Devils Deal Holtz & Schmid to Vegas!?

        Late in the second day of the NHL Draft (round six of the seven rounds), the New Jersey Devils made a trade that would have been laughed at, had it been made a year earlier.

The Devils traded right wing Alexander Holtz and goaltender Akira Schmid to the Las Vegas Golden Knights for forward Paul Cotter and Las Vegas's third-round draft choice in 2025.

Despite some questionable usage by former coach Lindy Ruff, the former seventh overall choice in 2020, Holtz scored sixteen goals with twelve assists last season and is still only twenty-two.

The hero of the Devils 2023 playoff win over the Rangers, Akita Schmid split last season between New Jersey and AHL Utica, playing in nineteen NHL games with a 3.15 GAA and a save percentage of .895.

The twenty-four-year-old Schmid had fallen behind Nico Daws among the Devils younger goalies and I suppose going elsewhere might be a good career move for Schmid, who could benefit from slotting in as someone's top goalie in the AHL.

In return, New Jersey adds Paul Cotter, a 6'2 forward, who plays a physical game that Tom Fitzgerald constantly covets.

Cotter will turn twenty-five in November and played seventy-six games last season, scoring seven goals with eighteen assists.

Cotter won a Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023 and he may be most known for this back suplex last season on Florida's Matthew Tkachuk.

I have to say, I'm not a fan of this trade.

Paul Cotter might add some muscle to the fourth line and I know how Tom Fitzgerald loves that (trading for Kurtis Macdermid and then his ridiculous contract extension belies that) and I can understand giving Akira Schmid a chance to play elsewhere.

However, I'm not happy with including Alexander Holtz in the trade.

Holtz scored sixteen goals last season and might be my choice as the player who suffered the most from Lindy Ruff's tenure in New Jersey.

Holtz is still young, and has room to grow, and yet the Devils botched his development by not playing him regularly in Newark or Utica.

The Devils made a mistake in not allowing Alexander Holtz a chance to work with a new coaching staff and their system as I believe Holtz has more value than the Devils received for him and Akira Schmid.

We now wait and see if the Devils have made a mistake. 

Devils lose Nasreddine debut

The New Jersey Devils were overwhelmed by the third-period onslaught of Jonathan Marchessault, who scored three consecutive goals to lift the Las Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 win and ruin the first outing of interim head Alain Nasreddine.

The Devils led after two periods 2-1 from a first-period goal from Kyle Palmieri (10) and a second period tally from Jesper Bratt (5) before the assault from Marchessault moved the Golden Knights to a two-goal lead.
Nico Hischier would cut the lead to one goal with his fifth goal of the season, but there would be no further scoring.
The Devils will host Chicago Friday night in their next game.
We will have coverage of that game, but not their Saturday game in Nashville as we will have the Big Ten championship game at the same time.

Hell Raisers

1) Before we turn Jonathan Marchessault into the next Brett Hull as far as goal-scoring, Marchessault scored a third of his goals for the season in that third period.
Add into that, two of the three were part of the puck hopping the wrong way, particularly the first goal which bounced off Marchessault leg following a centering pass.

2) Damon Severson finished with two assists, but the long pass to Jesper Bratt that resulted in the Devils second goal was beautiful.
Severson isn't always the most disciplined defender, but every once in a while he brings an offensive flair that you wish could be corralled and turned into consistency.

3) I thought a first-period boarding call on William Carrier on Matt Tennyson was a really dirty hit and I thought the resulting call on Will Butcher for going after Carrier was one of those that hurt the team, yet was one that needed to be taken.
If you establish that you'll be bullied, teams will continue to do so.

4) I also thought that Mackenzie Blackwood was very good in goal despite allowing four goals.
The scoresheet doesn't show it, but none of those goals was Blackwood's fault and two were bad bounces or deflections.
Blackwood's season numbers haven't looked great, but he has played far better than the numbers show.

5) The Devils did play well in the first two periods under interim coach Alain Nasreddine, but I didn't see a huge uptick in energy.
I saw a definite increase from the trip to Buffalo, but a dead slug might have been more energetic than that game.
I think Nasreddine needs some time to run some practices and establish himself, but I'm not sure that he is the answer and the Devils (so far in limited data) might be best suited to play this out and hire from outside the organization in the offseason

6) Jack Hughes missed his second straight game with a hand injury and I'm looking forward to seeing how the coaching change will help Hughes.
Hughes has four goals and seven assists this season, which is a little disappointing but understandable with the struggles of the team.
The Hockey News wrote an article about the possibility of the Devils allowing Hughes to play for the American team in the World Hockey Junior Championship.
It is intriguing to think about as Hughes isn't going to turn this season around for the team by himself and it could be good for his spirit and development to play in an environment where he would be the dominant player for a while.
Hughes would miss a month, but it is something to at least consider under these circumstances.

