The New York Islands made a brilliant play ahead of the NHL’s trading deadline Monday, treating veteran New Jersey Devils strikers Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac.
The Islands have assigned in-depth players AJ Greer and Mason Jobst to the Devils, along with a first-round pick in the 2021 draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft. The Devils will retain 50 percent of Palmieri and Zajac’s major hits, as part of the terms.
How did both CEOs handle this swap? Here are our trade notes:
GM Lou Lamoriello said his best when he explained the trade in the islands for Palmieri and Zajac: There are no surprises with these two. “I know what I bring on the ice. I also know what kind of people they are and what they bring to the locker room. Chemistry is very important to me,” he said.
They played against these islanders frequently. They played with New York defender Andy Greene, who was a defender of the Devils’ career before Lamoriello arrived in Jersey and added him to the island by the deadline for last season. For better or worse, there are no surprises here about the players acquired by the island.
For the most part it will be fine.
Palmieri is a year down – you can’t get that. The question is whether a short-term change of scenery can rekindle his offense. It was better than 0.33 goals per game in 2015-16; this season, he is at 0.24, with eight goals in 34 games. He was no less than 0.66 points per game during that period; this season he is at 0.50. Palmieri has some encouraging numbers underlying it (51.41 percent of expected targets). This is not a case where its production has hit a kind of sudden and abrupt decline. Whether they played it to the left of Mathew Barzal or to the right of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Palmieri will help fill the offensive goal left by the loss of Anders Lee for the season.
Zajac was an interesting addition to the business. His best days are behind him and he managed a 46.88 goal percentage expected at 5 to 5. Like Palmieri, he has been a substitute level player for the Devils this season. His business card was like a murderer, but he was ineffective too.
At the age of 35, he is a strong player who can play offensively (18 points in 33 games) while playing a bottom-six role. It also offers the islands considerable experience and depth in the central place: Barzal, Brock Nelson, Pageau, Casey Cizikas and now Zajac. Lamoriello wrote it. Lamoriello knows him. It will be correctly distributed by Barry Trotz.
This is not the kind of trade that provides a Stanley Cup for the island. But it is a kind of trade that, if they are so blessed to raise the chalice at the end of the season, will look back as adding vital pieces to complete the puzzle. And it didn’t cost them much at all, given that profitability didn’t include a top-level perspective and included a first-round pick in a very mysterious draft.
If the Palmieri market has been as robust as it seemed – the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins were among the teams interested – then one wonders if the Devils couldn’t get a prospect, rather than a low first. – the round choice in a sketch that many general managers recognize is a complete feature due to the lack of in-person research and other effects related to COVID-19.
In essence, this was the trade: Palm trees for the first round. Greer and Jobst are deeply talented at expiring contracts, although Greer has the potential to contribute. Zajac’s commercial value was extremely limited due to his age, effectiveness and complete prohibition clause. It was probably going to be a team in the New York metropolitan area or back home in Winnipeg, or it was nothing. So the fourth condition for Zajac is what it is.
As I wrote before, this is a strange term for NHL trading. Perhaps given all the strange forces affecting the teams, this was the best profit GM Tom Fitzgerald could make for the Palmieri in a low season. It is something we will know for sure when the dust will be over after Monday.
And it’s not out of the question for the Devils to get a first-round pick for a player who returns to their roster next season through an unrestricted free agency. Fitzgerald called Palmieri trading “a business decision between Kyle and this organization right now.” I asked Fitzgerald about this possibility; he closed it by saying that Palmieri is now on another team and cannot comment. Which was not a “no.”
However, the value of returning to New Jersey because he withheld 50% of both players’ salaries should have been a little more than a reduced first round, two deep players and a choice in the fourth round that becomes the third if the islands make the Stanley Cup Final.
Now they are hoping that the islanders stumble a little to make the first round bigger. Well, everyone, except their GM, hopes, apparently.
“I hope the choice we get is the 32nd choice. I hope both gentlemen win the Cup,” Fitzgerald said.