5 Trade Landing Spots for Nico Hischier Amid NHL Rumors

The New Jersey Devils have found their new general manager in Sunny Mehta, and he will have some work to do this offseason to get his team back into the playoffs.

The 48-year-old also has some big decisions to make about the long-term outlook for his core group of players.

The biggest decision, and one of the big unanswered questions, will be what happens with center Nico Hischier.

On the surface, Hischier is one of the better two-way centers in the NHL, has been a key part of the Devils' core since he arrived as a No. 1 overall pick, and is currently the team's captain. In that sense, there is not much of a decision to be made. At least there wouldn't be under ideal and normal circumstances.

But Hischier is entering the final year of his contract, and it is not yet known if he will re-sign with the team this summer. When asked about it after the season, he was noncommittal about where his mind was on his future.

If he does not re-sign this summer, or if the Devils have an issue in getting him to re-sign, that is when the big decisions will have to be made.

The Devils almost certainly do not want to put themselves in a position where they risk losing him for nothing, which could lead to a trade. If it gets to that, it would probably be better to do that sooner rather than later because the longer you wait in a contract year, the more the potential trade value drops.

The most likely and logical situation here: The Devils figure out a way to get him signed and continue with him as a big part of their core. If you are a betting person, that is probably where this ends up. But until the pen is put to paper, there will always be that "what if" scenario to discuss.

So let's just play that game and consider what it might look like if the Devils were to shop him this summer, and the teams that should have a potential interest or be a good match.

Minnesota Wild

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In all honesty, the Minnesota Wild should be in the market for any center who is potentially available this offseason, either in free agency or by trade.

They have a fantastic roster overall and are one of the best teams in the NHL, but they have a noticeable weakness down the middle.

Joel Eriksson Ek is a tremendous player, but is he a No. 1 center on a Stanley Cup-winning team?

Even if you think he is, do they have somebody who can be a bona fide No. 2 center? Probably not.

The Wild are tied in their first-round series with the Dallas Stars, but they still have a long way to go to reach a Cup Final, and center depth might be the thing that keeps them from getting there. They might have to address it in a significant way this summer.

Ottawa Senators

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Admittedly, this is piggybacking off of something I wrote about when it came to Brady Tkachuk's future, but the Ottawa Senators could be a match here if they put him on the trade market.

Would the Devils be interested in Tkachuk if he became available? Would they view that as a chance to add a spark to a roster that has become a little stale?

If so, Hischier might be the type of player the Senators would want back in return if they could get him signed.

Winnipeg Jets

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Is there a team facing more pressure to have a big offseason than the Winnipeg Jets?

The 2025-26 season was a total failure, and goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck was ticked off by that in his end-of-season interview. He threw down the gauntlet in the front office to drive changes to improve.

There are a lot of issues to address here, and a No. 2 center is very much at the top of the list.

We should have known Winnipeg's season was going to flop when Jonathan Toews was expected to play a major role despite not being in the NHL for two years. The whole experiment went about as poorly as could have been expected.

Winnipeg's front office is methodical in its team-building approach and rarely makes big moves unless forced to. Well, Hellebuyck may have forced the team's brass into it with his end-of-season press conference.

It is a weak free-agent class. Winnipeg is also not really a free-agency destination. Any improvements are going to have to come via trade. Hischier is the exact type of player they could use.

Los Angeles Kings

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The Kings are not only coming off a fifth consecutive first-round exit, but this one is also producing the most dire offseason situation of them all.

While the end result is the same as past years, this Kings team took a massive step backwards and was arguably one of the worst playoff teams in recent memory. They won just 22 regulation games (tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the second-fewest in the NHL) and were only 29th in the league in goals scored. They need help, and a lot of it.

They also failed to win a playoff game, falling in a four-game sweep to the Colorado Avalanche, and now franchise icon, team captain, and No. 1 center Anze Kopitar is retiring, leaving a massive opening at the top of the lineup.

It probably will not signal a rebuild, but there is a need for another top-line center.

Even without Kopitar's retirement, there was going to be a need for more offense, better players, and some kind of big offseason move. A move for a player like Hischier would qualify for that.

San Jose Sharks

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The Sharks are a team on the rise, and they already have one of the best players in hockey in second-year sensation Macklin Celebrini. But they still need some help around him to help bring everything together, and more center depth should be at the top of the list.

The hope is that Michael Misa becomes the No. 2 player to pair up with Celebrini, but he is not quite there just yet. And even if he does take a big step forward next season, the Sharks could still use a veteran, two-way player like Hischier to really make them a matchup problem down the middle.

The Sharks went from bad to competitive in 2025-26. The more difficult step is going from competitive to contender. They have a great collection of young talent, but they cannot just wait around and hope it all develops. Sometimes you need to make a big addition with a proven star.