NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild to Complete Trade

According to Jeff Marek of Sportsnet, expect to see the Minnesota Wild and New Jersey Devils have some trade discussions this offseason. The talks are likely to be centered around Wild forward Kevin Fiala and the Devils first-round pick.

Minnesota is in financial hell with the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise taking up $12.7 million next season and $14.7 the next two. General manager Bill Guerin is going to have no choice but to move players who are due a raise and perhaps none are due more than Fiala. The restricted free-agent to be is 25 years old, and coming off a season making $5.1 million, recording a career high 85 points in 82 games.

The breakout star is a native of Switzerland, which should spark the interest of the Devils as they would love to get him on the wing for their captain, fellow Swiss native Nico Hischier. Considering the circumstances of all involved here, this trade makes a ton of sense on many levels.

The Wild won't have the resources to keep Fiala in the fold as they only have $3.5 million in projected cap space according to CapFriendly.com. The Devils have a 8.5% chance of winning the NHL draft lottery, so if they end up landing in the top-5, this could be a great deal for both teams.