Chris Ryan of NJ.com: A look at the New Jersey Devils leading up to the NHL trade deadline.
Likely to be moved – Sami Vatanen – It’s still possible that they try to re-sign him, but he’d be one of the top rentals on the market and should bring back a nice return.
Other rental options who could stay – Andy Greene, Wayne Simmonds, Kevin Rooney, and Louis Domingue.
Greene has a no-trade and wants to stay. Maybe more worthwhile to keep Simmonds over moving him for a mid-round pick. Wouldn’t be much of market for Rooney and Domingue.
Teams will call, but Devils will need to be blown away – Blake Coleman, Kyle Palmieri, and Nikita Gusev.
Wild card – P.K. Subban – Carries a $9 million salary cap hit for another two seasons which wouldn’t be easy for a contending team to take on. The Devils are already retaining $3 million on Taylor Hall‘s contract.
Players with term – Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood, Jesper Bratt, John Hayden. It may not make a lot of sense to move any as you still need players.
Damon Severson – can’t really move him if you trade Vatanen.
Will Butcher – two years left at $3.73 million. The Devils need to improve the left side of their defense and trading him would weaken it. It would need to be a hockey trade.
Connor Carrick and Mirco Mueller – wouldn’t get much trade interest.
TSN: Darren Dreger says to expect New Jersey Devils interim GM Tom Fitzgerald to be busy with pending UFAs in Sami Vatanen and Andy Greene. Simmonds, Kyle Palmieri, and Blake Coleman will get interest. Dreger on Coleman:
“I think we can all understand and appreciate why there is interest in him. He can certainly fit on all team’s top-nines and comfortably on many contending team’s top-sixes. Most importantly, he’s got one year remaining at $1.8 million so that’s an attractive number.”