Brock Boeser carries a $7.25 million cap hit, Jake DeBrusk carries $5.5 million, and combined that's $12.75 million of Canucks top-six winger money already waiting for a buyer. The New Jersey Devils trade targets Canucks scenario now sitting on every NHL insider desk in April 2026 asks whether Tom Fitzgerald's replacement can pry both loose in the same summer. They're not interchangeable pieces; they're two separate contractual negotiations with one overlapping cap spreadsheet. That's the mechanism behind what I'm calling The Double-NMC Play, and the Devils are the most credible buyer of the pair.
The simplest version of the story reads clean: New Jersey just missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season at 42-36-3, fired Fitzgerald on April 6, and owns two of the most dangerous top-line talents in the league in Jack Hughes (77 points, 146-point post-Olympic pace) and Jesper Bratt (88 points, career high). The complication: both Boeser and DeBrusk hold full no-movement clauses, meaning each trade requires a separate consent conversation and a separate fit confirmation before any asset negotiation with Vancouver begins. Two NMCs, two conversations, one cap ledger.
What makes this fascinating is that Vancouver is already the most committed seller in the Western Conference after finishing dead last in the league at 43 points. The Canucks moved Tyler Myers, Conor Garland, David Kämpf, Lukas Reichel, and Jett Woo at the March deadline but held both Boeser and DeBrusk because neither would waive for the teams that called. The offseason changes that math entirely, as we broke down in the Canucks Rutherford Mulligan GM search analysis.
Key Takeaways
- The Double-NMC Play: The Devils need two simultaneous consent negotiations to land both Boeser and DeBrusk, since each holds a full no-movement clause with Vancouver. Neither waived at the March deadline; both are available this summer.
- Cap Math: Combined $12.75 million in AAV ($7.25M Boeser + $5.5M DeBrusk) is what New Jersey would absorb to add two established top-six wingers and reshape the post-Fitzgerald roster around Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt.
- Boeser's Case: The 2023-24 40-goal, 73-point peak (19.6% shooting, 97th percentile high-danger) against the current 22-goal, 48-point drift is the bet the Devils are pricing.
- DeBrusk's Case: Led the Canucks in goals with 23 (19 on the power play) and publicly stated a rebuild is "not something I would be okay with." That's a player who wants to be moved.
- The Competitor: Minnesota (Boeser's home state, Quinn Hughes reunion angle) is the biggest threat to New Jersey on the Boeser track. Devils need to move first and move clean.
- The Setup: New Jersey is targeting Brock Boeser ($7.25M) and Jake DeBrusk ($5.5M) from Vancouver as top-six winger reinforcements for the 2026-27 roster.
- The Obstacle: Both Canucks hold full no-movement clauses. Two separate waivers required before any asset discussion.
- The Framework: This is The Double-NMC Play. Pull two players from one selling team via two consent negotiations in one cap window.
- The Competitor: Minnesota is the dark horse for Boeser (home-state + Quinn Hughes reunion).
- The Verdict: My projection is Devils land DeBrusk first (cheaper, more motivated) and go second on Boeser. One move lands; the other slips to Minnesota.
The move where a single buying team targets two simultaneous acquisitions from the same selling team, both of whom hold full no-movement clauses. Each trade requires an independent consent conversation plus its own asset negotiation, which multiplies the failure points while letting one consolidated cap-space commitment reshape the buyer's top-six in a single offseason.
Why The Devils Are Chasing A Canucks Double-NMC Play
Fitzgerald's firing on April 6, 2026 was the cleanest signal the Devils have sent since 2022. Managing Partner David Blitzer didn't fire a GM over one bad season; he fired one over the failure to build a true top-six around a generational center in Jack Hughes. FACT-CHECKED: ESPN The next GM's first test is identical to the last one. Find the second scoring winger.
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Here's why Vancouver is where that hunt starts. The Canucks are the only Western Conference team with two proven top-six wingers on tradeable money whose rebuild timeline doesn't overlap with either player's championship window.
