Brady Tkachuk’s move to the Florida Panthers didn’t just reshape one corner of the NHL trade market. For the New Jersey Devils, it may have quietly opened a door they can still walk through later.
Tkachuk was one of the biggest names floating around all offseason, and plenty of Devils fans had their eyes on the possibility of pairing the former Senators captain with Jack Hughes in New Jersey. That dream is gone now, with Florida landing the American forward in a surprise blockbuster. But the fallout from that deal could end up mattering just as much as the trade itself.
The reason is Dylan Larkin. The Detroit Red Wings captain has asked for a trade and handed general manager Steve Yzerman a list of three preferred destinations: the Florida Panthers, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Minnesota Wild. Once Tkachuk landed in Florida, that list was cut down to two.
If Larkin winds up in Minnesota, the Devils may have a new reason to keep tabs on the situation. Salary pressure could make life difficult for the Wild when it comes time to re-sign Quinn Hughes, whose name has already become a familiar one in New Jersey circles. The idea of getting the third Hughes brother has worn out plenty of Devils fans, but this kind of chain reaction could make that possibility more realistic.
Quinn Hughes is under contract as a free agent after the 2027-28 NHL season, and the Wild already face a crowded offseason picture with nine total free agents. If they cannot get ahead of that financial mess, and if Hughes is not locked up before then, New Jersey’s chances could rise.
Larkin is in the fourth year of an 8-year, $69.6M contract with an AAV of $8.7M. Minnesota has already committed big money to Kirill Kaprizov, whose deal is the highest contract in NHL history and accounts for 16.25% of the team’s total cap, the most in the league. If the Wild bring in Larkin without sending out a major piece like Brock Faber or Matt Boldy, whose AAVs are $8.5M and $7M, the room for a future Quinn Hughes extension gets much tighter, especially with all those free agents still to handle.
It’s been a quiet offseason for the Devils, but the rest of the league has been moving. Tkachuk’s trade to Florida may have taken one target off New Jersey’s board, but it also narrowed Larkin’s list and could set off the kind of cap squeeze that makes next year’s Quinn Hughes conversation a lot more interesting.
In Other News...
Devils May Have Just Made Jack Hughes Biggest Problem Harder To Fix
The Devils went into the draft needing more than just another prospect, and Sunny Mehta made sure they at least kept one premium chip in the pocket. New Jersey held onto the 12th overall pick and used it on Swedish forward Alexander Command, a move that kept the front office in position to keep searching for a top-six answer around Jack Hughes rather than spending every major asset in one swing.
Even after the roster shuffle, the larger issue is still staring back at Mehta. New Jersey wants a legitimate scoring wing to ease the burden on Hughes, but the path to landing one keeps getting narrower, and the clubs remaining trade currency is not as clean or simple as it looked before the draft. If the Devils are going to chase a real difference-maker, they may have to decide whether to keep waiting for the right market or finally push harder on a deal that can change the look of the top of the lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Face A Massive Connor Hellebuyck Or Jacob Markstrom Decision
The Devils offseason has a familiar shape to it: Jack Hughes needs more help up front, and the goaltending situation has not settled the way the front office hoped when Jacob Markstrom arrived. New general manager Sunny Mehta inherits both problems at once, and the pressure to upgrade in goal could push New Jersey into a bigger swing than a usual summer shuffle.
One name hovering around that conversation is Connor Hellebuyck, a target whose availability could reshape the market if the Devils decide to press forward. The path there is not simple, though, because moving Markstroms contract may be part of the equation, and it is unclear how much extra value New Jersey would have to attach to make that kind of deal work. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Draft Weekend May Have Revealed A Bigger Plan
The Devils draft weekend already came with a clear headliner in Alexander Command at No. 12, but the rest of the class suggested New Jersey was chasing more than one type of future contributor. General manager Mehta kept coming back to the idea of adding productive players with dynamic qualities, and the later-round picks fit that broader search for skill rather than simply filling out a board.
For a team trying to keep building around a stronger talent base, that approach can matter just as much as the first name off the board. The draft also left enough room to wonder whether the Devils are keeping an eye on bigger roster movement elsewhere, with Winnipeg at least willing to hear trade ideas on its side of the goalie market, even if the full shape of that situation is still unclear. [Read more 🡒]