Speculation: Review of the League's Top-6 Forward Options via Trade

[Hischier and Hughes]

I did not want to take up an entire 'Devils Team' thread with trade speculation and discussion of other team's players, so I made this; sorry if I broke a rule!

NOTE: Since this is speculation I can not attest for the availability of anyone listed - just that they fit a basic criteria involving age and production.

The idea is to trade for the player before the trade deadline this season

18-29, 50+ points
Team by Team list:
Anaheim: Rakell
Arizona: Stepan, Galchenyuk, Keller
Boston: Marchand, Pastrnak
Buffalo: Eichel, Skinner
Calgary: Monahan, Gaudreau, Tkachuk
Carolina: Aho, Teravainen(?)
Chicago: Kane, Saad(?)
Columbus: Panarin, Atkinson
Colorado: MacKinnon, Landeskog, Rantanen
Dallas: Seguin, Benn
Detroit: Larkin, Nyquist(?)
Edmonton: McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins
Florida: Barkov, Trochek, Huberdeau, Hoffman, Dadonov(?)
Los Angeles: Tofolli(?)
Minnesota: Zucker(?), Granlund, Niederreiter(?), Coyle(?)
Montreal: Drouin, Tatar(?), Gallagher(?)
Nashville: Johansen, Turris, Forsberg, Arvidsson, Smith(?)
New York I: Barzal, Lee, Eberle
New York R: Zibanejad, Kreider(?)
Ottawa: Duchene, Stone
Philadelphia: Couturier, Giroux, JvR, Voracek
Pittsburgh: Guentzel
San Jose: Couture, Kane(?)
St Louis: Schenn, O'Reilly, Schwartz, Tarasenko
Tampa Bay: Stamkos, Point, Palat, Gourde(?), Kucherov, JT Miller, Johnson
Toronto: Tavares, Matthews, Kadri, Marner, Nylander,
Vancouver: Horvat, Boeser
Vegas: Karlsson(?), Marchessault, Smith
Washington: Kuznetsov
Winnipeg: Scheifele, Connor, Ehlers, Wheeler, Laine

If yall have any under-50pt players you think should be targeted (like the Fiala, Meier types) feel free to mention them and bring light to a good option! All discussion is welcomed.

Click to read more...

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Most of that list is very unrealistic that the teams would put those type of players out to trade.

Best just to stick with impending UFA:
Stone, Panarin, Duchene, Eberle, Nyqvist, Lee, Gourde (TB won't trade him while they are playoff bound).

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Most of that list is very unrealistic that the teams would put those type of players out to trade.

Best just to stick with impending UFA:
Stone, Panarin, Duchene, Eberle, Nyqvist, Lee, Gourde (TB won't trade him while they are playoff bound).

While I see the reasoning for your wait for FA, I feel we are in a transition period from rebuilder to playoff team. We have a stockpile of prospects (drafted a lot last 3-4) as well as a young team. I think we can afford to move assets for a player now to make a push further this season - not just saying 'well this season can be a dud because theyll hit FA'. I think we can move some assets now for a proven piece and still have a bright long term future.

And we likely save money signing someone who can only negotiate with us

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

We have a stockpile of prospects (drafted a lot last 3-4) as well as a young team.

The prospect cupboard isn't stockpiled.

Smith looks great. After him, there are question marks on everyone else.
Even the young players already on our team except for Hischier.

The only young player that I'm comfortable moving out is Zacha but he is losing value with every game he plays while he struggles to score.

 

[FooteBahl]

The prospect cupboard isn't stockpiled.

Smith looks great. After him, there are question marks on everyone else.
Even the young players already on our team except for Hischier.

The only young player that I'm comfortable moving out is Zacha but he is losing value with every game he plays while he struggles to score.

No it’s not stockpiled, but if we spent money on high profile UFA’s our prospects can fill the lesser voids. Go balls to the wall for Duchene and Stone and that solves our secondary scoring and pushes Zacha and Zajac down to 3/4 center. Then hope we hit on one or two of Boqvist, Anderson, McLoud, Talvitie, Zetterlend, Studenic et al.

