Devils GM throws cold water on JT Miller trade rumors

The The New Jersey Devils could make a big trade before NHL Trade Deadline March 7. And in recent days, reports have surfaced indicating that this is a possibility. The Vancouver Canucks are listening to offers for star JT Millerand New Jersey appeared as a potential landing site. However, general manager Tom Fitzgerald has thrown cold water on those rumours.

Fitzgerald appeared on the Leafs Hour podcast with Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne. The Devils decision maker was quite open when discussing trade possibilities this season. The topic of a potential blockbuster trade came up. This led to Fitzgerald addressing the rumours about his team and Vancouver.

“(Canucks GM) Patrick (Olwin) and I are really good friends, but honestly, we haven’t talked,” the Devils general manager said on Thursday’s Leafs Hour around 40:30.

The Devils’ Tom Fitzgerald isn’t ruling out a blockbuster trade

Tom Fitzgerald may have quelled any trade rumors surrounding JT Miller. However, he hasn’t completely ruled out blockbuster sales. To be fair, it doesn’t look like Fitzgerald is actively looking for a blockbuster deal. But the Devils general manager said they have the capacity to strike if they strongly believe the move will bring them closer to Stanley Cup contention.

“With respect to my organization and what I have internally, I think we’re pretty well set up.” With what we have under the hood, we’re just trying to create some cap space if you’re going to do a big thing like that. Every day you accumulate more and more space for limitation. Again, we’re looking at what we need to do internally. We have a good team,” Fitzgerald said on the Leafs Hour podcast.

The Devils currently have about $5.6 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia. New Jersey can rack up more cap space every day. As a result, a massive trade around the March 7 deadline is more likely.

There’s room for New Jersey to make a bigger move, too. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are an elite 1-2 punch in the NHL. However, their attack is quite difficult. Adding a top-six wing player could go some way to balancing the offensive attack.

It remains to be seen how Fitzgerald will perform at the NHL trade deadline. Maybe he calls the Canucks and the trade for JT Miller comes to fruition. Either way, New Jersey is certainly a team to watch leading up to March 7th.