The New Jersey Devils must have a guardian angel.
The National Hockey League is in talks with two investors about taking a minority stake in the money-losing team, The Post has learned.
The deal under discussion with ex-Tampa Bay Lightning owner Oren Koules and former pro hockey player Brian Lawton would allow the pair to take eventual ownership of the cash-strapped franchise if they cover losses beyond a certain point, according to sources.
“A deal is not far off,” one source said.
However, current Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek could remain in charge if he turns around the team’s finances in the next few years, a source said.
In April, Devils Arena Entertainment, which includes the Prudential Center, missed a $3 million interest payment, less than six months after restructuring its debt. The team’s lenders have given it a few months to stabilize its finances before possibly putting the Devils in default.
Koules and Lawton are negotiating with the NHL and the team’s lenders, offering to cover future losses in exchange for a more forgiving loan agreement, sources said.
The two are mulling buying a slice of the team’s $170 million in bank debt for between 50 and 70 cents on the dollar. The midpoint of 60 cents would value the Devils — which owe lenders and the NHL more than $200 million — at around $140 million.
Several other buying groups are willing to purchase the team from Vanderbeek for less than the value of the debt, but the NHL seems more interested in a minority sale arrangement, sources said.
Koules, who was Charlie Sheen’s former manager and an executive producer on “Two and a Half Men,” does not have particularly deep pockets, and that is why the league wants him to partner on the investment, said a source.
From 2007 to 2010, Koules owned a piece of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Lawton was his general manager.
The baby-faced 52-year-old Hollywood producer lost control of the team when he could not come up with the money needed to buy out his partner, who wanted to sell, a source said.
Lawton played 483 NHL games, including a short 1988 stint with the New York Rangers.
The Devils and the NHL declined comment. Koules and Lawton did not respond to e-mailed requests for comment.