I think the consensus from most who follow hockey is that the Devils need to rebuild, which means keeping picks to draft/develop, and moving veterans out in order to play younger players and accumulate more assets in the process.
While the Devils are 10 points behind Washington for the final wild card spot, and have played two more games than the Caps, the Devils remain reluctant to play some of their young players.
Stefan Matteau was recalled a few days ago but hasn't touched the ice in a game yet. Eric Gelinas, who is one of the Devils' best possession defensemen and has the hardest shot on the team, played less than 12 minutes for the 2nd game in a row. Meanwhile Adam Henrique, the best young forward on the team, played less than budding stars Dainius Zubrus, Scott Gomez and Mike Sislo, among others.
I get the never-say-die attitude and obviously you don't want to tank intentionally, but at this point playing youth more may give the Devils a better chance at winning games, anyways.
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According to Elliotte Freidman's 30 Thoughts Coyotes forward Antoine Vermette could be traded, and there will be plenty of suitors lining up for his services.
Among those Friedman heard mentioned were the Devils.
Via 30 Thoughts: "Other clubs believe the decision is already made to trade Antoine Vermette, as the team is unwilling to meet his asking price (in the $6-million range). There’s a lot of interest, obviously, with several of the usual suspects already mentioned, such as Boston, Detroit and St. Louis. Saw New Jersey mentioned, but does it really make sense for the Devils to give up the young assets/draft picks Arizona would want?"
Given New Jersey's love for veteran players who are well regarded for their two-way game it doesn't surprise me the Devils (potentially) have interest. That said, it makes absolutely zero sense and a trade for Vermette is not something that should be remotely on the team's radar.
Vermette is 33 in July and has logged a lot of hard minutes in Phoenix/Arizona over the last four seasons. While he can produce offense, 40-50 points seems to be all you can expect from Vermette and that's not enough to turn the Devils from a bottom-feeder to a playoff team.
Not only that, but it'd cost significant assets to bring him in via trade, and if they waited until the summer he'd be unlikely to choose New Jersey as his destination unless they gave him a long-term deal worth $6M (or more) per season. That would only set the Devils back further.
Is it likely to happen? No. But the fact it's even being mentioned at this point leads me to believe it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
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