{"id":559531,"date":"2026-04-25T23:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/559531\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T23:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:42:15","slug":"sunny-mehta-already-has-a-potential-devils-trade-partner-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/559531\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunny Mehta Already Has a Potential Devils Trade Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunny Mehta<\/a> already has an option to pick up the phone and negotiate a potential New Jersey Devils<\/a> trade and improve their top-six. <\/p>\n

After failing to make the playoffs for the 10th season in a row, the Detroit Red Wings<\/a> are now the longest-tenured team to miss the postseason after the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> finally punched their ticket this spring.<\/p>\n

Amid expressing his disappointment in what was declared a disappointing season by Steve Yzerman, he explained the Red Wings \u201cneed better players,\u201d and that no one in the organization is untouchable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll certainly look at any way we can to improve our team to take that next step, so to speak,\u201d Yzerman said. \u201cCertainly prepared to do that. We\u2019re absolutely open to doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unclear what direction Detroit\u2019s GM will choose to go this summer, the Red Wings certainly have a few players that would benefit New Jersey in a potential Devils trade.<\/p>\n

At his introductory press conference, Mehta explained he wanted to, \u201cmake smart, objective and educated decisions\u2026 over, and over, and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later made it clear that although he has a background in analytics as a former professional poker player, stocks trader, and NHL executive, he finds value in blending the analytics with his hockey knowledge. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that I ever even cared about analytics, statistics probability is because it helped me win. It helped me win in poker. It helped me win on the trading floor, and it\u2019s helped me win in hockey. And so that\u2019s why I care about it. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the blending is, of course, important in the same way that in poker it\u2019s not just numbers. You have to have a feel for your opponent. You have to understand the subjectivity of bluffing. And, you have to understand the psychology. And the same thing is true in trading, right? That you have to have a feel for markets. You have to understand how news affects things, subjectivity, and human emotion affects things.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, who could the Devils target in Detroit to improve their own roster?<\/p>\n

Alex DeBrincat<\/p>\n

Who better to target than<\/a> Alex Debrincat?<\/p>\n

DeBrincat is the Red Wings leading goal scorer in the lates two seasons, scoring 41 and 39 goals respectively. 2025-26 was the third time in the 28-year-old\u2019s nine-year career he\u2019s reached or eclipsed the 40-goal mark. He\u2019s also netted five 30-plus goal seasons in his career.<\/p>\n

DeBrincat scores in many different ways. He can finish on the rush, snipe from an isolated area in the offensive zone, he netted 15 power play goals last season, and added eight helpers on the man advantage.<\/p>\n

DeBrincat is coming off a career-best 85-point season, which will certainly increase his trade value.<\/p>\n

However, the Devils have assets to deal.<\/p>\n

DeBrincat\u2014a regular running-mate with Patrick Kane\u2014would be a strong fit next to Devils stars Jack Hughes<\/a> and Jesper Bratt<\/a> to finally round out that line.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s got one year left on his contract in 2026-27 with a $7.875 million before due for a new contract next summer.<\/p>\n

The Devils need to score more goals and that\u2019s what DeBrincat does best.<\/p>\n

Lucas Raymond<\/p>\n

If the Devils want a younger option, Mehta could target Lucas Raymond.<\/p>\n

One of Raymond\u2019s criticisms in 2025-26 was that he needed to shoot more. Still, he netted 25 goals on 173 shots\u2014a shooting percentage of 14.5%.<\/p>\n

In four of Raymond\u2019s five seasons in the NHL, he\u2019s eclipsed 20 goals or more. In 2023-24, Raymond netted a career-high 31 goals, and in the following season collected a career-high 80 points.<\/p>\n

Raymond is a skilled all-around forward who will cost a bit more at 24 years old heading into the prime years of his career.<\/p>\n

Down the stretch, Raymond was relied on as the driver of his line as opposed to being the complimentary piece like he would be next to Hughes or Bratt. <\/p>\n

The Devils have assets to deal from their first-round pick, Simon Nemec<\/a>, and perhaps one of their young up-and-coming forwards such as Lenni H\u00e4meenaho. <\/p>\n

Raymond is going into the third of an eight-year, very favorable contract with an $8.075 million cap hit.<\/p>\n

Hey, David Blitzer gave Mehta the blessing to spend to the cap. He might as well swing for the fences.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tJames is a fully credentialed New Jersey Devils beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now on Sportsnaut and the … More about James Nichols<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunny Mehta already has an option to pick up the phone and negotiate a potential New Jersey Devils…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[377],"tags":[93,201,3723,30385,5,151,135,12877],"class_list":{"0":"post-559531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-detroit-red-wings","9":"tag-devils","10":"tag-devils-news","11":"tag-devils-trade-rumors","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-new-jersey-devils","14":"tag-steve-yzerman","15":"tag-sunny-mehta"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116468000028744583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}