The NHL Trade Deadline is this Friday. Two days from now.<\/p>\n
Historically, this is one of my favorite times of the year on the NHL calendar, mainly because it\u2019s one of the few times on the calendar that an NHL GM actually does their job and makes trades. We get to see firsthand which teams are serious about winning and competing for championships and which ones are not. We get to see which GMs know what they\u2019re doing and which ones don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I like to consider myself an ideas person. I come up with ideas on fake trades to make the Devils better and then I get to be mad online after the fact when the team doesn\u2019t do exactly what I told them to do. During the buildup to the deadline in prior years, I would come up with trade targets from around the league, gauge whether or not they\u2019re a fit, what the cost might be and if its something the Devils might consider doing.<\/p>\n
I love trade deadline season.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately in what is shaping up to be a dreadful finish to a once-promising season, it\u2019s hard to get too excited about the trade deadline this year.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that I lack ideas of what the Devils could or should do. Trust me, I\u2019m going to share a bunch of ideas of what the Devils could and should do at the deadline shortly. But at the end of the day, I\u2019m just a guy behind a keyboard with fake trade ideas. I\u2019m not the general manager of the team. And at the end of the day, its tough to have faith in Devils management to do anything right.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t exactly have confidence in Tom Fitzgerald after he needlessly gave Jacob Markstrom a 2 year contract extension earlier this year. I don\u2019t have confidence in the GM who gave Johnathan Kovacevic five years when he already had a logjam at RHD on the NHL roster. I don\u2019t have confidence in the GM who gave Ondrej Palat $6M for 5 years before finally paying assets a few weeks ago to dump him elsewhere. I don\u2019t have confidence in the GM who capped out the roster to the point where he couldn\u2019t make the Quinn Hughes trade happen when it was right there for him. I don\u2019t have confidence in the GM who whiffed on the 7th overall pick and lacked the assets to pull off said Quinn Hughes trade. I don\u2019t have confidence in the GM whose second hand picked head coach is failing in spectacular fashion.<\/p>\n
I could keep going but you get the point. It\u2019s insane to me that we\u2019re at this point of the season, sitting through brutal loss after brutal loss, watching a boring, dreadful team that can\u2019t score and can\u2019t get a stop when they need one. It\u2019s insane to me that we\u2019re STILL trusting Fitzgerald to not somehow make things worse, because he should\u2019ve already been relieved of his duties. He probably would\u2019ve been by now if the Devils were a serious operation.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s still here. It is what it is. So how can the Devils make the most of it with the deadline upon us?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what Fitzgerald will do. I can only say what I would do if I was the general manager of this team. But if I were sitting in the big chair, my goals would be as follows.<\/p>\n
Free up as much cap space for the 2026-27 season (and beyond) as possible. I don\u2019t know what the summer will bring. I don\u2019t know if Minnesota will look to flip Quinn Hughes if\/when he says he\u2019s not signing there. I don\u2019t know what players from other teams might become available. But I want to be in a better position than the Devils were this year to make that type of move if the opportunity presents itself, and half the battle is having the requisite cap space to be able to make those types of moves. It\u2019s something the Devils didn\u2019t have for most of this season, which may or may not have hamstrung them, depending whether or not you want to believe that Tom Fitzgerald was looking to make a move the whole time and the lack of cap space wasn\u2019t just an excuse as to why nothing was getting done.Accumulate as much draft capital as possible. Mostly to use it in the aforementioned types of deals that I\u2019m looking to make, but also to help rebuild a Devils farm system that has shifted somewhere between league average and below average the last couple years since Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec graduated.Try to find interesting players to take a flier on.Revamp a blueline that hasn\u2019t worked.Add speed and skill to the lineup<\/p>\n
Of course, I\u2019m not reinventing the wheel here with my goals or analysis. Every team that can\u2019t win is going to try to add more speed and skill, or get younger, or shed payroll in the process. But with that out of the way, here\u2019s a bunch of fake trades that the Devils won\u2019t make over the next 48 hours, even though they probably should if they were ever on the table.<\/p>\n
