According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the New Jersey Devils likely won’t trade Kyle Palmieri. But these 3 teams should be calling about him anyway.
The 2020 NHL trade deadline is less than one week away, which means there have been non-stop NHL trade rumors. A lot of them have been tied to the New Jersey Devils, who recently traded both Andy Greene and Blake Coleman in the past few days. These moves hint that they could be open to trading even more players.
One of those players could be Kyle Palmieri. Though the team doesn’t appear to be in a rush to trade him, he’s their most valuable realistic trade chip. The Devils are clearly rebuilding and have already done a good job of compiling valuable assets to rebuild around. If they play their cards right, a Palmieri trade could give them an even brighter future.
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Palmieri is on pace to pass his career-high of 30 goals, set during the 2015-16 season. He has scored at least 20 goals and 40 points in each of the past five seasons. Palmieri has also passed the 50 point milestone in three of his last four seasons (not including this one). He’s a proven threat on the power play, having scored at least 10 PP goals in four of his last five seasons.
Most importantly, his contract is extremely reasonable. Palmieri has a cap hit of $4.65 million and has an additional season on his deal after this one. That means he’s more than just a rental, as he could have an impact in two postseasons.
Though I imagine the Devils would prefer to keep Palmieri around, it wouldn’t hurt them to see what teams are willing to give up for him. They clearly aren’t winning next season. So why shouldn’t they listen to offers for Palmieri now?
I don’t think the Devils will trade Palmieri, but that shouldn’t stop teams from seeing if they can change their mind. These three teams would make the most sense for him.