Looking ahead: Three goaltenders the Devils could target at the deadline

If the goaltending isn't great, or injuries pop up, these names are worth monitoring leading into March.

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Last week I kicked off a mini-series diving into potential deadline targets for the New Jersey Devils at positions that may be of need.

I started the party by looking at wingers, with Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter, and Yakov Trenin popping off the page as players who could be of interest to GM Tom Fitzgerald.

Up next are the goaltenders. Should Vitek Vanecek and/or Akira Schmid struggle, or injuries arise, these are some names worth monitoring.

Connor Hellebuyck (contract: 1 x $6.16M)

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire and there’s been a lot surrounding Connor Hellebuyck and the Devils.

I do believe the Devils were – and still are – genuinely interested in the veteran netminder. That said, timing is everything; and the timing just doesn’t seem great right now.

The Winnipeg Jets want to be competitive next season and believe they can be just that.

They have enough talent to be a playoff team and they were able to get younger on the fly by replacing Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler with Gabe Vilardi and Alex Iafallo.

I think they want to see how the new pieces fit and give things a go under a somewhat leadership core – sans Wheeler, who still carried a large voice in the room – and see where that takes them.

Unless they suddenly change their train of thinking, the Jets and Devils don’t make a lot of sense as trade partners in the here and now.

Trading Hellebuyck to the Devils – who want to contend for a Stanley Cup next season – is only going to make the Jets worse. The Devils aren’t trading for Hellebuyck with the idea of removing quality contributors from their roster. And if they don’t, there’s not really a fit for what Winnipeg wants.

That’s why I think the Hellebuyck situation is likely to be settled at or near the deadline.

If things are going really well in Winnipeg, they’ll likely back up the Brinks truck and see if they can sway him to stay long-term.

If things aren’t going well, and the Jets out of the playoff mix, Hellebuyck will still want out and the Jets will be forced to give in and make a trade.

At that point and time, I imagine the Devils will make a serious push for Hellebuyck.

Karel Vejmelka (2 x $2.75M)