Devils trade Tyler Toffoli to Winnipeg

    The New Jersey Devils traded for Tyler Toffoli in the off-season, thinking that Toffoli would be the scorer that the Devils needed to lift a young playoff team to the next level.

Toffoli has done his job with 26 goals and 18 assists. However, the Devils haven't held up their end of the bargain and with Toffoli's ability to test the free-agent market, Tom Fitzgerald decided to get something for Toffoli as he shipped him to the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline.

New Jersey will receive the Jets' third-rounder in the 2024 draft and Winnipeg's second-round pick in 2025.

The Devils will pay half of Toffoli's contract for the remainder of the season as part of the trade.

Toffoli did his job as a force around the net but he's not a strong skater and on a team built around speed, there were times that Toffoli's skating was a hindrance and made one wonder how good of a fit with the team.

All of that said, it's tough to turn down a guy who puts the puck in the net consistently but the Devils and Toffoli weren't close to a contract extension, so moving him makes sense, especially when you consider the Devils gave a third-rounder and Yegor Sharangovich for Toffoli to begin.

Sharangovich has scored twenty-five goals for Calgary this season but he struggled last season and it's hard to criticize the team for including him in the trade, so this is good value for Toffoli, all things considered- good value but not great.

Some trades just don't work out and it's not always on the player, Toffoli put up the numbers that the Devils expected but he didn't exceed them although it wasn't due to a lack of effort.

Was it Lindy Ruff? 

Maybe, hard to say but the Devils have something for a player that they would have lost for nothing in a month after a non-playoff season.

It may be grasping for straws but it is something.

Tom Fitzgerald wasn't finished dealing with the Devils making three more trades.

I'll be working on these over the next day or so.

Devils fire Lindy Ruff

     After what I saw watching the New Jersey Devils lose on Sunday to the Los Angeles Kings, I thought the time may have come for the end of the Lindy Ruff era in New Jersey.

Fans had been hollering for the scalp of Ruff for weeks with the Devils disappointing this season and currently needing to jump three teams to make the postseason, which doesn't seem likely at this point and they got it Monday as Tom Fitzgerald dropped the axe on Ruff.

Former Vancouver Canucks coach Travis Green was promoted from assistant coach to serve as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Green coached the Canucks for four and a half years, making the playoffs once, winning one series in the Covid-19 season.

It seems like it's too late to salvage this season with twenty-one games to go and seven points out of the playoffs but I think the move had to be done mainly to get the stink out of the team and give them a fresh start for next season.

That's not to say all the blame for the season goes on Ruff.

Tom Fitzgerald's off-season moves made sense at the time and I still have no issues with the transactions that were made, my problems then and now were these- gambling that Vitek Vanecek could repeat his 2022-23 season ( I was in the camp of that being unlikely) and hoping that Akira Schmid could build off his postseason play and continue to develop (I thought this was possible but not guaranteed) in net to give the Devils solid if unspectacular goaltending.

Lindy Ruff didn't injure Dougie Hamilton and he didn't injure Jack Hughes for portions of the season but he tended to play questionable veterans too much (Brendan Smith for one)  at the expense of players who are hoped to be part of the future contender (Alexander Holtz as an example), and what I was surprised to see from a coach with so much experience most was that Ruff just seemed to run out of any ideas to change a season that has been spinning its wheels in the mud.

Lindy Ruff was given every chance to turn the tide and even more chances than he deserved but for the final twenty-plus games, the New Jersey Devils have reached a fork in the road that will tell the tale of who is to blame for a season with unfulfilled promise.

Was the problem created by Tom Fitzgerald by managing a roster that while skilled, lacked physicality?

Or will the team come together and prove that the problem was Lindy Ruff's use of that personnel and his game management?

The answer to that question may not salvage or ruin the season but it may decide the future of Travis Green, Tom Fitzgerald, and some members of the roster in New Jersey. 

Devils obtain Kurtis MacDermid

   The New Jersey Devils are on the outside looking into the playoffs currently and while most of the speculation around the team at the trade deadline has centered around the possibility of acquiring a goaltender, Tom Fitzgerald decided to make his first move at another position.

The Devils have disappointed this season and some of the questions about the team have centered around toughness and Fitzgerald is attempting to do something about that by adding policeman Kurtis MacDermid in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche.

The twenty-nine year old MacDermid scored two goals in twenty-nine games for Colorado this season but is more regarded for his abilities with his fists as one of the league's more adept brawlers and for his offensive skills.

New Jersey traded a seventh round pick in the 2024 draft and prospect Zakhar Bardakov, who is playing in the KHL in Russia in exchange for MacDermid, which isn't an extraorbitant cost but I fail to see the point.

