Devils mailbag: Trading for Patrik Laine, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and others? (2024)

It is time for another edition of The Athletic Devils mailbag, which still doesn’t have a catchy name, but at this point it’s more about the substance than the frills anyway.

There was some Devils news this past week: Defenseman P.K. Subban did not win the King Clancy Memorial Trophy after being a finalist for a second time. Minnesota’s Matthew Dumba won the award for his honorable work in the community and became the face of the NHL’s efforts to combat racism after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis policeman in May. I do think Subban will win it at some point, and perhaps even next year.

In other news, multiple league sources confirmed that goaltender coach Rollie Melanson is no longer with the Devils organization. He has worked with Cory Schneider dating back to their days in Vancouver and, by all accounts, he had a strong relationship with Mackenzie Blackwood.

One option for the Devils is to promote Scott Clemmensen, who worked with Blackwood in Binghamton and has trained the organization’s other prospects as the goaltending development coach. If they opt to go with Blackwood’s “guy,” that would be Jon Elkin, his coach in the offseason in Toronto. Elkin has been an NHL goaltending coach before and has worked with the Toronto Marlies over the past two seasons, since Piero Greco left for the Islanders. Lindy Ruff’s most recent goalie coach, Jeff Reese, remains in that position with the Dallas Stars.

The Devils also officially landed the No. 20 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft when the Canucks were knocked out of the playoffs. The pick would have dropped to at least 28th if the Canucks had won Game 7 against the Golden Knights. New Jersey can become only the third team this century to draft three players within the top 20 picks, with Nos. 7, 18 and 20.

We’ll dig more into the draft in the coming weeks. This mailbag is heavier on potential offseason trades, including questions about the best possible “cap dump” player the Devils could trade for as well as questions about Patrik Laine, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Andreas Johnsson and rookie surprise Carson Soucy.

We also have fast food tiers. Let’s dig in.

What is the most intriguing cap dump player you see the Devils being able to acquire this offseason? Someone who brings a high cap, but can also contribute for this young team? — Nick P.

Judging by Tom Fitzgerald’s language over the summer, I doubt the Devils sign an impact UFA or make a blockbuster trade to gain a star player in their prime … so do you see any reasonable chance NJ weaponizes it’s cap space this season to acquire significant draft picks by taking on a bad contract? — Mike S.

I went through each team on CapFriendly to find players who could be cap casualties. Here’s a conservative list (leaving out players with no-move or full no-trade clauses):

Henrik Lundqvist, NYR, $8.5 million
Derek Stepan, ARZ, $6.5 million
Paul Stastny, VGK, $6.5 million
Brandon Saad, CHI, $6 million
Kyle Turris, NSH, $6 million (four years)
Johnny Boychuk, NYI, $6 million (two years)
Brandon Dubinsky, CBJ, $5.85 million
Nick Leddy, NYI, $5.5 million (two years)
Tyler Bozak, STL, $5 million
Karl Alzner, MTL, $4.625 million (two years)
Calvin de Haan, CHI, $4.55 million (two years)
Alex Killorn, TB, $4.45 million (three years)
Brandon Sutter, VAN, $4.375 million

Teams in rebuilding mode with a few players on bad contracts will not yield young players or draft picks just to relinquish those deals. Teams that are able to convince players to agree to no-trade or no-move clauses could be at a big advantage.

Stastny and Saad are arguably the best players in this group. Killorn is older than Saad and has more term left. If Las Vegas decides to move Stastny to open up some cap space, he might cost a mid-round draft pick to acquire, and that doesn’t make much sense for New Jersey.

If the Blackhawks would be willing to include a pick with Saad, they have an extra third-rounder. Adding him for the year and flipping him before the deadline could appeal to the Devils.

Lundqvist would contribute right away in 2020-21, but the Rangers might choose to buy him out instead of giving him to the Devils with an asset. Then the Devils would also have to figure out what to do with with Lundqvist and Cory Schneider, of course.

