Devils and Red Wings pitched to make blockbuster offseason swap

The Eastern Conference playoff picture is almost set, and two teams we know for sure won’t be part of it are the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings.

While their hopes of making the postseason fell short for different reasons, both teams will be entering a critical offseason where plenty of questions have to be asked about the operation on and off the ice. That includes deciding whether either core group needs a shake-up, which has led one analyst to already pitch the idea that the Devils and Red Wings link up in a blockbuster offseason trade to do just that.

On Sunday, popular hockey analytics account JFresh threw out a hypothetical swap of top centers Dylan Larkin and Nico Hischier.

JFresh wrote:

“Dylan Larkin (5x$8.7M) to the Devils Nico Hischier (sign and trade, 8x$11.5M) to the Red Wings Somebody adds, both teams shake up their leadership groups and core after repeated disappointments. Wings get 2.5 years younger, Devils save ~$3M in cap… This is a hockey trade and an organizational one. Almost every centre ranking out there had these guys basically back-to-back entering the season. Both of them and the teams they captain had disappointing seasons.”

The 29-year-old Larkin will be entering year four of the eight-year, $69.6 million contract extension he signed with the Red Wings in 2023, while Hischier, 27, will be entering the seventh and final season of the seven-year, $50.75 million deal he inked to remain with the Devils back in 2019.

Dylan Larkin for Nico Hischier?

It’s a fascinating proposal and the type of pure hockey trade that we just don’t see all that much in today’s NHL. As JFresh noted, Larkin and Hischier are quite similar in terms of their standing as players, though it’s clearly not working in Detroit or New Jersey right now, so something has to change.