The name New Jersey is still associated with is Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators. However, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman stated on his 32 Thoughts Podcast, O’Reilly will have to want to go to New Jersey, and the Devils will have to make a lot of moves to clear cap space before that trade even happens.
NHLRumors.com Transcripts
Elliotte Friedman: “When Ron and I started Headlines on Saturday, he threw it at me, and I just said, you always ask, who’s busy this week, who’s the team that’s out there, who’s the team that’s active? And the answer was Devils.
Devils Rumors: New Jersey wants to make a big splash
And you work a little bit backwards. And if you’re a Devils fan, they’re there because of the injuries. And I will say this: the Devils showed tremendous fortitude. Early in the year they were one of the first teams to start losing a lot of bodies. And I think they started 13-4-1, and they were really missing guys, including: They won their first game after that weird Jack Hughes injury, right?
And they showed a lot of courage, great courage. You know what? I think when you have so many injuries it eventually reaches a point where it catches up with you. And the Devils are going through that spin cycle right now. As if they aren’t out of the race yet when we wake up on Monday morning. They are one point above the play-offs but have lost five in a row.
So they’re working on it now. They’re really going through a rough patch, like any team, and I think Tom Fitzgerald was looking for help. He looks to see what’s out there.
And I think that’s where most of the noise came from. And because of all their injuries and their cap situation, the Devils are dollar-in, dollar-out. And what that means is that if they want to trade for someone, if they have a target, and the team isn’t willing to take back closer to an equal number of dollars, they have to find other deals to free up their cap room. And my educated guess is that this is exactly what is going on.
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So not only are the Devils trying to make deals to add, but if they can’t even out the salaries for these trades, they’re looking for ways to move one or two players elsewhere, to clean up their roster. And I 100% believe this is one of the things Tom Fitzgerald is trying to do. What can I do, if I’m going to argue for the sake of argument, let’s say I’m going to use Ryan O’Reilly because I think he’s a legitimate target of theirs.
Let’s say they make a trade for Ryan O’Reilly. Okay, maybe Nashville doesn’t want to take back some of the Devils’ salary, but the Devils want the player. So they have to move something else to another team. That’s what’s going on there, I think.
That’s why I believe their name is out there because they are talking to a lot of teams to see what possible things they can do.
I think they really like O’Reilly. I’ll do it again now. O’Reilly has something to say about this. Technically he doesn’t have a no-move, but the Predators have promised he’ll be treated as if he has one. And you look at the Devils in the middle, (Nico) Hischier. They now have Dawson Mercer playing as number two in the middle with Hughes out.
But even if Hughes were back, if you went with Hischier, Hughes and O’Reilly in the middle, I think you’d see your chances pretty well. I think this would make a really good trio. Again, O’Reilly has to want to do it and we’ll see if the Devils can make a deal.
Pierre LeBrun mentioned Steven Stamkos. I’ve heard his name in the past with the Devils. Once again Stamkos is in control. So he would want to do it, and they have to make a deal.
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Once again, the New Jersey Devils still have a lot of work to do before any major trades can happen. Devils President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has a lot of irons in the fire, but he must be careful not to trade assets that he can use later. Not to mention he has the resources to make all these moves.
But the Devils want a center and really like Ryan O’Reilly.
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