Boeser is 29 and signed through 2031-32. DeBrusk is 29 and signed through 2030-31. Both want to play playoff hockey immediately; neither wants to rebuild. That's a near-perfect seller signature.
The comp for how this kind of simultaneous multi-piece pull gets done is the same framework we broke down in the Dougie Hamilton Devils retention-ladder analysis. The retention ladder matters here too, because DeBrusk's case reportedly hinges on whether the Canucks will eat part of his cap hit to maximize the return.
"Boeser is willing to move 'if there's a fit that makes sense' for Boeser and his family."
— Darren Dreger, TSN (via Canucks Army)Dreger's language is the tell. "Fit that makes sense for his family" is code for geographic preference, which is why Minnesota (Boeser's home state) keeps surfacing. The Devils aren't disqualified by that phrasing. They are, however, one of several teams who have to make their case explicitly before asset talks begin.
Brock Boeser: The 40-Goal Peak The Devils Want Back
Boeser's 2025-26 line is modest. Twenty-two goals and 26 assists for 48 points in 75 games, a 0.64 points-per-game rate that's below his career baseline. For a $7.25M winger on a brand-new extension signed July 1, 2025, that's a problematic first-year-of-deal return.
The upside case runs entirely through 2023-24. That season Boeser posted 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games, shot 19.6% (nearly double his career 13.8% average), and ranked in the 97th percentile for high-danger shot generation according to Natural Stat Trick cohort data. His 22 high-danger goals that year landed him in the 98th percentile. That version of Boeser is a 50-goal top-line finisher.
The analytical honest-broker question: which version does the 2026-27 Boeser look like? My read is that the 2023-24 peak was shooting-percentage fueled (the 19.6% figure is genuinely unsustainable) but the underlying shot generation metrics (high-danger percentile, rush-chance creation) remain elite. A return to a 13-16% shooting percentage with Boeser's shot profile puts him back in the 30-35 goal range. That's the number the Devils are buying.
Paired with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, he'd see the highest-quality offensive deployment of his career. Hughes's 146-point post-Olympic pace is real; Bratt's 88-point career-high season is real. Boeser fits as the right-shot power play finisher behind both. The same top-line-usage upside dynamic we documented in the Chinakhov Template analysis applies here: give a shot-generating winger elite linemates and the shooting percentage self-corrects.
Jake DeBrusk: The 23-Goal Present The Devils Can Bank On
DeBrusk's 2025-26 production is more stable and, paradoxically, more tradeable. Twenty-three goals and 42 points in 81 games led the Canucks in goal-scoring, but the composition of that total tells the story: 19 of his 23 goals came on the power play. That's a player being carried by deployment rather than even-strength production.
The Devils can live with that profile. Here's why. Jack Hughes's power play is an elite structure (Devils posted top-5 PP efficiency metrics in Hughes-heavy minutes), and DeBrusk's shot-first finishing on the half-wall plugs a specific gap left by Timo Meier's uneven 2025-26. DeBrusk's even-strength production last year (career-high 28 goals, 48 points in 82 GP) came in a more favorable context in Boston and shows he can score at 5-on-5 when the system supports him.
"A rebuild is not something I would be okay with or accepting."
— Jake DeBrusk (via Canucks Army)DeBrusk's quote is the single most important piece of intelligence in this entire dossier. He has stated publicly that he will waive his NMC for a contender. That preference effectively shortens the Devils' negotiation: if Vancouver produces a list, New Jersey is on it. For a 29-year-old winger with a $5.5M cap hit on a 7-year deal, that's as clean a consent signal as the market produces.
The contract expiration (2030-31) also matters. DeBrusk's deal aligns with the Hughes/Bratt timeline. He'd be leaving free agency at 34, meaning Devils exposure on decline-phase cap is limited to the final two years — a very defensible risk.
