4 Potential Trade Packages for the Devils' Nico Hischier Amid NHL Rumors

New Jersey Devils general manager Sunny Mehta has some serious work to do in order to get his team back into playoff contention.

The Devils took a huge step backward in 2025-26, and despite having one of the league's best players (Jack Hughes) and a solid core of players to build around, the roster is still lacking depth and goaltending.

Aside from trying to add to the roster, the Devils also have to figure out the long-term future of center (and team captain) Nico Hischier.

Hischier is one of the Devils' best players, but he is also entering the final year of his contract and eligible for an extension. There is some uncertainty as to whether or not that extension can get signed, and if the Devils are unable to lock down a new deal before the start of the season there is a chance the Devils could look to be proactive and move him before risking losing him for nothing.

Given the lack of center depth on the free-agent market, and how rare it is for a player as good (and young) as Hischier to become available, the Devils could potentially score a significant return if they moved him.

So with that in mind, let's play general manager and see what a potential trade return could look like should it get to that point this offseason.

Getting a Goalie from the Montreal Canadiens

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Montreal gets: Nico Hischier

New Jersey gets: Jakub Dobes, 2026 first-round pick (No. 28 overall)

Montreal took a huge step forward this season in reaching the Eastern Conference Final, but it is still a couple of pieces away from getting over the hump and becoming a true Stanley Cup team.

A second-line center to pair up with Nick Suzuki down the middle could be one of those pieces.

General manager Kent Hughes has said he's willing to overpay for the right player should they become available, and Hischier is the type of player who could be worth a steep price.

Trading Dobes might seem like a wild suggestion given the playoff run he just had, but for as good as he has been the Canadiens have another young goalie with even more potential upside in Jacob Fowler.

Are the Canadiens ready to make Fowler their top goalie? Is he ready for that? That would be the big question, and in an ideal world the Canadiens would go into next season with both Dobes and Fowler sharing the crease.

But if moving Dobes could get a player like Hischier, it might be a move worth making.

It would also be a significant piece for the Devils given how bad their goaltending was in 2025-26. Mehta has not shown much appetite for a full-scale rebuild, and looking for a return like Dobes would get a potential short-term (and long-term) goalie upgrade into the organization.

Montreal might need to add in more draft pick compensation beyond just the No. 28 overall pick, but that at least seems like a potential starting point.

Winnipeg Jets Get Much-Needed Center

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Winnipeg gets: Nico Hischier

New Jersey gets: 2026 first-round pick (No. 8 overall), Cole Perfetti, Brad Lambert

One of the biggest front office whiffs of the 2025 offseason was the Winnipeg Jets decision to roll with Jonathan Toews as a key part of their center depth going into the 2025-26 season.

It was a spectacular failure and one of the many misses that took Winnipeg from the NHL's best regular season record a year ago, down to one of the worst teams in the league this season.

Now the pressure is on for management to fix all of those mistakes as franchise goalie Connor Hellebuyck seems tired of losing and the lack of direction from the front office.

They need to keep him, and they need to keep him happy. The best way to do both of those things is to make some aggressive moves to make the team better.

Hischier would be a bold move in that direction.

Top-10 picks almost never get traded, but this seems like the type of situation where it would at least be a somewhat realistic option. That pick, while still extremely valuable, is just outside of the area where you expect to land a franchise cornerstone, and might have more value as a trade chip to a Jets team that needs to try and win this season.

The Kings Need an Anze Kopitar Replacement

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Los Angeles gets: Nico Hischier

New Jersey gets: Brandt Clarke, 2026 first-round pick (No. 17), prospect

Another year, another first-round exit for the Los Angeles Kings.

This one is especially troubling because they did not even win a single game in the playoffs, and it was then followed by the retirement of top center Anze Kopitar.

It was always going to be a team in need of more help, especially after five consecutive first-round exits, but the departure of Kopitar only adds to the necessity. And it only adds another massive hole at a major position.

If Hischier were to become available the Kings would almost certainly have to be interested, and a duo of Hischier and Quinton Byfield down the middle would certainly bring some juice to a lineup that has become stale and dull.

Clarke is a restricted free agent and will be in need of a new deal, but he is still under team control, still only 22 years old and has really started to come into his own over the past two years. He finished the 2025-26 season with eight goals, 32 assists and 40 total points and finished as the Kings' fourth-leading scorer, while also posting outstanding possession numbers. Him, along with the No. 17 overall pick, would be a strong starting point.

Devils, Wild Both Get What They Want

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Minnesota gets: Nico Hischier

New Jersey gets: Quinn Hughes

I am going to keep pushing this proposal until it either happens, or one of these players gets traded somewhere else.

But it's the most sensible and obvious connection there could be.

Minnesota desperately needs a top-line center.

New Jersey wants Hughes to unite him with his brothers, Jack and Luke.

Both players are in the final year of their current contracts with uncertain futures with their current teams.

It works for everybody.

The only question would be whether Minnesota wouldn't mind the risk of potentially losing Hughes for nothing, and figures it is closer to a Stanley Cup with Hughes and a different center than it would be with Hischier and a different defenseman in Hughes' spot. That's a sensible argument.

However, there are not many good center options available to make that plan work, and Hischier is probably more likely to sign an extension in Minnesota than Hughes would be given the inevitability of him wanting to play alongside his brothers.