Now I know the Devils have been muscled around a bit this season and perhaps there is something to be said for adding protection for those that decide to push around Jack Hughes but the game has changed and as much as I enjoy seeing the gloves dropped, I'm not sure teams can carry pure enforcers anymore.

MacDermid will be a free agent at the end of the season, so this is a move that is all about pushing any buttons that can turn a disappointing season around.

It's going to take more than this trade to make that happen. 

Coyotes Howl in Devils Defeat

  The New Jersey Devils wasted a three-point night from Jesper Bratt and were once bitten by their old nemesis- the shootout as the Devils lost 4-3 to the visiting Arizona Coyotes.

Jesper Bratt scored his first two goals of the season, one of those on the power play. and assisted on the other Devils goal, Dougie Hamilton's second-period power-play goal.

Jack Hughes assisted on all three New Jersey goals with Akira Schmid finishing the game with thirty saves in the defeat.

New Jersey takes the weekend off and will conclude their three-game homestand on Monday against Florida.

Hell Raisers

1) The Shootout continues to be an Achilles Heel for the Devils as they missed all of their attempts in the session and it has traditionally been a problem for the team.

2) Aside from the shootout, I thought the Devils received another strong game from Akira Schmid.

Schmid made some strong saves among his thirty and the defensive sloppiness didn't help Schmid very much.

Schmid will need to continue growth as the season progresses but I like Schmid's chances of earning more and more time as the season moves on.

3) The Jack Hughes/Tyler Toffoli/Jesper Bratt line continued its dominance for the second night in a row with involvement of some type on all three Devils goals, with goals on four and four and two power plays.

4) The Timo Meier/Nico Hischier/Dawson Mercer line cannot say the same, finishing without a point, and struggling with the Coyote's top line of Schmaltz/Hayden/Keller.

I still think that for all of the talents of Timo Meier, he needs linemates that have that intangible that numbers don't really identify and I'm still wondering if there needs to be tinkering over the first month or two to find out just how fits best with him/

Sorry, so short but I'm literally leaving for work in 10 minutes!

Hughes starts fast in Devils opener

    Jack Hughes scored twice in the second period and Dougie Hamilton broke a two-all tie with under five minutes to give the New Jersey Devils a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings in the Devils home opener at the Rock in Newark.

Erik Haula added an empty net goal with ninety seconds left in the game to complete the scoring for New Jersey before Detroit's Robby Fabbri cut the lead back to one goal with thirty seconds remaining.

Vitek Vanecek made thirty-two saves in net for the Devils, who will host the Arizona Coyotes this evening at the Rock.

Hell Raisers

1) I ran out of time before I could do my planned Devils preview, and maybe I'll have time next week to do a slightly delayed version but I'll try to mix a few items in over the next few wrapups just in case I don't get to that.

2) I like this team and its setup.

Tyler Toffoli was a steal in the off-season and only losing Tomas Tatar and Miles Wood is a pretty good trade-off, although I'll miss the wild dashes of Wood up and down the ice.

I think the Devils have even more potential as a free-wheeling skating team and in an evolving game, the Devils' ability to continue to play a fast-paced style will be a benefit against most teams.

3)  The largest concern that I would have stated, had I had time for a preview, would have been goaltending.

 I don't think Vitek Vanecek is an elite goalie but he's far from a sieve, and I'm hopeful for the potential of Akira Schmid long-term.

4) Vanecek was excellent tonight and it was due to him that the Devils left the first period in a scoreless knot.

It's always easier to relax when you feel that you have a true number-one netminder and while I'm not sure that you win Stanley Cups (although you can go a long way with a hot goalie) with goalies of Vanecek's level, they won't hold you back very much either.

5) Considering that Jack Hughes finished last season with ninety-nine points, it would be a "duh" prediction to give him one hundred this season but I'll go one better- I like Hughes to reach one hundred and twenty points, assuming he's healthy.

Hughes will have a full season of Timo Meier (although Meier was on the Nico Hischier line in this one) and perhaps even his brother Luke as improved finishers and I think Hughes may be on the verge of contention for the Hart Trophy this season.

6) Luke Hughes is the type of defenseman that this franchise has lacked since Scott Niedermayer and he's only going to get better.

Solid at both ends of the ice and it's just a matter of time before he gets more comfortable on the offensive end and when that happens- Look out!

I'll wager very soon if not already that teams wonder just why Seattle, Buffalo, and Anaheim passed on Luke Hughes.

7) Dougie Hamilton's blast in the third period broke the tie and the veteran's booming shot will be counted on this season.