Devils trade for Nikita Gusev

The New Jersey Devils have been mentioned even after the draft as a team that could have a big move still in their pocket with a large amount of cap space.

The Devils made that move in added what they hope will be at least a top-six forward and with luck, an eventual first liner as the Devils obtained left wing Nikita Gusev from the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
The Devils traded their 2020 third-round draft and their 2021 second-rounder to the Golden Knights for Gusev, who has dominated the Russia-based KHL over the last few seasons.

Gusev had leverage with the cap starved Knights in that he could return for one more season in the KHL and then return for the 2020-21 offseason as a free agent and leaving Las Vegas with nothing for Gusev, whose rights they acquired from Tampa Bay during their expansion draft.
The Devils offer of two picks was reportedly more than the one that came from the other suitor, the Columbus Blue Jackets and put them at the forefront to make the deal.
Ray Shero quickly signed Gusev to a two-year contract worth nine million and avoid any concern about a return to Russia.

There are two schools of thought about Gusev, who led the KHL in points and assists last season and won the league's MVP award for the 2017-18 season.
The doubters wonder if at 27, Gusev is as good as he is going to get, worries about his size 5'11 and slight of build and that he isn't the most skilled skater around.
The believers counter with what they claim are Gusev's elite hands and vision and believe he'll easily be a top-six forward.

Gusev's play in the KHL was superior to that of both Evgeny Dadonov and Artemi Panarin (newly of the Rangers) and one would think that Gusev should be at least close to their level, if not superior and for that type of production, I'll take him for the cost of a 2 and 3, especially when you consider that they won't be in the same draft year.
This is a low risk and high reward trade by the Devils and I'm all in!
It's going to be a very fun season of hockey, I think in New Jersey.
For a look at some Nikita Gusev highlights, play the video below!

Devils lose Jon Merrill in Expansion Draft

The New Jersey Devils finally found out what player they were losing off their roster in the expansion draft to the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights and it was one that had long been a whipping boy at the home office.

The now former Devil selected was defenseman Jon Merrill,who was a second round pick by the Devils in 2010 and never seemed to reach the level that he was touted to have the potential to be.
Merrill was selected with the then-Atlanta Thrashers second round pick obtained in the Ilya Kovalchuk trade (New Jersey had traded their first round to the Thrashers) from Michigan and was thought to be a first round talent that had slid to the second due to some off ice problems.
The Devils never had those types of issues with Merrill,what they did have issues with was uneven play and a player that was just disappointing

Merrill couldn't stay healthy (Never played more than 66 games),wasn't nearly the offensive player he was reported to be (Never scored more than 2 goals in a season) and made lots of silly mistakes on defense (never better than a -9 over the last three seasons),which is kinda a bad thing when you are a defenseman.
For a sizable blueliner ( 6'3 205),he seemed to shy away from contact,which could have been lived with had Merrill been a speedier offensive minded player,which he wasn't either.

Now,I'm not saying Jon Merrill was a huge loss,but the Devils had to be hoping that Vegas would have picked the big contract of Mike Cammalleri (Cammy would have helped the Knights in year one as long as he could have stayed healthy) or maybe even Ben Lovejoy (who in his one year with the Devils,might have been worse than Merrill at a higher cost),but I cannot imagine anyone with Devils interest being disappointed in losing Merrill.
I'm not sure which player was unprotected (Merrill or Lovejoy most likely) that would have been protected before the trade for Mirco Mueller,but both would have had advantages for being exposed.
Merrill's notes from above with Lovejoy being overpaid for two more years made losing either fine with me.

I won't miss Jon Merrill and if you had asked me about my concern on the expansion draft on the day Las Vegas was approved for entry,but told me the Devils were going to lose their seventh defenseman-I would have taken that then and there!
Not a loss that is going to severely damage the future of the franchise at all..
Back later with any Cavaliers news with the NBA draft tonight and the Devils leading off the NHL draft on Friday...