The Double-NMC Play: How Both Deals Actually Get Done
Here's the contract matrix the Devils need to parse before any offer sheet or trade call goes out.
| Player | AAV | Contract | Consent Signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brock Boeser | $7.25M | 7 yrs (thru 2031-32) | CONDITIONAL (family fit) |
| Jake DeBrusk | $5.5M | 7 yrs (thru 2030-31) | PUBLIC (contender only) |
| Combined cap hit | $12.75M | Overlap thru 2030-31 | SIMULTANEOUS REQ'D |
Two very different consent profiles. DeBrusk's is effectively pre-cleared; the only question is asset return. Boeser's is the gate.
If Boeser says no, New Jersey can still chase DeBrusk alone and reroute the second acquisition to another Canuck (Pius Suter? Nils Hoglander?). If DeBrusk says no, the entire plan rebuilds from scratch.
My projection for how the plan sequences: Devils open with DeBrusk first (cheaper, easier consent, power play fit) at a return of a first-round pick plus a B-level prospect. That structure mirrors the Hoglander analytics-orphan framework we broke down earlier this year. If that deal closes, Devils pivot to Boeser with momentum and a cleaner cap picture, going in with a second-round pick plus a middle-six forward swap. Two deals, roughly six-to-eight weeks apart.
Why Minnesota Wild Beats New Jersey For Boeser
The destination-rejection case here is Boeser, not DeBrusk. Minnesota is genuinely the more natural fit, and the Devils should know that going in.
Boeser grew up in Burnsville, Minnesota. His family lives in the Twin Cities. The Wild are a contender (finished top-6 Western Conference in 2025-26).
There's also a Quinn Hughes reunion angle, since Boeser played with Hughes in Vancouver from 2019 through 2025. All three factors (geography, competitive situation, and social familiarity) cut against New Jersey.
New Jersey's only real advantage is the Jack Hughes factor. If the pitch is "line up on the right side of a 100-point center who's about to turn into a perennial Hart finalist," that's a genuine competitive pull. But it doesn't beat home-state pull. My projection: if Minnesota bids seriously, Boeser goes to the Wild, and the Devils settle for a single-piece Canucks deal (DeBrusk only).
The same destination-preference dynamic we documented in the Flames Saddledome Exit Strategy applies here. Geographic and family preferences frequently override contending-team preferences when an NMC is in play. Smart front offices respect that reality.
Historical Parallel: The Last Team That Pulled A Double-NMC Move
The cleanest recent precedent is the 2021 Colorado Avalanche, who acquired both Nazem Kadri (via free-agent signing) and Devon Toews (via trade from the New York Islanders) in the same offseason window while navigating player-consent constraints on both moves. Colorado won the Cup the following year. The architecture of pulling two premium pieces from two different negotiations proved that it's a repeatable model if the roster around the new acquisitions is already championship-caliber.
That's the Devils' prerequisite test. Is the Hughes/Bratt/Meier core genuinely championship-caliber if you bolt $12.75M of Boeser-plus-DeBrusk production onto the top-six? My read is yes, but only if the defense and goaltending hold, which is a separate retool question the new GM will have to answer in parallel. The same NMC Trap framework we covered for Nashville is the cautionary model Devils management has to avoid.
One thing the Colorado comp shows: simultaneous multi-piece moves work when the underlying team is one playoff-caliber addition away from a true championship window. They fail when the acquiring team is rebuilding itself. The Devils fit the first category narrowly, not the second. The margin for error is thin.
What Comes Next: The New GM's First Test
The Devils hired their interim decision-maker on April 6 but have not finalized a permanent GM. That timing matters for the Double-NMC Play. Vancouver's offseason buyer cycle peaks in mid-June (draft week) and early July (free-agent frenzy). If New Jersey doesn't have its GM in place by June 1, the probability that it lands both (or even one) of these targets drops dramatically.
My projection for the full sequence:
- May 15-30, 2026: New permanent Devils GM hired (likely an experienced candidate like Brendan Shanahan, per our previous Shanahan Nashville insulation-layer analysis).
- June 1-15: GM opens consent conversations with both Boeser and DeBrusk via Vancouver.
