Tom Fitzgerald had different plans as the New Jersey Devils interim general manager swung two trades, one of which has the fan base howling for Fitzgerald's head before the game had even ended.
The game ended with a 4-3 Devils win in a shootout that went seven deep before Jesper Bratt's goal won the game for New Jersey and despite my plans to write about the game, the trades took center stage.
Before the game, the Devils announced that they had traded defenseman Andy Greene to the New York Islanders while stating that Blake Coleman was being kept out of the lineup for "precautionary measures", which immediately swept through the arena, social media and the Devils fan base that the very popular Coleman was on his way out of Newark as well.
Coleman would be traded to Tampa Bay in the middle of the game and because of the enormity of that trade, I'll be coming back later tonight to discuss that trade that brought prospect Nolan Foote and a future first-rounder from Vancouver (Tampa held that pick) that will either be in the 2020 draft (if the Canucks make the playoffs) or the 2021 version ( if the Canucks miss the postseason).
The Devils were expected to trade Andy Greene and it made plenty of sense at the deadline to see what they could receive for the veteran defenseman.
The 37-year-old team captain will be a free agent at the end of the season and with the team in a rebuilding mode after such high expectations, trading Greene seemed to be a formality with only the destination to be named.
The Devils did Greene a favor in keeping him as close as possible to his family in trading him to the Islanders and I think that reflects well on an organization in these situations.
Observers, no matter how much we look at the data and results, can sometimes forget that players are people too with commitments to their family that are shaken up with every transaction and when a team does right by a player, players hear and that can become a positive down the road when trying to retain a player or sign a new one as a free agent.
Greene scored two goals with nine assists in fifty-three games this season for New Jersey with a plus one on a losing team and the only defenseman on the team with a positive plus-minus.
Greene won't be asked to do as much for the Islanders as he will be used as a stay at home defenseman without the demands of being a captain and he'll have a pretty seamless transition to the Islanders since Lou Lamoriello has changed the Islanders into what the Devils used to be as far as culture and management style.
The Devils added a 2021 second-rounder and minor league defenseman, David Quenneville.
The second-rounder is a very nice return for a rental and returns the Devils to the second round in the 2021 draft since New Jersey lacks a second-rounder, having sent theirs to Las Vegas in the Nikita Gusev trade last summer.
David Quenneville is the younger brother of former Devils first-rounder John Quenneville and has split the season between AHL Bridgeport and ECHL Worchester with one goal and seven assists in thirty-two games between the two teams.
Quenneville was a seventh-round pick by the Islanders in the 2016 draft and is reported to be a strong skater, but at 5'8 and 190 pounds has questions about his ability to move forwards around the crease.
I wouldn't consider Quenneville a major part of the deal but as a flier and addition to the second-rounder, I have no problems seeing what he has to offer.
I'll be back later with some notes on the more controversial trade of the Sunday swaps and perhaps some news out of Cleveland as something appears to be brewing...
No comments:
Post a Comment