Ranking the Players the New Jersey Devils Should Covet at the Trade Deadline
According to general manager Lou Lamoriello, the New Jersey Devils are not in the midst of a rebuild.
Lamoriello told the media on Friday, per Tom Gulitti at the Fire and Ice Blog, "It's a transition, not a rebuild. Rebuild means you're starting right from the foundation." He may be right. The Devils have a top goaltender and a talented young defense corps upon which they can build.
This year's trade deadline may be an important next step in this period of "transition." New Jersey has a number of players with little long-term value to the team that it may seek to sell, such as Jaromir Jagr, Michael Ryder and Marek Zidlicky.
If the Devils do make moves, one would think that they would aim to pick up goal scorers. New Jersey has struggled to score goals since Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk left, and the team has few internal options to make up those lost goals.
So, most of the players on this list are offensive-minded forwards, as that is what the Devils need the most. We ranked the potential trade targets on both how much value they could bring to the team and how much it would cost New Jersey to acquire them.
6. Tim Gleason, Defenseman, Carolina Hurricanes
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Age: 32
Cap Hit: $1.2 million
Gleason is the only player on this list who is not a forward, and the rationale for bringing him to New Jersey is simple: The team will need a third-pairing defenseman after this season, given the likely departure of Bryce Salvador and Marek Zidlicky.
Gleason is inexpensive and would be an upgrade over Peter Harrold and Mark Fraser. Additionally, his 700-plus NHL games would bring a helpful level of experience to New Jersey's young defensemen.
After this season, the Devils will mostly likely have Andy Greene, Adam Larsson, Damon Severson and Jon Merrill as their top four defensemen, leaving Eric Gelinas in the third pairing. Gleason, an experienced stay-at-home defender, might be a good foil for the young, offensive-minded Gelinas.
Carolina will likely be willing to trade Gleason cheaply, given his age and the fact that his contract expires at the end of the season. The Devils could acquire him without giving up too much, but the move would only be worthwhile if the team could sign him to another season or two after this year ends.
If the Devils could do that, Gleason would be a perfect depth defender until prospects like Steve Santini are ready to make the move to the NHL level.
5. Tyler Bozak, Center, Toronto Maple Leafs
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Age: 28
Cap Hit: $4.2 million
If the Devils are seriously considering a permanent move to wing for Adam Henrique, which is sensible given his scoring ability and the gaping hole at the position, they will need another talented center.
Tyler Bozak has put up 220 points in 356 career NHL games, giving him a 0.62 points per game rate. That is slightly higher than that of Henrique and Travis Zajac, who both have averaged 0.57 points per game in their careers thus far.
Also like both Henrique and Zajac, Bozak can play the power play and kill penalties. Bozak has nine power-play goals this season.
Two aspects of a potential acquisition of Bozak are concerning, though.
First, his cap hit is substantial, and his contract still has three more years on it after this season. The Devils will have room for such a contract both this season and going forward, with Salvador and Ryder's contracts coming off the books, but is Bozak worth investing in?
With two centers (Henrique and Zajac) already with similar contracts and similar offensive production, it is unclear if the Devils would want to add a third.
Second, some of Bozak's non-offensive statistics are troubling. He has a career rating of minus-58 and is at minus-18 this season. His plus/minus this season is fourth-worst on Toronto.
Additionally, Bozak's SAT (the NHL's new name for the statistic formerly known as Corsi, which measures the number of shots for that a team gets when a player is on the ice against the number of shots faced when the player is on the ice) is tied for fourth-worst on the team, according to NHL.com.
Might Bozak still be worth a look? Certainly.
But, these concerns put him at the bottom of the forwards on this list.
4. Chris Stewart, Right Wing, Buffalo Sabres
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Age: 27
Cap Hit: $4.15 million
Chris Stewart has had a somewhat inconsistent NHL career, but his highs have been solid enough to interest New Jersey. He scored 28 goals in 2009-10 and then again in 2010-11. In 2012-13's lockout-shortened season, Stewart had 18 goals and 18 assists in 48 games.
In 121 games over the two seasons since then, though, he only has 24 goals and 24 assists. That is barely 0.40 points per game, down from the 0.75 points per game he put up in 2012-13.
So which is the real Stewart?
It is hard to criticize him for his play this season, given that Buffalo is on pace to finish the season with only 53 points. But, his inability to put up points on a team with limited offensive weapons ought to be concerning for the Devils, who are not exactly overflowing with offensive talent either.
Also, Stewart's contract is up at the end of the season, so the Devils would have to be sure they could keep him around long-term to make a deal worthwhile. Given Buffalo's fire sale, it seems reasonable to think that the Devils could broker a deal without losing an arm and a leg.
The fact that Stewart plays right wing, a position in which the Devils have a dire need, means he could theoretically bring the team something it needs desperately, so he comes in above Bozak on this list.
