The NHL’s off-season has arrived, and here at the Sabres team website on THN.com. we’re in the midst of a series of columns examining which teams Buffalo could make a notable trade with.
We kicked off the series by looking at the Utah Mammoth, Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. And in today’s file, we’re turning our attention to the New Jersey Devils, a team whose GM — Tom Fitzgerald — has gone on record as saying his team “won’t be coming back with the same group” after a disappointing 2024-25 campaign. Is there a potential trade fit with the Sabres? Read on and find out:
TEAM: New Jersey Devils
CAP SPACE: $14.3 million
FREE AGENTS: Justin Dowling, C; Curtis Lazar, C; Daniel Sprong, RW; Nathan Bastien, RW; Cody Glass, C (RFA); Nolan Foote, LW (RFA); Brian Dumoulin, D; Luke Hughes, D (RFA)
NEEDS: Experienced fourth-line forwards; overall change in team chemistry
SABRES FIT? The Devils were drummed out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs rather easily by the Carolina Hurricanes, falling in five games as they failed to get into the second round for the 12th time in their past 13 seasons. Thus, Fitzgerald made no mistake in suggesting major changes were coming. And that could mean New Jersey chooses to deal away a valuable youngster if it means shaking up the chemistry of the core of the team.
That said, the Devils aren’t trading superstar center Jack Hughes, nor are they dealing his brother, defenseman Luke Hughes. The same goes for captain Nico Hischier and most, if not all of New Jersey’s defense corps. However, that still leaves one tantalizing possibility for Sabres GM Kevyn Adams to contemplate making a trade pitch for.
The player who does jump to mind in that regard is center/right winger Dawson Mercer. The 23-year-old forward is entering the second year of a three-year contract that pays him $4-million per season, and Mercer has posted at least 17 goals in each of his first four NHL seasons. Mercer also has a career-high of 27 goals and 56 points, which he put up in the 2022-23 campaign. His best days are still ahead of him, and most importantly from Buffalo’s point of view, Mercer doesn’t have any no-trade or no-move protection right now.
So, the Sabres could swing a deal that sends winger J.J. Peterka to New Jersey in what could be a straight-up, one-asset-for-one-asset trade. If Peterka is looking to be on a playoff-bound team, he could do much worse than the Devils, and in return for him, Adams would bring in an above-average player in Mercer who will only be a restricted free agent when his current contract expires at the end of the 2026-27 season.
That essentially kicks the financial can down the road for the Sabres when it comes to Mercer, and that also provides plenty of motivation for Mercer to play well in Buffalo. And acquiring a still-on-the-rise talent like Mercer could be considered a coup for Adams as he, like Fitzgerald, tries to alter the chemistry of his squad.
Otherwise, there really isn’t a good fit between the Devils and Sabres on the trade front. New Jersey’s defense corps is one of the deeper groups in the league, and we don’t see Fitzgerald messing with it. And the Devils’ goaltending is also set with veteran Jacob Markstrom and youngster Nico Daws in place. So unless Bufffalo is intent on sending a third-or-fourth-line forward to New Jersey — and even then, it’s difficult to imagine what the Sabres would want in return — it’s hard to envision a match between the Sabres and Devils.
Still, a Mercer-for-Peterka swap is intriguing. Both players are the same age, both have approximately the same goal-producing ability, and both might benefit from a change in employer. And Adams and Fitzgerald wouldn’t need to throw in draft picks or prospects to make the trade work. It’s a one-for-one move, and one that could be made well in advance of free agency.
New Jersey would need to sign Peterka to a contract extension, but we don’t forsee that being a problem. The chance to play alongside the Hughes Bros. would be highly-appealing to Peterka, and Mercer could go to Buffalo knowing the Sabres are counting on him to be a key cog for many years to come. So yes, a Peterka-for-Mercer move makes a lot of sense for both sides. And no one should be surprised if Buffalo and New Jersey can come together and make it happen.
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