Devils Trade Jonas Siegenthaler & Paul Cotter to the Sabres for W Isak Rosen, a 2026 4th round pick, and a 2027 2nd round pick<\/p>\n
The \u201cSiegenthaler to Buffalo\u201d fit just makes too much sense on paper.<\/p>\n
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff has a familiarity with Siegenthaler from their time together in New Jersey. The Sabres need to upgrade over Zach Metsa and Michael Kesselring on their third pairing if they want any hopes of doing anything once they get to the playoffs. Siegenthaler won\u2019t help the Sabres offensively, but that\u2019s not his game anyways and the Sabres don\u2019t really need more offense from the backend. They need a defensively responsible defenseman with experience who can kill penalties. Add in that Siegenthaler is signed for 2 more years after this one at $3.4M AAV and its the type of deal that wouldn\u2019t prevent Buffalo from tending to more pressing matters over the summer, like trying to re-sign Alex Tuch. As for Cotter, the Sabres are currently rolling Joshua Dunne out there on their 4th line, so he would simply be another option for Ruff on the back end of the roster.<\/p>\n
Getting a 4th round pick would help soften the blow from trading a 3rd away when they dumped Ondrej Palat last month, and a 2nd round pick is currency with which to work with, but the wild card in this deal would be getting Rosen.<\/p>\n
Rosen has been a popular name mentioned in the Devils blogosphere\u2026..Alex Chauvancy and JP Gambatese both mentioned similar deals to the one I proposed on their respective Substack platforms, so it feels like I\u2019m riding their coattails a bit. I can\u2019t speak for them but I think I view Rosen similarly to how they do.<\/p>\n
Rosen would theoretically add some much needed speed, shooting ability, and skating to the Devils forward group. He\u2019s gotten a few cups of coffee with the Sabres the last few years and registered 7 points in 16 NHL games this season. He\u2019s also been a consistent producer at the AHL level with 91 goals and 97 assists over 229 games for Rochester. Already 22 years old, the former 2021 1st round pick might be blocked at the NHL level as other young forwards like Noah Ostlund and Konsta Helenius have either already carved out an NHL role or have higher upside. Rosen really doesn\u2019t have much left to prove at the AHL level, so it would make sense that he might be available in the right deal.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, I don\u2019t love that there might be concerns about Rosen\u2019s compete level<\/a>, as that might be what has held him back from graduating from the AHL in the first place. But the Devils are probably at the point where they should be more concerned with whether or not a player can score and worrying about things like \u2019compete level\u2019 secondarily. Rosen might not be an NHL player, but he has the type of skillset where he\u2019s probably worth the gamble and time investment to find out.<\/p>\n Assuming Siegenthaler doesn\u2019t have Buffalo on his 10-team no-trade list, some variant of this deal could potentially be an option.<\/p>\n Devils Trade Dawson Mercer & Dougie Hamilton (with $3M of salary retention) to Anaheim for a 2027 2nd round pick and D Pavel Mintyukov<\/p>\n Anaheim appears to be another team that is poised to snap a long playoff drought. They\u2019re also a team that has a need at RHD beyond this season as captain Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba are both pending UFAs.<\/p>\n On paper, Hamilton would make a lot of sense as a top pairing RHD compliment to Jackson LaCombe. He could also slot into one of Anaheim\u2019s power play units. Obviously, Hamilton has a 10-team trade list so he\u2019d probably have to sign off on moving across the country on a whim. But he\u2019d be joining a playoff race and there are worse places to live in this country than Southern California.<\/p>\n Mercer\u2019s situation is well documented. He\u2019s a former first round pick who has been an NHL regular since making the team out of camp in 2021. His development has sort of plateaued to where he\u2019s been a guy who maybe gets you 20 goals and 35 ish points in a season, which isn\u2019t all that great considering he gets consistent Top Six playing time, plays in all situations, and hasn\u2019t missed an NHL game yet in his career. I don\u2019t know that the Ducks are an ideal fit but Mercer could slot onto their third line immediately with all the injuries they\u2019ve had and make their lineup a lot deeper.<\/p>\n The Ducks could theoretically fit in Hamilton\u2019s full AAV without salary retention, although I don\u2019t know how much of an appetite they have for paying full price on Hamilton when Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier are among the five pending RFAs for the Ducks. So why am I open to the idea of salary retention as a Devils fan?<\/p>\n Simply put, I want to try to get Pavel Mintyukov to New Jersey.