If the Devils wanted to get really creative, they could use some of their cap space to stash part of Lundqvist’s cap hit (or that of a center like Stepan or Sutter), flip the player to a third team and collect two draft picks instead of one.

Assuming that Patrik Laine is on the block, do the Devils target him? What do you think a possible trade would look like with the Devils? Would Nolan Foote be a good starting place? What about Nikolaj Ehlers? — Eitan M.

Think the Devils will be aggressive in acquiring Patrik Laine, who is on the TSN trade board? His age fits with the Devils’ core and would they be interested in a deal involving one of the Devils’ firsts plus (Damon) Severson? — Mike A.

Do you see the devils trading for Laine? They have a prime chance to take him as they’ll be one of only a few teams to be able to pay him his next contract. What is your mock trade, and is there another young star you would trade for? — Shawn B.

What’s your Devils trade package for Laine? — Ethan G.

Here are the particulars: Laine has one more season left on a two-year bridge contract at $6.75 million because he and Winnipeg couldn’t agree to a longer pact coming off his entry-level contract. He has two more years left after that before he’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.

Laine turned 22 in April. Six players in NHL history have scored more goals by the end of their age-21 season than Laine has: Wayne Gretzky, Steven Stamkos, Dale Hawerchuk, Jimmy Carson, Bobby Carpenter and Mario Lemieux. Why would the Jets trade him? He had a down year in 2018-19 but a better overall season this year with career highs in assists (35) and average ice time (19:25).

There are two potential issues. One is Winnipeg’s lineup holes. The Jets are loaded on the wing with Laine, Ehlers, captain Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor, but they’ve been searching for a No. 2 center for years and the defense corps needs upgrades after losing Jacob Trouba and Dustin Byfuglien.

The other is Laine’s long-term future. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested the only way Winnipeg trades Laine is if the Jets don’t think they can keep him once he’s eligible for free agency. If Laine signs an extension beyond two years, it’ll likely approach eight figures per year.

It’s pretty hard to see how the Devils would factor into this. Yes, New Jersey has ample salary cap space and could afford to pay Laine whatever he wants (especially two years from now, when Schneider and P.K. Subban are off the books).

Yes, the Devils could use one of the best natural goal scorers in the league (especially next to Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier for the next decade).

But how would the Devils trade for him? The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun proposed Vicent Trochek and Brett Pesce from Carolina for Laine, and our Jets beat writer Murat Ates rightly pointed out that even that might not be enough. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun suggested the Devils could be a match, if they are willing to part with Hischier. Laine scores a lot of goals, but Hischier has been the better all-around player in two of his three NHL seasons and it’s reasonable to believe that will continue.

The Jets are built to win now. They are not trading Laine or Ehlers for a grab bag of prospects and picks, and the Devils don’t have enough NHL-ready prospects with impact potential to make a trade like that work anyway. None of their prospects profiles as a No. 2 center in the NHL.

Foote, plus Ty Smith or Kevin Bahl, plus a third prospect or a draft pick isn’t nearly enough. Would the Jets consider a deal for Damon Severson and the 2020 No. 7 pick if one of the centers (Marco Rossi or Cole Perfetti) is still available? It doesn’t seem likely either side would be comfortable with that.

Ehlers was reportedly discussed in trade talks last offseason, but it’s hard to see Winnipeg being as willing to move him a year later, especially because he has the best contract of those four wings.

If Hischier weren’t 21 years old, including him in a deal for Laine would be more palatable. If the Jets aren’t willing to move one of those wings without getting a center back, the Devils are not a strong match.

Any chance we pursue (Oliver Ekman-Larsson) with the rumors floating around, and if we do, what do you think is the price? — Benjamin S.

The Coyotes are in a tough spot. They have very little cap space and have lost five of their six picks in the first three rounds of the 2020 and 2021 drafts because of trades and NHL sanctions. They have some good, young players, but the Coyotes only beat the Predators because of a hot goalie before getting brushed aside by Colorado in the first round.

