Devils and Penguins Could Be Ideal Trade Partners

Though operating in the same division, the two teams may be perfect for each other.

With just one week remaining until the NHL Entry Draft and NHL free agency, things are going to start to pick up around the league in terms of rumors, trades, and signings. From now until July 1 (and of course, thereafter), I’ll be hard at work going in-depth on all things New Jersey Devils. From draft targets to trade targets and everything in between, I’ve got you covered to the best of my abilities.

That said, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for simply reading my content. It’s been a blast over the last four months or so, and I scarcely expected the support I’ve garnered so far. Reaching the Top 100 Rising Sports pages on Substack for the sixth time in such a short span of the publication's launch last week was such a great feeling. To continue this trend, I would appreciate more than anything else simply pressing the subscribe button below, giving you notifications the moment my work is published. As has always been the goal with this blog, it’s completely free of charge to do so; it simply helps me out with the algorithm. If you want to go a step even further, consider sharing this blog with friends, family, and every Devils fan you know! It means a ton — thank you!

Though we haven’t heard much as a fan base, the New Jersey Devils are always rumored to be one of the more active teams in the league in terms of trades and the like. This off-season should be no different, with a litany of things to cross off before the team is complete and ready for Stanley Cup contention for 2025-26. On the checklist, I have to imagine, are both a top-six forward to aid Jack Hughes and several bottom-six pieces to overhaul the team’s depth scoring completely.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, meanwhile, are said to be the only true seller this off-season, as per Pierre LeBrun of TSN. GM Kyle Dubas has been on record as saying they’re trying to become younger, with the team currently being the fourth-oldest in the NHL despite their middling record and lack of playoff aspirations moving forward.

With those tidbits in mind, the Devils and Penguins very well could be ideal trade partners for each other. Let’s talk about who from Pittsburgh the Devils should have interest in:

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Bryan Rust

First up, and probably my favorite target on this list, is 33-year-old right-winger Bryan Rust, who is coming off a campaign in which he had a career-high in both goals (31) and points (65). He has been confirmed to be on the trade block by multiple reputable outlets.

To put it lightly, the Devils need a shooter to put in the top six — someone who not only puts the puck on net at volume and gets himself into high-danger areas, but is actually able to capitalize on those opportunities and turn the PB&J magic into goals. Rust is one of those players, having scored 31 goals on 26.56 individual expected goals (ixG) in 2024-25 and having surpassed his expected goal total in six of his last nine seasons. At the very least, Rust is an above-average finisher.

via JFresh Hockey

The defense is scary, I’ll admit, but the Devils need more juice in their lineup, not necessarily someone who also contributes defensively. Up and down their lineup, New Jersey has stalwarts, both up front and on defense. Rust would be a nice injection of both transitional ability, being an asset in both exiting the D-zone and entering the offensive zone, and shooting. He isn’t the greatest playmaker, but in a hypothetical role with J. Hughes and Jesper Bratt, he truly doesn’t need to be. Rust’s strong skating (he ranked in the 88th percentile for bursts of 20+ mph) lends itself well to the style of hockey those two play, and his high offensive IQ is always shown off by his innate ability to find open ice in high-danger areas of the offensive zone.

Rust is signed for three more seasons at a more than reasonable $5.125 million AAV cap hit. If I were GM Tom Fitzgerald, I’d be calling about Rust yesterday. In my eyes, the Penguins probably have an interest in highly-touted defense prospect Seamus Casey, who is somewhat obsolete on this Devils team. I don’t think it would be an unfair deal to throw him and a second-rounder for Rust. Rust is that good, and he fits the role the Devils desperately need to fill.

Rickard Rakell

One player I’ve been particularly high on the Devils acquiring for a while now is Rickard Rakell, another name reportedly out there on the trade market. The 32-year-old winger had a career year, logging lifetime-bests in goals (35) and points (70) in 2024-25.

