What happened to Nemec?

Considering every top prospect Nashville has outside of Askarov is a winger, i cant see them trading their best trade chip for another winger. Dont know enough about Vilen to make a decent assessment but what ive read on him seems quite solid. Value is probably there for Nashville but not really the mix we need. Really need a center prospect upgrade and/or a rhd prospect upgrade

He'll start the season in the AHL. He's put on LTIR so you see he'll be first call up on D

Unfortunately, Devils don't really have any stud center prospects. They have U25 centers, but they're all in the NHL and aren't going anywhere - Hischier (24), Hughes (22) and Mercer (21).

Yeah, value is fine but we are loaded on the RW. Kemell, Wood, Evangelista, Tomasino

We'd need to bolster our defensive pool or get a really good young center with top 6 upside

Probably not the right trade pieces for Nash. Swapping Saros for Vanecek isn't useful as VV is UFA expiry. I think Nash would be asking for players like Schmid and Seamus.

Vilen is a prospect I like a lot, but most people aren't quite as high on him. I'll try to be as neutral as possible.

He was a strictly defensive defenseman at the Liiga level, relying on his above average hockey IQ to be very effective despite somewhat unimpressive skill. Since the draft, he has started to produce more, and seems to be reinventing his game to be a more NHL-style puck moving defenseman. He was impressive at development camp, and the org trusted him enough to stick him right into an AHL playoff game on the first pair when the Liiga season ended. If he can play this new style of game, he may be able to play second pair in the NHL. Otherwise, his ceiling is more likely solid stay at home depth.

Casey is a very solid RD prospect, and while some are put off by his lack of size, I think he has all the tools. Would he be preferable to Holtz here?

I think Casey would like be a really solid pick-up for NSH with the rest of the package. I think he has the tools to be a strong 1-2 punch on the blueline alongside Molendyk but on the right side. NSH has not been afraid of undersized D-man in the past, so having Casey in that deal is something that I think they would consider considering the only other player I would be interested in (Mercer) is off the table.

The only other thing that has me on the fence is that this has some retention on Saros. The first round pick is likely to be later in the 1st round (if not last or second to last, imo) so I think NSH would want maybe another pick purely for the retention on Saros. Not anything crazy, like a 3rd or 4th round pick. I know Holtz has the makings of a potential star, and for someone at his level I won't even mention it, as he would likely get top 6 minutes in NSH as their forward group outside of Forsberg is middle of the pack at best. The combination of shifting from Holtz to Casey and considering this would be NSH's last retention spot preventing them from retaining on other potential trade targets at the deadline for the next two years makes it easier for NSH to swallow the tough pill that is trading Saros.

Retention on Saros isn't necessary with Sissons not included, Vanecek going the other way, and deadline cap hit scaling, but if NSH is selling Saros they may rebuild and in that case it doesn't matter