Fitzgerald ‘Looking,’ Devils Trade for Ex-Forward Can Fill Need

The New Jersey Devils ran the New York Rangers out of their own building Monday evening, ringing up pending free agent goaltender Igor Shesterkin—expected to receive a large boost in pay—for five goals. The Devils look like the team general manager Tom Fitzgerald envisioned when he added some veterans, especially on defense and in goal this summer. Still, a GMs job is never finished, and he revealed on Monday he’s poking around the trade market. A Devils trade to rope in an ex-forward certainly makes sense to improve New Jersey.

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In an interview with The Athletic, Fitzgerald said, “You can’t have enough depth. I’ve been in touch with teams. … I’m looking for utility players, I guess — guys who can skate. I like size and versatility and guys who can play in the middle and on the wing. Just to add depth to the organization.”

Pierre LeBrun explained, Fitzgerald is looking for someone anywhere between a top-nine forward to bottom-six depth.

The thought process is someone who can play in the top-9 would push a current player down the lineup, which certainly pads the Devils’ depth. Otherwise, acquiring a depth forward to directly replace the services of the injured Nathan Bastian and Curtis Lazar is an option.

Amid perpetual struggles with the New York Islanders, some are speculating whether GM Lou Lamoriello is much longer for his position. As a result, a few players with expiring deals out of Long Island have come up in trade speculation. One of which is a familiar face to fans in New Jersey. And certainly one that Fitzgerald should consider in a Devils trade.

Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri is familiar with the Devils’ organization. The veteran forward played five of his best seasons in New Jersey, scoring 140 goals and 266 points in 397 games.

This season, Palmieri has already netted 10 goals and 10 assists in 25 games. He’s on pace to reach career highs in each category (32g, 32a) en route to a potential career year. What’s even more impressive is he’s doing it on an Islanders team which ranks 27th in goals for per-game.

In an elite offense such as New Jersey’s—ranked eighth in the NHL, scoring 3.54 goals per game—one would imagine Palmieri can score at an even higher pace.

Conversely, Palmieri is shooting a bit higher than his career average shooting percentage (12.6%), sniping at a 17.9% rate. There is regression potential there, but his history proves that he’s a regular 25-goal scorer.

Palmieri is in the final year of a four-year contract with the Islanders. He owns a cap hit of $5 million, which is certainly worth the price of admission, given he pretty much guarantees a 25-goal scoring pace or better. Or, perhaps the Islanders opt to retain some salary.

That’s for the dealing GMs to decide.

Palmieri returning to the Devils makes sense. New Jersey never replaced the services of Tyler Toffoli when the dealt him at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. Slotting him in the Devils’ top-six bumps down players such as Dawson Mercer or Ondrej Palat who are more suited as bottom-six forwards than they are top-six scorers.

It’s true that Fitzgerald explained he likes players with size and speed. Palmieri has decent speed, but stands undersized at 5-foot-11. However, the Devils roped in a plethora of talent that were mostly all over 6-foot-1 this summer, and can afford to add a guy like Palmieri who plays bigger than his size, anyway.

The ex-Devils forward is not only the kind of scorer who can find the back of the net in many ways, including at the snap of the wrist. He’s also a reliable forechecker that’s strong on pucks and wins his battles in the other two zones.

Slotted next to one of Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier in today’s day and age, Palmieri’s Devils reunion could pay big dividends.

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