Team reportedly willing to trade their leading scorer at the deadline.

This would be an extremely interesting option for many teams.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 8 years ago
Team reportedly willing to trade their leading scorer at the deadline.

He's not a big name that you're going to hear on a daily basis as a fan of the National Hockey League, but you can bet that a lot of ears perked up around the NHL when this news broke.

According to a report from Pierre Lebrun, published for ESPN today, the New Jersey Devils are willing to deal their leading scorer, forward Lee Stempniak and with his incredibly team friendly cap hit he could be one of the most valuable rental players on the trade market.

From Pierre Lebrun's ESPN report:

GM Ray Shero must keep the big picture in mind as he continues to rebuild this team. It's why in talking to other sources around the league I know that he's willing to move pending unrestricted free agents Lee Stempniak and David Schlemko if the offers are good enough

Here's the thing, yes Stempniak is an older player at 33 years of age, but he has recorded 15 goals and 25 assists this season for New Jersey this season, and again the biggest factor in this case is his cap hit, only $850,000. The amount of teams who are up against the cap and looking for depth at this time of the season is very high, and Stempniak may not be the sexiest option, but for a lot of teams he may be the smartest.

Another important factor here is the fact that general manager Ray Shero is very much aware of this fact, and will look to extract maximum value for any team looking to acquire Stempniak.

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