The New Jersey Devils look like the team that made the playoffs in the 2022-23 season. However, with two wins in their last 11 games, the Devils are in a bit of a free fall. But like all good general managers, Tom Fitzgerald wants to upgrade his team.
As TheDevilsNation.com has documented, the Devils want to add a center and a little more scoring. New Jersey has needed another goal scorer since last year when they traded Tyler Toffoli and never replaced his goal-scoring. You can clearly see that they need a consistent goal scorer now.
Grading the New Jersey Devils Offseason: Part 3: Forwards
While Tom Fitzgerald did an excellent job in the offseason filling needs, he still has work to do to make this a championship roster.
In this two-part series, DevilsNation.com will look at the needs the Devils plan to address at the trade deadline. First up is the forward position.
What are the Devils Looking to Add This Trade Deadline Season
Tom Fitzgerald spoke with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and stated he is looking to add a player who can make them a deeper team.
“Somebody that can come in and maybe give us that extra oomph – and maybe proper slot people to make us a strong four-line team come playoff time,” Fitzgerald said. “We love what we have. I just really want to add on top of that.”
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Whether that is a rental player or a player with term, is still to be determined. Fitzgerald likes to add players with term because they are controllable assets. However, sometimes, the best players are the pending free agents.
Devils Want To Add A Center
Let’s get this one out of the way: the Devils are not adding J.T. Miller. Despite all the connections and smoke coming out of Vancouver and other places. The Devils do not want to go down that road. Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period and Elliotte Friedman both confirmed the Devils have not talked to the Canucks about Miller.
So, that is not the center they will be looking for. New Jersey has under $2 million in cap space to make a move. With that said, they will look elsewhere for a center. As it has been documented here, the Devils are linked to Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens. His name continues to be linked to the Devils, as Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period said in a recent episode of the Latest.
“He’s been linked to Jake Evans. This is a player that comes with a very nice team-friendly cap hit at $1.7 million. He’s having conversations with the Canadiens about an extension, but they want to look kind of in that range. They got a little bit of cap wiggle room. He’s also been looking, from what I’m hearing, at potentially creating cap space if the right larger deal falls into place for him and the Devils, but we’ll see where they go.”
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Dennis Bernstein of the Fourth Period a couple of weeks ago called Evans a perfect fit for the Devils.
In addition to Evans, the Devils could consider Ryan O’Reilly, who has a $4.5 million cap hit. However, the Nashville Predators and GM Barry Trotz would want a big return if they were going to move him. Pierre LeBrun also linked Yanni Gourde of the Seattle Kraken and Scott Laughton of the Philadelphia Flyers to the Devils.
Adding a Goal Scorer
The biggest Achilles heel is goal scoring. The Devils just do not have that consistent guy. Jesper Bratt is not that. Dawson Mercer could be a good top-six forward, but he is not that at the moment. Timo Meier feels like he is right there. We know the Devils tried last season to make things work with Toffoli. However, the length of the deal and money just did not work. Same in the offseason when they tried to sign Jonathan Marchessault.
NHL Rumors: Tom Fitzgerald Looking To Add Depth to New Jersey Devils Roster
So, where do the Devils go from here? They could give the Vancouver Canucks a call regarding Brock Boeser. Boeser, a free agent, could be convinced to sign an extension with New Jersey if he was traded there. Don’t expect Taylor Hall or Kyle Palmieri to come back to New Jersey. Even though Stefan Noesen returned, a reunion with those two is probably out of the question. Brock Nelson is an option, but again, are the New York Islanders going to sell?
New Jersey may have to look elsewhere. However, with so many teams in contention for playoff spots, especially in the East, things will probably come down to the final weeks and hours heading into the deadline. Even though Tom Fitzgerald wants to get ahead of the game, teams battling for wild-card spots don’t want to give up any of their players.
However, Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils want to be active this deadline season as they want to get back to being a consistent playoff team.
