Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumblings. We are three days away from the NHL Trade Deadline. One team in the Eastern Conference has needed a goalie the whole year. The same team made a coaching change and could potentially be a seller come March 8th with a certain player who could be extended and is a scoring winger teams around the League want.
Today, we will dive into what the New Jersey Devils will do at the upcoming trade deadline.
New Jersey Devils President and general manager Tom Fitzgerald met with the media on Tuesday morning after firing head coach Lindy Ruff of his duties on Monday evening. As NHL Rumblings on Full Press Hockey has documented, the Devils team has been active in the trade market since the summer. Fitzgerald admitted he had not done a good enough job constructing the team this season.
The Devils got younger on defense with the losses of Damon Severson and Ryan Graves. The blueline had holes, and youngsters Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec filled them with Kevin Bahl. With the team being a bit weaker defensively, Fitzgerald needed to add a number one goalie to protect his defense. He did not do that and admitted that was on him.
Devils Still in the Hunt for A Goalie
The Devils goaltending has not been good enough this season. As documented in NHL Rumblings on Full Press Hockey, Tom Fitzgerald confirmed he was in the market to upgrade the Devils goaltending.
“Our goalies are listening to me right now, and that’s tough for me. But the reality is, yes, I am in the market. Is the right person out there for the right price without mortgaging the future but understanding the short game here? I am not ignoring that, to be quite honest,” Tom Fitzgerald said during his media availability on Tuesday.
“I’m not sitting there thinking, ‘Oh it’s all great.’ No, our goaltending has not been good enough. Yes, that’s on me to go and try to upgrade. I wish it was as easy as said than done. But I’m trying to do the right thing for the organization in the short window but with the big window in my mind.”
The market for the Devils to upgrade their goaltending has been shrinking. New Jersey and Calgary had a deal in place for Jacob Markstrom. The deal got pulled and Markstrom let it be known he was unhappy how things were handled. Markstrom told the Flames organization that he did not want to discuss a trade this season unless it was serious.
It must have been serious enough for the Flames to bring to Markstrom. And the player had it in his mind he was going to be traded before supposedly ownership stepped in and nixed the trade. The Devils still want Markstrom as their man, but as the days wind down to the trade deadline, unless the two teams can cover a lot of ground, this trade might have to wait until summer to be revisited.
New Jersey has also been linked to Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators. We know general manager Barry Trotz was looking for a high price for Saros and asked for Dawson Mercer, to which the Devils said no. But he is off the market along with Marc-Andre Fleury of the Minnesota Wild and Elvis Merzlikins of the Columbus Jackets, who has an injury. Other names include Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins and John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks.
Regardless of who Tom Fitzgerald wants, if he can’t address it at the trade deadline, he must address the position in the offseason. He must make it a priority.
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What Will The Devils Do With Tyler Toffoli?
Along with goaltending, Tom Fitzgerald also addressed the status of Tyler Toffoli with the club. Toffoli’s name is starting to come up in trade circles. However, Fitzgerald poured some cold water on trade talks, so to speak.
“I’m not shopping, Tyler Toffoli, Fitzgerald said. “Tyler and I sat together in L.A. on Sunday during the Devils road trip, we had a great talk. Tyler knows how I’d bring him back. But unfortunately, right now, there’s a possible term difference in negotiation. That does not mean we can’t revisit this past the deadline if he’s still there or in the offseason.”
However, as NHL Rumblings on Full Press Hockey mentioned, teams like the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers are calling about Tyler Toffoli, and Fitzgerald admitted he is listening.
“But the reality is teams have called on him,” Fitzgerald said. “And what the return looks like, I wouldn’t be giving away a player, my leading scorer, just to gain future assets. But the reality is those future assets could help us down the road. I’ll know more in the next three days where we’re at.”
🚨BREAKING🚨
The #NJDevils have fired head coach Lindy Ruff.@JimBiringer breaks it all down on the #NightCapRecap.#NHL #HockeyTwitter #FPC pic.twitter.com/Hb8N7RC3IF
— Full Press Hockey (@FullPressNHL) March 4, 2024
The Devils like Toffoli and would like to sign him to an extension. Talks have started between the two parties and continued during the Devils road trip through California this past weekend.
“Will sit down with Toffoli’s agent over the next couple of weeks to see where he is at,” Fitzgerald said back in January during a press conference. “He likes Toffoli and has been a good add for the team. But it is a business.”
However, as the Devils continue to struggle and lose ground in the standings, New Jersey could be viewed as a seller at the deadline, and the Devils could move him. After all, he is an unrestricted free agent due to a pay raise.
He currently has a salary cap hit of $4.25 million. His actual dollar amount is $3.5 million. As Fitzgerald admitted the difference is length of contract and dollar amount.
In 60 games with the Devils this season, Toffoli has registered 26 goals and 18 assists for 44 points.
But as Fitzgerald noted, trading your leading scorer, you are throwing in the towel on the season. He still believes they can make a run if things can turn around.
That does it for another edition of NHL Rumblings; stay tuned for more as the NHL Trade Deadline approaches on March 8th.