Nevertheless, questions surrounding his consistency prevent him from ranking higher on this list.
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3. Michael Dal Colle/Josh Ho-Sang, Forward Prospects, New York Islanders
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Ages: 18 and 19
Cap Hit: N/A
The Devils sorely need talented forward prospects. New Jersey's cupboard is embarrassingly thin, particularly at wing.
With players like Jaromir Jagr and Marek Zidlicky, who have experience and talent to contribute to potential title contenders, New Jersey may be in a place to acquire goal=scoring prospects from teams whose top concern is winning now.
I've chosen Michael Dal Colle and Josh Ho-Sang to discuss here because they are top prospects on a team that obviously benefits from a player that the Devils have to offer (Jagr), but there are numerous other options on teams that might benefit from a player like Jagr and Zidlicky as well.
Jagr might be a fit for the Islanders, given the absence of Kyle Okposo due to injury. Jagr could jump onto the Islanders' top line in the short term and then fall into a second- or third-line role more suited to his age at this point. His experience could be invaluable to a young Islanders team when the playoffs roll around.
Dal Colle was chosen fifth overall at the 2014 NHL draft. The left wing has 34 goals and 45 assists in 45 games with the Oshawa Generals of the OHL this season. Ho-Sang put up 32 goals and 53 assists in 67 games with the OHL's Windsor Spitfires last season and 65 points in 48 games in the OHL this season. He was drafted 28th overall in the 2014 NHL draft.
Ho-Sang is probably a more realistic target than Dal Colle for the Devils, but a package with Jagr and other prospects or draft picks could theoretically put them in the picture for Dal Colle as well.
Because of the age of Stewart and Bozak, a high-end prospect would be worth more to the Devils than either player, so Dal Colle and Ho-Sang rank above the veterans. But, with a young star and a possibly tremendous fit still to come, the prospects can only go as high as third.
2. Ryan O'Reilly, Center, Colorado Avalanche
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Age: 24
Cap Hit: $6 million
Ryan O'Reilly has already played 405 games and amassed 225 points in his NHL career. At only 24, he still has plenty of hockey in him and has proved to be a top-tier center in multiple seasons.
In 2011-12, he had 18 goals and 37 assists. In 2013-14, he had 28 goals and 36 assists.
O'Reilly's goal total last year may be an anomaly, given that he has no more than 18 goals in any other season and is on pace for around 14 goals this season. Still, a center who can pick up 35 assists per season on a decent team would be a worthwhile addition for the Devils.
The Devils have enough cap room to deal with a major addition like O'Reilly, but would he be worth such a big chunk of cash?
That depends on what New Jersey would have to give up to acquire him. Bleacher Report's Lyle Richardson thinks that Colorado is in the market for defensemen, which the Devils could provide. It would likely take two of New Jersey's top four NHL defensemen to make such a deal a reality.
Is a playmaker like O'Reilly worth giving up two top defensemen for? It depends on what else the Devils are able to do to bring in talented offensive players. If this is the best New Jersey can do, it is a deal that management would have to seriously consider.
O'Reilly is only a few years older than a prospect and has equivalent offensive numbers to Stewart and Bozak but is younger, so he comes in ahead of all players discussed thus far.
1. Loui Eriksson, Right Wing, Boston Bruins
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Age: 29
Cap Hit: $4.25 million
Eriksson is a bona fide goal scorer who has struggled to hit top gear during his time in Boston. Here are his numbers during his last five seasons in Dallas before moving to Boston:
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus |
| 82 | 36 | 27 | 63 | 14 |
| 82 | 29 | 42 | 71 | -4 |
| 79 | 27 | 46 | 73 | 10 |
| 82 | 26 | 45 | 71 | 18 |
| 48 | 12 | 17 | 29 | -9 |
His durability and goal-scoring ability immediately jump out, but his plus/minus is also encouraging, considering that Dallas was average at best for most of his time with the team.
Mike Johnston at Sportsnet notes that the Bruins could look to move Eriksson in an effort to clear some cap space in order to re-sign a group of young players after the season ends. The Devils have a sensible move to offer Boston for Eriksson's services.
Boston will not be looking to add a long-term cap-heavy player, so one of New Jersey's for-rent forwards may interest the Bruins. Both Ryder and Jagr have spent time in Boston in the past, with both previously playing under coach Claude Julien.
Ryder had 63 goals and 64 assists in 235 regular-season games in Boston, while Jagr had 19 points in 33 regular season and playoff games after being traded there at the end of the 2012-13 season.
If New Jersey offered one player (or both, if Boston wanted) along with a second- or third-round draft pick and a prospect, the Bruins would have to seriously consider it.
Eriksson would immediately fit for the Devils, who desperately need help on the right wing. If Lamoriello could make it happen, it could be a low-risk, high-reward move for New Jersey.
Those two factors make Eriksson the player that the New Jersey Devils ought to covet the most.
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