Not even close. Severson, McLeod and a 2019 1st round pick and then the Leafs would consider.

Devils cannot afford to give up on Severson as he's making a strong push to be their best D man at 24 and a cheap contract for a top 4 D. They do not have any D prospects outside of Smith and Santini if he is even still a prospect. Another team with more assets on the back end would be a better fit if Toronto is looking for a top 4 RHD.

I don't disagree, but the Devils, though not necessarily loaded, have a good group of defenders in Butcher, Santini, Vatanen plus Smith as their future power player QB. The best fit would be a team ready to make that jump into contention or a team that is looking to go all-in, as has been said about the Canes. Because of the Devils run last season, I think a lot of people assume the Devils are ready for that jump, especially because Cory Schneider is now healthy (I believe). The Devils will only get so far playing in a division with Washington and Pittsburgh. Perhaps it's time for them to go all-in as well? A line of Hall, Hischier and Nylander sounds pretty sweet.

Yeah I think a player like Nylander could open up a lot of scoring for their top 6 depending on where he goes but at this point Severson is a guy they need because mainly their best D men are all small D men who have trouble getting players off the puck and Severson is a player who is now using his length super well to do that. I would be afraid of other teams taking advantage of smith, vatanen, and especially butcher in the d zone. Severson has always been the glue to the D core, when he plays well they are a good unit and when he doesnt or is out they get exposed. At this point I think trading a first when there is certainly no guarantee the devils even make the playoff would be a huge mistake too.

I think in their current form, the Devils can slide past the Canes, Flyers, Devils and probably the Islanders (even with their good start). Now, assuming the Pens and Caps will be top 2 in their division, would the Devils move to add a piece like Nylander, or perhaps risk losing out him to a team in their own division, like the Canes (widely speculated), or Flyers (a pretty decent fit) or even Islanders. It's a tough situation for sure, but at 19:45 ATOI at regular strength, 0:32 of ATOI short-handed and 1:53 ATOI on powerplay for Severson, I would argue Severson is perhaps a borderline top-4 yet, maybe.

Thanks for the response!

Zacha was a former #6 overall pick, but hes still just a prospect. I think TOR would be better off taking Zacha. But if they did want McLeod or Zacha, they wouldn't get an additional 1st. Severson is a top 4 D with a great contract, something TOR needs, so I don't think a 1st would be on the table if NJD would be giving up a piece of their back end. I think either a 2nd or 3rd would be more reasonable.

Thoughts? Thanks!

As I mentioned to @ScottRoth, above, the numbers say that Damon Severson, at present, might be a borderline top-4 D, at best, currently. I am quite familiar with Zacha, who is a player that might need a fresh start, but I firmly believe the Leafs would need McLeod in this deal, but that wouldn't prevent this deal including a 1st coming from the Devils. Unless the Leafs get a bonafide top-2 young, controllable RHD, such as Seth Jones, which is totally absurd, I might add, this sort of deal, as I proposed, or a similar deal with the Canes, will probably be the going rate to acquire Nylander, should the Leafs take the plunge and actually make him available.