5 Trade Landing Spots for Nico Hischier Amid NHL Rumors

The New Jersey Devils found their new general manager in Sunny Mehta, and he is going to have some work to do this offseason to get his team back into the playoffs. He also has some big decisions to make when it comes to the long-term outlook of 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 he becomes eligible to do so. When asked about it after the season, he was pretty non-committal on where his mind was with 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 result in a potential 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 on with him as a big part of their core. If you are a betting person, that is probably where this ends up. But until there is pen put to paper and a new deal signed, there is still always going to be that what-if scenario to discuss.

So let's just play the hypothetical what-if game and ponder 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 that 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 even with that being the case they have a pretty obvious and 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 that can be a bonafide 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 Stanley Cup 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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Yes, this is piggy-backing 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 Tkachuk 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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I am not sure there is a team that is going to be facing more pressure to have a big offseason than the Winnipeg Jets. The 2025-26 season was a monstrous failure, and the team's best player, starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck, was pretty ticked off by that in his end-of-season availability. He sounded like a guy that is tired of being abandoned by his front office, and threw down the gauntlet on them to make changes to get better.

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

We should have known that Winnipeg's season was going to flop when it went into the season with Jonathan Toews expected to play a major role when he hadn't actually been in the NHL in two years. And when we last saw him in the NHL he wasn't even that good. 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 it is forced into them. Well, Hellebuyck may have forced them 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, this one is probably 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 in a four-game sweep against 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 a big offseason move. A move for a player like Hischier would absolutely 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, in time, is that Michael Misa becomes that 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 (which is certainly possible) 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 far more difficult step is going from competitive to contender. They have a great collection of young talent to help get there, but they can not just wait around and hope for it all to develop. Sometimes you need to make a big addition for a proven star.