Rakell has surpassed the 25-goal mark four times in his career, thrice eclipsing 30. He has done so on the back of an up-and-down career in terms of finishing, flipping between scoring at an above-expected and below-expected rate in his 13 years of NHL experience. This past season, his 35 goals came on 30.47 ixG. Prior to that in recent history, he scored 15 on 21.1 in 2023-24 and 28 on 34.21 the year before. All this is to say that, while he is capable of finishing at an above-expected rate, to expect him to do so on a yearly basis is likely off-base.

To play devil’s advocate (nice), his linemates have flip-flopped over the years. In 2024-25, Rakell played the vast majority of his time with Rust and all-time great Sidney Crosby. The year before, he primarily played with lesser talents in Evgeni Malkin and some combination of Rielly Smith or Michael Bunting. In 2022-23, the last season in which Rakell scored more than 25 goals, he played with Crosby and Jake Guentzel. Simply put, when he plays with talent, he produces, and he produces a lot.

via Evolving Hockey

While not having the highest top gear — Rakell ranked below the 50th percentile in top speed — he is an explosive skater, finishing the season in the 76th percentile for speed bursts of 20+ mph. As per AllThreeZones, he was above-average in terms of rush offense output despite not being the primary puck carrier on his line (that role was reserved for Rust), excelling at providing shots off of high-danger passes. Rakell operates best in a second- or third-man capacity off the rush, slinking into open space behind the play and opening himself up for a Grade A opportunity. To me, this is an extremely appealing prospect — he would be a superb complement to transition gods J. Hughes and Bratt. Rakell’s IQ is high enough that he understands he doesn’t need to be the guy all the time and is best utilized in a complementary role.

That isn’t to say he isn’t capable of driving play on his own or producing offense without help — he certainly is. That’s most apparent in his ability to play off the forechecking game he supplies, pressuring the puck-carrying defender in dump-and-chase scenarios with success more often than not. Rakell is a sturdy 6’1, 191 pounds, and certainly uses his frame to get the job done when needed.

All of this comes in conjunction with superb defensive underlying numbers, illustrating the generally stalwart positioning Rakell displays on a shift-by-shift basis. He rarely deviates from what is needed to keep the puck to the perimeter of the ice, and is quick to turn turnovers into opportunities the other way.

I would assume that Rakell, given his 70-point campaign and four-time 25-goal-scorer status, would be the most expensive option on this list, but I don’t have any qualms about sending over a good amount to acquire him. Casey and a future first-rounder sounds fair for both sides, even if the buyer-beware shooting percentage he logged in 2024-25 was a tad unsustainable.

Tommy Novak

Past those two top-six caliber players, the Penguins have some depth options that would be intriguing for the Devils to show interest in. Tommy Novak, who only appeared in two games after being acquired at the NHL Trade Deadline, is one of those options.

Novak, 28, is an ideal third-line center candidate for the Devils, in my opinion. The ex-Nashville Predator was sent to Pittsburgh after a slow first half of the season, but he had put up 35 goals and 88 points in 122 combined games in the two seasons prior. That’s a 0.72 point-per-game clip he was operating on in those two campaigns, while playing in an exclusively third-line, second-power-play capacity.

There truthfully isn’t a whole lot not to like about Novak’s game, considering the role he plays. Thus far into his career, it’s more likely that his down-season in 2024-25 was an outlier, and we can see by his 2023-24 microstats that there is a hell of a player in there:

via AllThreeZones

Across the board, there is a ton to love here. As a shooter, Novak puts pucks on net at a slightly above-average rate relative to his time on ice and is a very strong finisher. In his three full NHL seasons, he has yet to end a campaign with fewer goals than ixG — in 2024-25, he scored 13 goals on 9.92 ixG. In 2023-24, he potted 18 on 14.25. In 2022-23, he ended the year with 17 goals on just 9.49 ixG. By all accounts, he is an above-average finisher. He is adept at capitalizing on the high-danger opportunities he generates for himself by floating into open space without raising attention.

His playmaking chops, though, are all the more impressive. In 2023-24, the season illustrated above, only two players in the entire NHL logged more scoring chance assists — passes leading directly to scoring chances — per hour: Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov. That’s damn good company to be in, if I say so myself. Novak sourced the most primary shot assists per hour of any player on the Predators, including star forward Filip Forsberg. In that metric, Novak outperformed noted playmakers Jesper Bratt, Jack Eichel, Tim Stützle, and Clayton Keller. Truly impressive stuff.

