When the expanded trade wish list of Dylan Larkin was made public on Tuesday evening, it was impossible for the wheels to no churn for Devils fans. Larkin's former list of just Vegas, Carolina and Minnesota, was expanded to a ten team field which included New Jesey.
As I had written back in mid-September ( https://www.hockeybuzz.com/2026/09/16/nj-devils-evangelista-dylan-larkin-trade-target ) Larkin is a player that should have some desire to play in NJ. He is close with both Jack and Luke Hughes, and the prospect of Quinn Hughes coming to join Larkin and the brothers could only sweeten the pot. Additionally he does fit the system nicely and would give Jersey the undeniable best 1-3 C depth in the NHL. For more reasons why this is a home run if Mehta can pull it off, click the link above. This article isn't to reiterate why Larkin is a good fit but more of why now has he elected to add the Devils to his list.
As we examine the list there's a few clear reasons.
- These are all teams in the United States
- These are the top ten non-Canadian teams with the best odds to win the Stanley Cup on Fan Duel
- All of these teams were off to good starts...except NJ (4-4-0 when the list was released)
So why New Jersey? We constantly hear in the media that the Devils have a weak core that can't win. Most media outlets see the Devils as a fringe playoff team at best. A team with poor defense and even worse goaltending.
Why would a player looking to join a winning organization, with nearly five full seasons left to play on his contract want to join the team described above? There's only one thing I can think of. Larkin knows. Larkin knows what I've been preaching all along. Quinn Hughes is Jersey bound on July 1, 2027...