Moving Stepan would clear some cap space, but using a draft pick as a sweetener to do so seems like a bad idea. So, what about Ekman-Larsson, who is the club’s captain and has been the No. 1 defenseman for several years?

Ekman-Larsson has seven years left on a monster contract with an $8.25 million cap hit. He turns 30 next summer and hasn’t played like a fringe Norris Trophy contender since Rick Tocchet became the coach.

Does it make sense for the Devils to commit seven years to any 29-year-old player this offseason? What about one who makes that much money? Subban’s contract is up in two years. But with Ekman-Larsson, too, the Devils would be committing $17.25 million in cap space over the next two seasons for two defensem*n who might not be capable of playing near the level that earned them those huge contracts.

Ekman-Larsson is a lefty who can log a lot of minutes; it’s his age and term that are the bigger concerns. If the Devils were interested, I couldn’t imagine them giving up more than the third-round pick from Carolina and perhaps the 2021 pick from the Taylor Hall trade. Ekman-Larsson might make the Devils a few points better in 2020-21 and 2021-22, but having that contract on the books could also hurt the Devils’ chances of competing for a title in the middle of the decade.

Carson Soucy out of Minnesota looks like a UFA I’d make an offer to — young, big defenseman that fights, and can’t cost that much. Any thoughts? — Mike S.

I wasn’t a big fan of trying to pursue Soucy before the NHL returned to play, and his performance in the bubble confirmed that. Soucy, an unexpected, key contributor as a 25-year-old rookie, was a nice story for the Wild this season. He is a UFA this offseason.

Soucy, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound defenseman, had seven goals and 14 points in 55 games. Minnesota’s possession numbers were either the same or worse when Soucy was on the ice at even strength, but the Wild outscored their opponents 36-22 with him out there because they shot better than 10 percent as a team and the goalies stopped 94 percent of the shots. That’s the definition of a PDO bender, in analytics slang: It’s unsustainable for even the best players in the league to affect the team’s shooting and save percentage in that manner.

Soucy went from fortunate to unlucky during Minnesota’s four-game qualification series loss. The possession and scoring chance numbers were about the same, but the Wild were outscored 4-1 when he was on the ice.

He could provide decent value for a team as a seventh/eighth defenseman type who fills in when injuries strike. It’s also possible that a team will see his production (seven goals in 55 games) and size and be willing to pay him a salary more befitting a regular.

The Devils already have Connor Carrick at $1.5 million for next season. Bringing in a bigger defenseman like Soucy to compete with him has value, but the Devils shouldn’t spend too much to do so.

A player similar to Soucy is Florida’s Josh Brown, who is 26 and an RFA. The Panthers also have a lot of options on defense, including a couple of younger players (Chase Priskie and Brady Keeper) ready for a shot. Brown is 6-5, 217 pounds with a right shot and had similar possession numbers without the juiced-up PDO this season. He also struggled in limited action in the play-in round.

Do you think trading for Andreas Johnsson from the Leafs is a realistic and a good target for the Devils? If so, what kind of trade proposal could we expect from the Devils? — Ryan D.

Johnsson had a very good rookie season with 20 goals and 43 points, and the Maple Leafs scored 62 percent of their goals at even strength when he was on the ice. He missed time this season and wasn’t quite as productive (eight goals, 21 points in 43 games). The underlying numbers were similar, but the team’s shooting and save percentage with him on the ice weren’t as strong, so the percentage of goals came down. Still, the Leafs were better with him out there.

Is Johnsson a second-line forward? A third-line forward on a good team? Maybe the third-best player on a top line if the fit is just right? He has three years left on a reasonable contract ($3.4 million per), so a team like the Devils could be flexible with where they played him. It wouldn’t be surprising for the Maple Leafs to want to move another salary.