We’re a bubble team at best as currently constructed. Get Duchene, Stone and hope Ty Smith can make the jump and we can contend for it all next year. We need to make a splash to show Taylor we’re serious.


Edit: I forgot to mention our savior Seney

 

[NJDevils17]

Duchene and Stone are my preferred options. Both would be elite additions.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

I wonder if Eberle could be had cheap.

He's only going at 0.5ppg. But he intrigues me because he had his best seasons playing with Hall. It will also allow us to push Palmieri on 2nd line, which maybe benefical, as we can pair a pass first player in MoJo with a shooter like Palms.

 

[FooteBahl]

Duchene and Stone are my preferred options. Both would be elite additions.

The only negative to that is at some point we would have at least 4 massive contracts. Let’s just say that Duchene and Stone are had at 8mil each, in a few years we’d have Hall, Nico and those two all over 8 mill. That’s a lot for four guys, but at least we would have a very solid core.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

I wonder if Eberle could be had cheap.

He's only going at 0.5ppg. But he intrigues me because he had his best seasons playing with Hall. It will also allow us to push Palmieri on 2nd line, which maybe benefical, as we can pair a pass first player in MoJo with a shooter like Palms.

As long as the Islanders are above .500 (or even close to it), Lou isn’t going to sell anyone.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

For a trade of this magnitude to happen this early, the trade partner needs to be desperate. Last year, Anaheim was ravaged with injuries, and had scrubs centering their 2nd and 3rd lines. But for those circumstances, I don’t think they would have pulled trigger on the Vatanen deal.

There needs to be some desperation, and I don’t really see much of that around the league. I’m sure some cap-strapped teams would like to shed contracts, but those transactions don’t have to happen *now*

 

[AfroThunder396]

Yeah our prospects aren't as great as they seem. Outside of Smith there's no one guaranteed to be a top-6 F or top-4 D. Lots of question marks. A bunch of fringe NHLers until proven otherwise.

A lot of our draft capital from the past three years has either graduated into irreplaceable NHL players or traded.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

For a trade of this magnitude to happen this early, the trade partner needs to be desperate. Last year, Anaheim was ravaged with injuries, and had scrubs centering their 2nd and 3rd lines. But for those circumstances, I don’t think they would have pulled trigger on the Vatanen deal.

There needs to be some desperation, and I don’t really see much of that around the league. I’m sure some cap-strapped teams would like to shed contracts, but those transactions don’t have to happen *now*

Los Angeles Kings?

 

[MauDevils]

As long as the Islanders are above .500 (or even close to it), Lou isn’t going to sell anyone.

And especially not to us.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

Los Angeles Kings?

They’re an interesting case, for sure — but they seem to be all-in, so I’d imagine any deal with them would have to have NHL talent going the other way. Although their cap situation would suggest otherwise, they can’t really afford to dump NHL talent for picks and prospects.

I wonder if they’d have any interest in Johansson. They have more shooters than us, so he could fit in better there. I wonder if they’d see the value in acquiring Johansson’s expiring contract in a deal where they get out from underneath one of their longer-term, pricier commitments. Carter?

 

[MartyOwns]

i don’t understand. do people think we’re in a position to trade away one of the very few valuable prospects we have? do people think this team is 1 move away from seriously competing for a cup?

we’ve been patient and stuck to the plan...let’s not lose our heads now

 

[Zippy316]

For a trade of this magnitude to happen this early, the trade partner needs to be desperate. Last year, Anaheim was ravaged with injuries, and had scrubs centering their 2nd and 3rd lines. But for those circumstances, I don’t think they would have pulled trigger on the Vatanen deal.

There needs to be some desperation, and I don’t really see much of that around the league. I’m sure some cap-strapped teams would like to shed contracts, but those transactions don’t have to happen *now*

LA is really the only team I could see in this boat.

