The fallout from the Quinn Hughes trade from the Vancouver Canucks to the Minnesota Wild is still being talked about. Regardless of what the package the New Jersey Devils offered to the Canucks was or wasn’t, it was never going to be in the cards. They were not matching the offer made by Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a 2026 first-round pick.
New Jersey Devils Failed To Get Cap Space To Get Quinn Hughes
So now Devils President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has to move on to plan B or C. And maybe as we saw with the trade deadline last year, what everyone thought was the Devils’ second or third options was actually their original plan to begin with. And the plan from the start of the season has been to add upfront. Whether that is a depth center or a top-six forward, the Devils continue to have their hands in a lot of pots.
As Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on the Monday edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, the Devils are a team to keep an eye on moving forward.
“And he (this NHL executive) said, as a result [the Devils not getting Quinn Hughes], and this is what he said to me, keep an eye on the Devils over the next little while up to the deadline,” Friedman said. “And he said what he thinks will happen is the Devils may make one of these moves when they’re ready to get someone, or when they think they can get someone, that’s what he said, he thinks is going on.”
Again, when the time is right is another story. Are the Devils waiting to get healthy? Most likely that is the case. Fitzgerald didn’t want to deplete an already depleted lineup. Just look at the players out of the Devils lineup: Jack Hughes, Brett Pesce, Evgenii Dadonov, Simon Nemec, Timo Meier (leave of absence), and Arseny Gritsyuk. So moving a player like Dawson Mercer does not make things easier for a team battling for a playoff spot.
New Jersey Devils Were Never Trading For Quinn Hughes
Brett Pesce returned Wednesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. Jack Hughes is skating and progressing, and is on his timeline to be re-evaluated and back in the lineup, as reported on Saturday on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio.
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils Want a Depth Center With Physicality
So getting reinforcements back in the lineup was a factor in deals not getting done, as was the cap space problems created by the general manager. That is why there was so much talk surrounding the GM and whether a potential change was coming. As Friedman stated, he doesn’t believe a GM change in New Jersey. Not now anyway.
“First thing I’d like to say is some people were wondering if Fitzgerald was in trouble. I don’t believe that, like I don’t believe that right now. I mean, God only knows what could happen in the future,” Friedman said. “But if you’re saying to me that the New Jersey Devils are on the cusp of a GM change, no, I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that’s the case at all. But I understand there was a bit of noise around Fitzgerald today. I don’t believe he’s in any trouble now. I just, I don’t believe that.”
But his conservative approach, and maybe the more realistic approach, was that the moves he had to make didn’t seem necessary, given that he knew the team wasn’t getting Hughes. Whether people choose to believe that or not is their business, but again, if they didn’t have the pieces to make the deal, why further deplete your lineup?
The New Jersey Devils remain active and linked to so many things right now that it will be interesting to see what they ultimately do.
