Sacrificing tons of draft capital, prospects and a few roster players off the main roster, the Devils gear up for the next couple of years to make a huge run at Lord Stanley's Cup.
While some may say this is impatience; going for it all as soon as you get good, making huge rash decisions and so forth, the Devils have the LUXURY of giving up all the talent they have acquired in order to make these types of moves.
Giving up: Yegor Sharangovich, Alex Holtz, Jesper Boqvist and Ryan Graves from the NHL; Nolan Foote, Nikita Okhotiuk, Akira Schmid and Andreas Johnnson (cap relief) from the AHL and top prospects in Shakir Mukhamdulin, Seamus Casey and others removes a lot of the organizational depth and weakens it overall...
But...
Bringing in a top line winger in Timo Meier, top pairing D-man in Jakob Chychrun and reacquiring a Devils cult hero in Adam Henrique, the Devils have pushed all their chips to the middle of the table and have given themselves a realistic chance at lifting the cup right now.
To explain the trades:
Florida: Giving up Ryan Graves to makes this possible, flipping him to Florida was a tough but necessary trade to upgrade the team, sacrificing a 2nd to push this deal.
Chychrun: Casey and Schmid headline the prospect package with Foote, Okhotiuk and Hauser rounding it out as well as 2 1st rounders. Overall the depth and talent of the package is there for 3 potential playoff runs with the could be former 'Yotes defenseman.
Meier: Starring Holtz and Mukhamadulin with Boqvist, Johnsson, Walsh deepening their current rosters and prospects Gritsyuk and Vilen and 2024 1st to give them future players. Acquiring the 4 players in addition to Meier were necessary for the Sharks to be under the 50 player limit, the Devils get AHLers to replenish their AHL squad. The package for Meier is just as large as Chychrun's but with higher overall rated prospects in the Devils system.
Henrique: With this being the most realisitc of the 3 in my opinion, giving up young NHLer in Yegor Sharangovich, and Stillman for salary cap retention, the Devils can entice the Ducks to give up on their veteran to push the youth movement farther along. As Sharanagovich has dealt with slight regression, this move becomes more bearable than it would have prior to seasons start.
While all could go for naut, this LUXURY puts them in a position to do the impossible. And while some may be worried about all the sacrifices of the organization it will take, there is no reason why they can't rebuild the parts lost, albeit in time, over the next 2-4 years through the draft and in trades, when you'll have to trade or eventually lose more players to salary cap restrictions.
Hopefully compensation is close, but every GM, and especially fan, has a different take of what it would take to rebuild what they have lost in a trade.
Why are the devils giving up Graves for free?
He's better than any defenseman currently available on the rental market. Think 1st round pick+ with retention
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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