One question regarding a possible trade: Do the Devils’ decision-makers like Johnsson enough to part with a valuable asset or two to acquire him? Or do they look at Jesper Boqvist, Joey Anderson, Janne Kuokkanen, Nick Merkley and a handful of prospects in the pipeline and see players who can replicate that type of production over the next few years?

Second, what would it cost to add Johnsson? Pittsburgh paid a steep price for Kasperi Kapanen — too much, according to a number of hockey analysts. Kyle Dubas has made it clear it won’t be easy for another team to obtain one of his players at a discount rate. The Penguins gave up the 15th pick in the 2020 draft and a solid prospect (Filip Hallander) for Kapanen. Johnsson has an extra year of term on his contract at about the same price as Kapanen, so it’s hard to see the Leafs taking less for him; they might even ask for a bit more.

The Devils do have the 18th and 20th picks to start an offer with and several prospects who are similar to Hallander — Aarne Talvitie, Tyce Thompson and Graeme Clarke. Kuokkanen or Michael McLeod might be on the table if Toronto preferred a player who’s more NHL-ready.

But would the Leafs accept a deal for No. 18 and, say, Thompson or Clarke? And do the Devils like Johnsson enough to part with that much for him?

What if Dubas pointed to the extra year on the team-friendly contract and asked for a player like Kyle Palmieri or Nikita Gusev to upgrade one of the team’s forward spots? If the Devils think Johnsson could be a fixture in the top-six for several years, parting with one of those pending UFAs might actually be easier and better in the longterm than parting with a first-round pick and a prospect.

What are your thoughts on the fast food graphic that caused a stir on Twitter this past weekend? — Corey M.

Is this the first question in Devils mailbag history that I created myself solely for the purpose of expanding on something I have many thoughts on? Yes, it is.

Here’s the chart, posted by The Athletic’s national college football recruiting writer, Ari Wasserman. Please note that he did not create the chart.

There are a lot of debatable things about this chart, but the fact someone put Little Caesars over Sbarro is incomprehensibly dumb.

I'd go as far as to say Little Caesars is the only place on this chart I wouldn't eat. It's the only pizza I've ever had that is inedible. pic.twitter.com/3O2hUuM3sP

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) September 6, 2020

All are entitled to their own opinions about fast food, but if you think Checkers is as good as Five Guys and In-N-Out, let’s just say I’m probably going to skip your future food recommendations. Below are my rankings, with a couple of additions that didn’t make the chart.

Tier One: Elite

• Cook Out — I lived in North Carolina for a year. It’s better than Bojangles. Chicken nuggets and hush puppies as sides are glorious.
• Shake Shack — Obviously.
• Five Guys — I lived very close to the second location in franchise history for nearly four years in Northern Virginia. I recommend mixing in a grilled cheese now and then.
• Culver’s — The great burger wars always involve Shake Shack vs. Five Guys vs. In-N-Out. Here’s the thing: I think Culver’s has passed In-N-Out. The burger is close, but the cheese curds blow away In-N-Out’s fries.
• Firehouse Subs — Hands down, the best sub place.
• Dos Toros — Best burrito chain in the area, and they’ve got a few in Chicago now.
• Pollo Tropical — If you’ve met anyone who lived in Florida or spent enough time there, you know.

Tier Two: Very Good

• In-N-Out — Everyone on the West Coast is going to hate me for this one.
• Popeyes — Spicy chicken sandwich is legit. I grew up on KFC, and then I moved south and discovered that I genuinely liked fried chicken.
• Chipotle — One opened just off campus during my freshman year at the University of Maryland. They put a free burrito coupon in every mail slot on campus. It took over the town. Our school paper essentially had a Chioptle beat writer, it was so popular.
• DQ — The burgers are surprisingly good and the blizzards are tough to beat.
• Noodles & Company — This feels like we’re stretching the boundaries of what is a fast food place.
• Jason’s Deli — Not far off Firehouse, and they had gluten-free bread well before most national chains did (which is important in our household).
• Jersey Mike’s — I dig their hot subs more than those at the other chains, for some reason?
• Potbelly — I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve gotten A Wreck without ever trying anything else on the menu. If it ain’t broke …