<\/p>\n Mintyukov had reportedly told the Ducks earlier this season he\u2019d like to be moved, according to Elliotte Friedman<\/a>. I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s still disgruntled after being a healthy scratch earlier in the year, and the Ducks seem to be giving him more consistent playing time since New Year\u2019s. But he\u2019s due a new contract after this year and Pat Verbeek tends to play hardball with RFAs anyways. The Ducks don\u2019t have a shortage of prospects on the blueline either, so maybe now is the time for them to cash in on Mintyukov.<\/p>\n Mintyukov is the type of defenseman the Devils are lacking at the NHL level. He\u2019s a plus skater who has offensive ability. He can break out of the defensive zone with the puck. He can join the rush. He\u2019d be a welcome change of pace from the redundancy of the defense-first, defense-only, average at best skaters that have cluttered the Devils depth chart at the NHL level. And while he\u2019s due a new contract, he shouldn\u2019t break the bank. The only question would be whether or not you can convince Pat Verbeek to give up on a recent 10th overall pick for a \u201cwin now\u201d type of move. From a value perspective, its probably a fair deal. From a \u201cwe\u2019re trying to build something long-term\u201d perspective, Verbeek might say \u201cthanks but no thanks\u201d before hanging up the phone once Mintyukov\u2019s name comes up. Either way, this is the type of player I\u2019m trying to get and it doesn\u2019t really change the fact that Anaheim is a solid potential destination for Hamilton.<\/p>\n Devils Trade Brenden Dillon to the Red Wings for a 2026 3rd round pick and prospect Eddie Genborg<\/p>\n Not much to say about this one other than Detroit could use another NHL-caliber defenseman and Dillon is certainly one of those. Dillon has a full NTC for the rest of this season. Would he waive to go to a contender? Would he waive to go to Detroit? I don\u2019t know the answers to this, but he hasn\u2019t won a Stanley Cup so he might waive to go Cup chase.<\/p>\n So why am I targeting Detroit\u2019s 2nd round draft pick from 2025 in Eddie Genborg? He\u2019s a big body that is the right type of \u201chard to play against\u201d with his physicality, but also has an ability to get to the front of the net and cause havoc. If he makes it to the NHL, he probably projects as a third line grinder type of winger. You do need those types who can play further down in your lineup.<\/p>\n Value-wise, this deal wouldn\u2019t be too different than the one that sent Brian Dumoulin to the Devils at last year\u2019s deadline. The main differences would be that Dillon has a full NTC for the rest of this season, Dillon has another year of control, the draft pick is a round lower than the one the Devils gave up, and Genborg is probably a slightly higher upside prospect than the one the Devils gave up in Herman Traff.<\/p>\n Devils Trade Nico Daws to the Canadiens for Patrik Laine and a 2026 3rd round pick<\/p>\n The logic behind this is two-fold.<\/p>\n First, Montreal is in the playoff hunt, but Laine\u2019s large AAV is preventing the Habs from making moves they\u2019d like to make elsewhere to improve the roster. And now that I freed up a bunch of cap space on the Devils end by trading away Hamilton, Dillon, Siegenthaler, and Mercer, they would theoretically have no problem taking a 20-game flier on the former #2 overall pick for the rest of this season. If the Devils like what they see, maybe they consider a short-term deal where Laine can rebuild his value around the league pumping in a bunch of goals playing on a line with Jack Hughes. If Laine stinks, barely plays, or is an issue in the room, the Devils can simply move on. I\u2019m not saying the Devils should give Laine $6M a year on his next contract, but this is one of those situations where there\u2019s little to no risk seeing if anything is there.<\/p>\n Admittedly, I\u2019m not a big Laine fan. There\u2019s always \u2018something\u2019 with him. He has a 10-team no-trade list. He rarely plays. He\u2019s barely played this season. When he does play, he\u2019s a bit of a one-trick pony. But the reason why I\u2019d be ok taking a flier here is that his one trick that he\u2019s good at happens to be the thing this Devils team is dreadful at. Laine can score goals.<\/p>\n Secondly, I think the Devils have made their bed in regards to Nico Daws and his future, or lack thereof, in New Jersey. Daws is blocked for the foreseeable future while Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen are Devils. There\u2019s probably a better chance of Daws taking his talents overseas this summer than there is of him signing another contract with the Devils. At least here, Daws has a chance of potentially seeing time in the NHL.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know that the Habs would be all that enthralled with Daws. But I do know they\u2019d like an escape hatch on what\u2019s left of Laine\u2019s deal.<\/p>\n Why I Would Hold On To Certain Players<\/p>\n I would expect most of the comments to say something along the lines of \u201cwhat about so-and-so?\u201d. So let\u2019s dive into some of those guys.<\/p>\n