For a guy who only played in 54 games this season, Novak finished the year with above-average marks in both top speed (61st percentile) and bursts of 20+ mph (55th). This, in conjunction with his underrated puckhandling abilities and strong edges, make him a legitimate threat in transition.

The Penguins acquired the St. Paul, Minnesota native, as well as defenseman Luke Schenn, in exchange for Bunting and a fourth-round pick at the 2025 deadline. I would imagine that, if he is on the block at all, Pittsburgh would be looking for similar value. While Novak, at 28 years old, isn’t old per se, Dubas has made it clear that the goal is to enter a rebuild and get younger. I wouldn’t hesitate to send over younger, NHL-ready talent (Nolan Foote) or a B-level prospect (Ethan Edwards, Topias Vilen, Cam Squires), as well as a mid-late round pick for Novak’s services. He’s a prime buy-low candidate, in my opinion.

Blake Lizotte

Finally, there is Blake Lizotte, a pure fourth-liner entering his age-28 season. Lizotte ended the 2024-25 season with 11 goals and 20 total points in 59 games.

From a purely offensive standpoint, despite the goal totals and 0.34 point-per-game rate Lizotte was operating at in 2024-25, there isn’t a whole lot to get excited about. The offensive macro-impacts are middle-of-the-pack at best, and there isn’t much to love from a tracked data perspective, either.

For one, he was anomalously efficient at shooting this season. Whereas he used to float either at or below expected for finishing — his best season from a finishing perspective before this year came in 2021-22, where he scored 10 goals on 9.44 ixG — Lizotte was hyper-efficient at converting his opportunities into goals, shooting 21.6% (as opposed to his career-average of 10.5) and putting 11 pucks into the back of the net on just 6.09 ixG. That likely will not happen again and would be a completely unrealistic expectation moving forward.

From a playdriving and playmaking perspective, things don’t get much prettier. Lizotte’s offensive driving and capabilities are jump-started by his forechecking ability (which I’ll get into shortly), but he is largely uninspiring to watch otherwise, from an offensive standpoint. I will admit, he was much better from this standpoint during his tenure with the Los Angeles Kings, but I wouldn’t hold my breath moving forward.

via Evolving Hockey

As briefly mentioned earlier, though, if the goal is to add a player to the bottom six who is adept at forechecking and recovering dump-in attempts, Lizotte is the guy to get. Only 16 players in the entire NHL were more effective at recovering dump-ins than he was on a per-60 basis, according to AllThreeZones, and he ranked firmly in the upper echelon of the league in terms of forechecking pressures. Lizotte’s frame is slight — 5’9, 173 pounds — but he throws his body around in the offensive zone like it’s what he was born to do, and has an extremely effective stick when it comes to generating turnovers in the offensive zone. The work he is able to accomplish in this facet of his game is, and always has been, miraculous.

For a fourth-liner playing in a somewhat limited number of games by virtue of injuries and the like, Lizotte’s skating metrics are quite impressive. He ranked in the 60th percentile for top speed and logged 94 bursts of 20+ mph as compared to the league average of 76.5. The Devils should certainly be looking to add more speed in the bottom half of their lineup, so Lizotte may be an ideal target there.

The calling card to his game is, and always has been, the defensive work. I‘ve been on record, including in this article already, as saying that the Devils are just fine defensively and should probably up the ante offensively, even if it means taking a step back in their own end. Still, Lizotte’s defensive game is quasi-perfect, and he provides enough oomph at times offensively to warrant a long, hard look in the trade market. He would be supremely cheap, too, I think, not costing more than a mid-late round pick or lowly prospect in my estimations.

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Others are on the market for the Penguins, and I have to imagine practically nobody on the team is off-limits for the right price. These four players, though, fit the bill for what the Devils are looking for quite well. I would be ecstatic with any of these guys on the team next season, assuming, of course, GM Tom Fitzgerald didn’t overpay out the wazoo.