Ive seen the Devils lack of activity rationalized on this board numerous times because the other team in question was in the same division, same conference, same league. Why would the Devils have to add a sweetener to beat the Carolina deal?
Carolina is a division rival with Toronto. If the Devils simply matched the deal, which was as straight of a swap as you can get (space/cash for pick), would Toronto rather not have gifted a 1st Rd pick to NJ than division rival Carolina? i guess we'll never know, but hard to see why that would be the case.
Speaking of 76ers, I remember reading Elliotte Friedman repotring the following and it struck me as frankly nonsensical:
From what I understand, it is a major position in an organization that owns teams in more than one sport. The leader in the clubhouse is New Jersey. David Blitzer and Joshua Harris, owners of the Devils, also run the Philadelphia 76ers and Crystal Palace of the English Premier League, and are serious bidders for the New York Mets. My theory is that this is some kind of analytics/sports science/leadership position across some or all of those (potential) platforms. But I’d be lying if I claimed I knew the exact role.
The Devils have absolutely nothing to do with the 76ers so it's obviously absurd that Harris and Blitzer would try to hire one guy to oversee both operations.