, who has swapped out coaching with being the general manager for Nashville.
Even at his advanced age, O'Reilly is on pace for 19 goals, 30 assists, and 49 points on a Predators team that can't buy a goal, much like the Devils as of late. In his short time with Keefe and the Maple Leafs, O'Reilly was wildly productive, too.
The 16-year NHL vet scored four goals, seven assists, and 11 points in 13 regular season games before adding three goals, six assists, and nine points in 11 postseason contests.
With O'Reilly on his squad, Keefe made it past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time as an NHL coach. If Keefe and the Devils hope to avoid being first-round exits, they must add O'Reilly ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
The 34-year-old O'Reilly has two years remaining on his contract, excluding this one, at a $4.5 million cap hit, potentially making him an important piece for the Devils even beyond Hughes's apparent injury crisis.