All About The Jersey wrote about the eventual Hughes/Hughes/Hamilton triad on the power play and the havoc that the varied skills of the three players could wreak on opposing teams.

It makes sense with Hamilton's big shot, the passing abilities of the Hughes brothers, and their various offensive weapons.

I started this last night and barely finished before the puck drop vs Arizona.

I hope to have time for a recap but if not I'll be around after Monday's game vs Florida and perhaps blend the two games with more thoughts on the season. 

Devils sign Tomas Nosek

    The New Jersey Devils made a quiet free agent signing today when they signed forward Tomas Nosek at one million dollars over his one-year contract. 

Nosek scored seven goals with eleven assists in sixty-six games for the Boston Bruins last season after scoring only three goals in his first season in Boston in 2021-22.

Nosek turns thirty-one in September and played for Las Vegas for four seasons before arriving with the Bruins for his two-season term.

Nosek was very consistent in his seasons with the Golden Knights, scoring seven, eight, eight, and eight goals.

Nosek is noted for his defensive ability and Boston had him active for all seven of their playoff series against Florida, so there is some gain with Nosek as a defensive specialist as a left winger and Nosek has played some center, according to All About The Jersey, and is reported to be pretty strong on faceoffs.

AATJ also notes the sudden jam of players for the third and fourth lines to move around the incumbents Erik Haula, Michael McLeod, Ondrej Palat, and Nathan Bastian.

The Devils traded for Shane Bowers, signed Chris Tierney last week, Nolan Foote is supposedly ready to compete for one of those slots, and Curtis Lazar is returning after he was traded for at the trade deadline along with some other AHL types that will be in camp.

While this gives the Devils loads of depth for the bottom six forward spots, it could stick them in a sport of having some veteran depth at Utica that could be playing at the NHL level in some organizations and could even lead to a few locker room issues.

I don't think that will be the case but one never knows when you are dealing with so many players and so few positions available.

Still, Tomas Nosek has a chance to be a very handy role player to have around, and at a cost that won't break the bank, I wouldn't rail against the signing.

Devils extend Timo Meier

  Tom Fitgerald just hasn't stopped during NHL draft week and maybe it's because the New Jersey Devils do not possess a first-round pick in the draft but Fitzgerald has been taking care of business with his latest transaction locking up the player that cost the Devils that missing first-rounder.

The Devils signed winger Timo Meier to an eight-year extension worth over seventy million dollars and removed Meier from the free agent marker.

While Meier was a restricted free agent and the Devils could have matched any contract offer, I've always thought that teams are far better off in avoiding another team extending an offer sheet by signing the player themselves.

It avoids other teams from getting into the player's ear and allows both sides to keep any hard feelings from building up, such as the team possibly feeling that they paid more than they had to or accepting a poison pill such as a no-trade clause or the player resenting the team matching an offer when he had wanted to leave town.

Meier turns twenty-seven just before opening night, and the agreement locks Meier into price certainty (8.8. million average) for eight years, which covers his prime seasons and may even allow Meier to end his career as a Devil.

Meier scored forty goals last season, nine of those with New Jersey, after being obtained from San Jose for a package of prospects, this year's first-round pick, and a 2024 second-rounder that could become a first round, if the Devils hit certain marks in the 2024 postseason.

You have to like this signing after paying such a price to acquire him and considering his age, past production, and that he still has some prime seasons ahead of him, the only minor complaint may be that the Devils might be overpaying him for the final season or two of the contract.

And even that is part of the cost of doing business in this era, as teams realize that is likely to occur but the trade-off is worth it with the cost certainty and the likelihood that contracts are only going to continue to rise as the years click by.

With Meier and Jesper Bratt signed and in the fold for the long term, the Devils have a case for having the most exciting two lines in hockey with various combinations that include Meier, Bratt, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, newcomer Tyler Toffoli, and either Dawson Mercer or Alexander Holtz.

New Jersey finished fourth in the league last season in goals scored, and when you add in an entire season with Timo Meier and now the addition of Tyler Toffoli, it's not unrealistic to believe that the Devils could threaten the Edmonton Oilers for the top spot in the category next season.

While Devils fans have to be thrilled with Tom Fitzgerald's off-season work in signing Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt to long-term contacts, trading for Tyler Toffoli, and signing veteran Erik Haula to a three-year agreement, the Devils still have a few needs to fill.

The biggest concern is in the net as should Fitzgerald let it ride, the Devils will have to hope that Vitek Vanecek can repeat his regular season work and that his playoff slide isn't a sign of things to come, along with hoping that Akira Schmid's postseason play is representative of his future, instead of getting hot at the right time.