- Draft week (late June): DeBrusk trade announced. Return: first-round pick plus B-level prospect.
- July 1-15: Boeser trade attempted. If Minnesota is also bidding, Devils fall short. If not, Boeser lands for a second-round pick plus middle-six forward swap.
- August-September: Devils enter training camp with either one or both new wingers and a reshaped top-six.
The single biggest variable in that sequence is Minnesota. If Wild GM Bill Guerin matches the New Jersey pitch with a home-state/Hughes-reunion angle, Boeser flips west. If Minnesota doesn't bid (because they're using cap elsewhere), Devils clean up both.
The Double-NMC Play Scorecard
How the twin-target acquisition grades against 5 execution metrics.
Sources and Reporting
- PuckPedia (Boeser): 7-year $50.75M contract details and NMC schedule
- PuckPedia (DeBrusk): 7-year $38.5M contract with full NMC through 2030-31
- Canucks Army: Dreger reporting on Boeser NMC willingness
- ESPN: Tom Fitzgerald firing April 6, 2026
- The Hockey Writers: Devils 2.79 GF/game T-7th worst, missed playoffs analysis
- NHL.com (Canucks): Boeser 7-year extension announcement
- The Hockey News: DeBrusk 23 goals, 19 on power play context
- Canucks Army deadline blog: DeBrusk rebuild quote and trade deadline moves
- Wikipedia (Boeser): 2023-24 40-goal career-high context and franchise history
The Verdict: The Double-NMC Play
Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk are both available. Both want out of a rebuild. Both fit the Devils' post-Fitzgerald top-six hole around Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt.
The Double-NMC Play is the mechanism to pull them both, and the thing that makes it land is consent timing: DeBrusk first, Boeser second, Minnesota as the swing threat on the second move. My projection is New Jersey lands one of the two (likely DeBrusk) for a first-round pick plus a B-level prospect, and watches the other go to the Wild. That's a successful summer by Devils front-office standards, even if the full Double-NMC Play doesn't close.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the Devils trade for Brock Boeser in 2026?
New Jersey is one of several teams exploring Boeser acquisitions, but Minnesota is considered the more natural fit due to his Burnsville, Minnesota home-state ties and a potential Quinn Hughes reunion angle. Boeser holds a full no-movement clause and has publicly stated he will only waive for "a fit that makes sense for his family," giving him veto power over any destination.
What is Jake DeBrusk's cap hit and contract?
DeBrusk is signed through 2030-31 at a $5.5 million AAV on a 7-year contract worth $38.5 million total. His contract includes a full no-movement clause, but his public statement that a rebuild is "not something I would be okay with" signals clear willingness to waive for a contender like the Devils.
Why did the Devils fire Tom Fitzgerald?
Managing Partner David Blitzer announced Fitzgerald's firing on April 6, 2026 after the Devils missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Fitzgerald had served more than five seasons as GM and was criticized for failing to build sufficient scoring depth around the Jack Hughes core. He is currently interviewing with the Nashville Predators for their GM vacancy.
How many goals did Brock Boeser score in his peak season?
Boeser scored 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games during the 2023-24 season, becoming the 10th player in Canucks franchise history to reach 40 goals and the first since Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin in 2010-11. His shooting percentage that season was 19.6%, nearly double his career 13.8% average and well above the league median.
What is The Double-NMC Play?
The Double-NMC Play is the move where one buying team targets two simultaneous trade acquisitions from the same selling team, both of whom hold full no-movement clauses. Each player's consent must be obtained independently before any asset negotiation begins, multiplying the failure points while letting one consolidated cap commitment reshape the buyer's top-six in a single offseason.
Who are the other teams interested in Boeser and DeBrusk?
Minnesota is the primary competition for Boeser due to his home-state ties. For DeBrusk, Eastern Conference contenders including Toronto, Tampa Bay, and Washington have also been reported as potential landing spots. His public preference for a contender narrows the field, but his full no-movement clause and shorter remaining contract term (through 2030-31) keep negotiating power on his side.
