Even with the NHL season on pause while players are at the Olympics, General Managers around the league have been talking, with the March 6th Trade Deadline rapidly approaching. One team in particular that is in the spotlight once play resumes is the New Jersey Devils.
President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald is under fire for his decision-making in constructing the team that is 11 points out of the playoffs with 25 games to play. One of the big reasons for his criticism and scrutiny was the inability to free up cap space to acquire defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks.
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Hughes was traded to the Minnesota Wild, and the New Jersey Devils wondered how this happened as the players were looking for a spark to save their season. Instead, injuries and trade speculation have thrown their season into a tailspin, but their general manager still believes they can make the playoffs and is looking to shake things up.
Before the Olympic Trade Freeze, Fitzgerald traded Ondrej Palat to the New York Islanders and acquired veteran center Nick Bjugstad from the St. Louis Blues. As part of the Palat trade, the Devils received Maxim Tsplakov. Again, the focus appears to be on the bottom six, even though the top six needs a jolt as well.
Over the weekend, Jimmy Murphy of RG Media wrote about the New Jersey Devils and Tom Fitzgerald looking to make a hockey trade similar to the Dylan Cozens-Josh Norris trade last year at the deadline between Ottawa and Buffalo. The plan is to shake things up in the Devils’ locker room, letting players know that nobody is safe and addressing the team’s needs.
“He wants to make a trade that of course he believes will address a major need and make his team better but also send a message to his players that going forward, unless you have control of if and where you get traded to, you’re not safe,” the source told RG.
The problem is that the core of this group, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, and Jack Hughes, has some sort of trade protection. Jack Hughes’s trade clause doesn’t kick in until the summer, but the Devils aren’t trading him. The question becomes, do the Devils decide to move off of Hischier, Bratt and Meier?
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So what about a guy like Dawson Mercer? Do they view him as a core piece? There has been ample time to trade him in the past, including last year, when the Devils were sniffing on Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators and Brayden Schenn of the St. Louis Blues.
While the Devils like Mercer and what he brings, as he can play center and wing. He has filled in nicely in the center position when Jack Hughes has been out due to injury. At some point, the Devils will have to pull the trigger.
Even Fitzgerald stated that when he met the media a few weeks ago, he wanted to add it up front, and if that meant moving a future piece to do so, he would be willing to do so.
“Depending on the deal, I just want to get better, and if that means moving future pieces to improve this team, I’m willing to do it,” Fitzgerald told the local media.
Well, given Mercer’s name has been out there for the last couple of years, this is the time to decide on the player, as he is eligible for a contract extension on July 1st. But is this the type of move that really shakes up a team? And again, there were opportunities earlier in the past couple of seasons to make hockey trades involving Mercer, but the Devils refused.
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Dougie Hamilton is a player to watch as well, coming out of the break. Hamilton has played better since his scratch against the Winnipeg Jets, raising his trade value. The issue is that the Devils couldn’t move because of Luke Hughes’s injury. Do those talks get restarted with teams around the league? He has a 10-team trade list, so it will be tough to make that move now.
And one more on the defensive side of the puck who on that side of the puck goes as well? Could a Jonas Siegenthaler be in play? What about a Simon Nemec, who is a restricted free agent this summer? So many questions and not enough answers, given how tight the New Jersey Devils are up against the salary cap.
Can the New Jersey Devils make a hockey trade? Sure, but if it just involves guys like Nemec and Mercer, who have been available in the past, then Fitzgerald is just moving guys he could have traded in the past. If it is someone else, it will send a bigger shock through the room than just those players.
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