Tier Three: Good

• Moe’s — Best queso of the burrito chains.
• Qdoba — The rest of the ingredients are a bit better than Moe’s. Similar overall scores.
• Bojangles — Recovered from a terrible first experience when I was in college, but it’s solid.
• Subway — The only fast food place in my hometown. It is a small town.
• Quiznos — Flashier than Subway, but honestly not much better.
• Jimmy John’s — Billy club, no mayo. Every time. No frills.
• Fazoli’s — First time I ate here, I thought they had reinvented Italian food. A few more trips later, I realized that was an overreaction.
• Hungry Howie’s — Walked to one of these from my hotel in Michigan during a snowstorm. I enjoyed the meal, not the walk.
• Steak & Shake — It would have been higher, before Five Guys, Shake Shack and others arrived.
• Taco Bell — I’ve eaten at the Cantina just north of Penn Station on my way home after a couple of Devils games. I swore off Taco Bell after Chipotle came into my life, but I came back to it. It’s fine.
• Boston Market — I was a regular at the one in Arlington, Va., for a while until I found better places to be a regular at.
• Panera — Is it really fast food? Does anyone actually love their food, or are they just trying to convince themselves because they skipped a burger joint?
• McDonalds — I only eat there for breakfast, and usually only when I’m driving somewhere west of here.
• Burger King — Similar to McDonalds, though I like the chicken sandwich.
• Arby’s — I used to like it a lot more than I do now.
• KFC — Same as Arby’s.
• Smashburger — OK, if not slightly disappointing.
• Panda Express — Good mall food.

Tier Four: OK

• Sonic — I ate at the one across the street from The Palms in Las Vegas. It was 108 degrees that day. That was more memorable than the meal.
• A&W — Why I’m always disappointed by root beer floats remains one of life’s great mysteries for me. Also, their food is meh.
• Blimpie: I guess it’s my least favorite of the sub places.
• Wendy’s — The fries are good and … that’s all I’ve got.
• Papa John’s — Ate it a lot in college. Don’t really miss it.
• Domino’s — It’s cheap, but I don’t really miss it.
• Sbarro — Unlike Michael Scott, I’ve only ever had it at a mall and not since I was a teenager.
• White Castle — This is a tough one. There should be two rankings, one for when you’ve had adult beverages (at least two tiers higher) and this one for when you haven’t.
• Nathan’s — It’s not my favorite hot dog place in NYC.
• Del Taco — I was excited to try it during my first California hockey trip. Eh.
• Captain D’s — Had this in Virginia. It’s slightly better than Long John Silvers, mostly because of the hush puppies, I think.

Tier Five: Bad

• Long John Silvers — I grew up in a rural place without good seafood options and that meant a lot of Long John’s as a kid. Then I had it on a whim as an adult and realized I did not like it anymore.
• Pizza Hut — It was my favorite as a kid. I am not a pizza snob, but living in New York City for almost nine years has turned me off from most chains, maybe for good.
• Little Caesar’s — I’m with Ari on this one. It’s not good.
• Carl’s Jr/Hardees — Didn’t dislike it quite as much as Checkers but it’s close.
• Friendly’s — Yeah, just wasn’t feeling it.
• Jack-In-The-Box — I might be knocking West Coast fast food too much. Maybe it’s because the regular food is so great.
• Chick-Fil-A — Overrated product. Haven’t eaten it in years.
• Checkers — When I worked on the desk at the Washington Times, Checkers was one of three options for dinner if I didn’t eat before my shift. I ate at the other two places — Dunkin’ Donuts and a solid BBQ joint — all but two times in two years.

(Photo of Laine: Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)