Listen, we don't think the New Jersey Devils have any chance to actually get Elias Pettersson. They could make the money work, but it would remove all maneuverability for the Devils moving forward. Even the J.T. Miller possibility is obscene, as his contract pays him $8 million for three more seasons after this one. It's a hefty bill no matter who the Devils target.
We’ve established the obvious. A move for Elias Pettersson would be incredibly hard. A move for Connor Garland makes more sense, or even trading for Brock Boeser could be something the Devils could make work since his contract is ending. But getting the stars in Pettersson in Miller seems almost impossible.
Yet, that isn’t stopping people (including us) from tying the two together. We do expect Tom Fitzgerald to be the type of general manager to call on anything that’s available and will help the Devils. Would Pettersson and Miller make the Devils better? They very obviously would, but there’s a cost to this. Still, a tweet is going around on Wednesday night based on an article by NHL insider Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet.
"While it may be easier to move either, or both, of Miller and Pettersson in the off-season, it's not impossible something could happen before March 7. If it does, keep an eye on New Jersey for either player. They have assets and player pieces the Canucks could find attractive, and at the moment are on track to have about $7.469 million in deadline day salary cap space, according to PuckPedia."Nick Kypreos, Sportsnet
Is that just Kypreos connecting the dots or does he have actual information that the Devils are interested? It's hard to tell by the article, but it's absolutely something worth paying attention to that the Devils were mentioned.
His points make some sense, ignoring the issue the salaries will have for the Devils. New Jersey has prospects like Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey, Nico Daws, and Adam Beckman, who can help the Canucks right now, while also adding names like Dawson Mercer and Paul Cotter, who are already established NHLers. There are also pure prospects like Anton Silayev, Arseni Gritsyuk, Lenni Hameenaho, Mikhail Yegorov, and Samu Salminen and three second-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft (plus future first-round picks).
This is incredibly early and, despite the drama in Vancouver, we don't expect this to truly come to a head until closer to the deadline, if it happens at all. The Devils are unlikely, but it appears the Devils are still in it. The smoke is there. It was there with Timo Meier, and we saw how that worked out, but it also was there for Alex DeBrincat, Matthew Tkachuk, and Brady Tkachuk before this. Don't believe everything you hear, but at least pay attention.