The New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights are ideal trade partners

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By Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_THW)

The New Jersey Devils entered the All-Star break with a 15-25-5 record. Their playoff chances are as good as gone, especially considering the disastrous situation between the pipes.

Still, if there's an opportunity to improve the team between now and the start of next season, general manager Tom Fitzgerald shouldn't hesitate (he hinted at as much in a sit-down with Mike Morreale this morning). 

Elliotte Friedman has already linked the Devils to Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland. But the Canucks aren't the only team the Devils should be monitoring for help.

With Jack Eichel expected back in the lineup in the coming weeks, the Vegas Golden Knights could be looking to deal to free up cap space. 

To get a better sense of the Golden Knights' cap situation, I reached out to PuckPedia to clarify how much cap space they'd need to clear once Eichel leaves LTIR.

In short, assuming they don't have anyone else on LTIR – and they're willing to send players to the AHL – they'll need to clear about $6 million to be cap compliant with Eichel. 

That could be an opportunity for the Devils to do something sooner than later. But even if the Golden Knights find other ways to get cap compliant once Eichel returns, the Devils should still be keeping an eye on the Golden Knights heading into the offseason. Let's take a look at who they could target from Vegas.