The Devils, because of their record which is the second worst in the league, one season after a surprise playoff appearance and as for me- in my first season without the NHL package, I haven't seen many games other than the occasional game against Washington.
The decision to not buy the package this season has resulted in not a lot of writing about the Devils and that's mainly because I'm not 100 percent comfortable writing a lot about a team that I am not seeing most of their games.
I think it's unfair to post analysis and criticism when you aren't actually able to see the games for yourself and I tend to try to avoid that.
I've missed having a winter team to cover (Devils or Cavaliers) and next year, I would consider ponying up the bucks to see one or the other, but for now- I've been pretty bored this winter.
Now that I've bored you with my viewing, onto the Devils at the trade deadline, which is where a bad team needs to accumulate whatever they can for whatever they can to improve for the following season or beyond.
New Jersey traded veteran forward Brian Boyle to the Nashville Predators in exchange for the Predators second-round draft pick in the next draft to start any proceedings in a rebuilding process along the deadline.
The 34-year-old has scored 13 goals with 9 assists this season with the Devils and would have been a free agent at the end of the season.
Boyle has a chance for a career high in goals as his current total of 13 is only two behind his second best season (15), but would need some luck to reach his best season in goals at 21.
Boyle was signed by New Jersey before the 2017-18 season but announced that he had chronic leukemia, which held him back from starting the season with the team.
Boyle would finish the season with 23 points and would win the Masterton Trophy for courage and sportsmanship at the conclusion of the season, but Boyle's best memory might be from earlier in this season when he scored his only career hat trick on "Hockey Fights Cancer" night.
Brian Boyle's strength makes him a solid penalty killer along with being a good piece for a team's fourth line.
Still, a second-round pick seems like a high price to pay for a player of his type.even for a contender that will be picking at the end of the round, but there is another factor that makes Boyle worth that price.
Brian Boyle brings a work ethic and a character that a team that hasn't won a Stanley Cup always values and even more so with the locker room presence that Boyle brings with his background.
Many times the "Character Guy" phrase can be overused and less valuable than you think, even if the player is what the description states, but in the case Brian Boyle, Boyle will be exactly what the Predators are paying for.
For the Devils, a late second round pick is a strong return for a 34 year old soon to be a free agent and gives Ray Shero another trading chip for the off-season.
I'll miss Boyle, but I would have missed him even more losing him for nothing.
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