But the most realistic option there is Carter and his age is a bit of a concern.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

LA is really the only team I could see in this boat.

But the most realistic option there is Carter and his age is a bit of a concern.

I wouldn’t really care, as long as there isn’t anything significant added to Johansson.

Now is that realistic? I have no idea. The Kings are in a very precarious situation.

 

[OmNomNom]

As long as the Islanders are above .500 (or even close to it), Lou isn’t going to sell anyone.

not to mention, lou has always had a hard-on for eberle, iirc. now that he has him, why would he want to let him go

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

i don’t understand. do people think we’re in a position to trade away one of the very few valuable prospects we have? do people think this team is 1 move away from seriously competing for a cup?

we’ve been patient and stuck to the plan...let’s not lose our heads now

we certainly have more prospect than a few, and why does a trade for somebody who would be here for 5-7 years have to be the '1 move away from seriously competing for the cup?'

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Tampa has what feels like an entire forward roster making over 4.5mil, perhaps we can pry one away from them? Idk if any of them besides Point or maybe Miller would fit that well though

 

[Oneiro]

Palat is a guy who could fit in well here. Tampa will obviously need some cap relief down the line. Plays hard in a speed driven system and is defensively responsible. His contract is a bit much and the big obstacle is the NTC, but he could play in the top 6 from time to time. While he's on the downswing, I think he could do a better job of bringing what Noesen brings and we can walk away at the end of his deal, hopefully with a few solid years of insulating our younger players.

I suppose if Elias can't "motivate" Zacha, no one can, but Palat is another Czech guy who plays the right way. Frankly, Zacha needs to play with the same tenacity as Palat, though Pavel's got a much slicker toolset.

 

[MartyOwns]

we certainly have more prospect than a few

i keep asking this but i never get an answer. what prospects are you willing to part with? what sort of value do you think those prospects have? do you know the going rate for john quennevilles?

and why does a trade for somebody who would be here for 5-7 years have to be the '1 move away from seriously competing for the cup?'

who are you targeting that will be here for the arbitrary term of 5-7 years? i’d bet 75%+ of the players in that list you made are completely off the market.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

i keep asking this but i never get an answer. what prospects are you willing to part with? what sort of value do you think those prospects have? do you know the going rate for john quennevilles?



who are you targeting that will be here for the arbitrary term of 5-7 years? i’d bet 75%+ of the players in that list you made are completely off the market.

I find it hard to believe if Shero was looking to acquire someone on that list, they'd walk without a new long term contract. Like I said in the OP, its a thought exercise, Im not claiming anyone is or isn't available. Obviously names like McDavid Barkov and MacKinnon aren't available, but guys like Tofolli Granlund Duchene, nothing says they couldn't be had for the right price.

And as for value, I dislike speaking to specifics because then it takes away what I want the discussion to be about. I know our prospects arent high end (minus Smith who isn't available) but we have a 1st and multiple 2nds available and some of our prospects certainly hold value.

I wanted to discuss more about WHO we should target and how they'd fit, not necessarily if/what assets it would cost. I know you can't acquire the player without discussing the cost but it just dissolves into a debate over the prospects/picks values instead of who we should target. Im not trying to dodge any questions I swear!

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Palat is a guy who could fit in well here. Tampa will obviously need some cap relief down the line. Plays hard in a speed driven system and is defensively responsible. His contract is a bit much and the big obstacle is the NTC, but he could play in the top 6 from time to time. While he's on the downswing, I think he could do a better job of bringing what Noesen brings and we can walk away at the end of his deal, hopefully with a few solid years of insulating our younger players.

I suppose if Elias can't "motivate" Zacha, no one can, but Palat is another Czech guy who plays the right way. Frankly, Zacha needs to play with the same tenacity as Palat, though Pavel's got a much slicker toolset.

Sounds like the type of team who Shero can leech off of too! They most certainly will need cap relief and I think Shero can play hardball on what we pay, since we're also doing them a favor. Biggest problem likely is we are direct competition for the East playoffs.