I'm not sure how the goaltending is going to go but it's a gamble to double-down on Vanecek/Schmid, although I'm not sure who would be available that would be a big improvement other than Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck and Winnipeg will have a high asking price on him.

I also would be in the market for a veteran defenseman that could fit into the third pairing with Ryan Graves likely to sign elsewhere in free agency, a reasonably priced veteran could give the team a little bit of depth and insurance in the event of some rookie struggles from either or both Luke Hughes or Simon Nemec.

Other than those potential additions, the Devils look set for a strong season and for many seasons in the future as well.

I don't claim to know very much about the hockey draft prospects but I'm likely to try to put something together about the player that the Devils select with their first pick in round two tomorrow and in the event that Tom Fitzgerald has another transaction in mind, I'm sure I'll add something about that as well.

Devils acquire Tyler Toffoli

 Five minutes after I posted about the New Jersey Devils trading Mackenzie Blackwood to the San Jose Sharks, I checked the news one last time for the night and discovered that Tom Fitzgerald wasn't finished with his pre-draft dealing as Fitzgerald traded Yegor Sharangovich and their third round selection (80th overall) to the Calgary Flames for right winger Tyler Toffoli as the Flames continue to blow up their roster.

The draft pick is returning to Calgary as their original choice through Seattle, and Columbus before the Devils obtained the choice from the Blue Jackets in the Damon Severson earlier this month.

Tyler Toffoli scored thirty-four goals with thirty-nine assists, leading the Flames in both categories along with a plus-sixteen for Calgary last season, and gives New Jersey another forward capable of playing on either of their top lines.

Toffoli is thirty-one and last season was the best of his career as the top option on a non-playoff team, so there are questions if Toffoli can match those numbers or at least approach them in New Jersey.

Toffoli is in the final season of a four-year contract that he originally signed with Montreal and he will be making 4.25 million, which would be a bargain for the Devils, should Toffoli finish with similar statistics as he did last season in Calgary.

I would suspect that the arrival of Toffoli means that the team isn't likely to re-sign Tomas Tatar or Miles Wood, or perhaps even both could be on their way out the door.

Should the Devils decide to allow both of the pending free agents to leave and considering that they traded Sharangovich, Tom Fitzgerald could have one move for a forward at a bargain price in the works before the start of the season.

Yegor Sharangovich was soon to be a restricted free agent on July 1st and the Devils were expected to shop him around as their most desirable non-core trade asset.

Sharangovich has shown signs of being a potential top-six forward and in 2021-22, Sharangovich scored twenty-four goals with twenty-two assists to appear to be on the verge of a bigger breakout season.

Instead, Sharangovich regressed a bit with his numbers dropping to thirteen goals and seventeen assists.

Some of that is due to the Devils' improvement last season, Sharangovich wasn't as key to the New Jersey offense, but he did lose some ice time, and some have speculated that the lost ice time could have been due to Sharangovich's skating as not a good fit with New Jersey's faster-skating young talent.

Sharangovich is still only twenty-five, has a better-than-average shot and could score thirty goals on the Flames' first line next season depending on just how many players Calgary's GM Craig Conroy jettisons before the season begins.

You have to like this trade for the Devils considering that they moved a restricted free agent that may not have been a perfect fit with the talent on the team and a third-round draft pick for a solid veteran winger that might be able to clean up around the net to add something that for as good as last years team was, lacked a bit in the postseason.

Tom Fitzgerald isn't resting on last year's improvement, he's preparing to go to the next level as soon as this coming season.

The addition of Tyler Toffoli is a very good start to that process.

As of now, the Devils will not have a choice on the first day of the draft.

They have the following selections on the final day

Round 2- 58 Overall

Round 4- 122

Round 5- 154

Round 6- 164 (From San Jose for Mackenzie Blackwood)

Round 6- 186

Round 7- 218

Devils trade Blackwood to San Jose

    With the NHL draft one day away and the New Jersey Devils still lacking a first-round pick, the Devils still found a way to make some news with two minor trades.

The bigger of the two saw the one-time Devils goaltender of the future end his future with the Devils as Mackenzie Blackwood was traded to the San Jose Sharks for a sixth-round pick in the upcoming draft.

New Jersey used their second-round draft pick in 2015 (forty-second overall) on Blackwood, who was the second goaltender drafted and the first North American netminder selected.

Blackwood played in twenty-two games for the Devils last season, finishing 10-6-2 with a GAA of 3.20 and a save percentage of .893.

This past season was the third season in a row that Blackwood allowed over three goals a game as Blackwood authored a disappointing end to a tenure that started well in New Jersey.

Blackwood's first two seasons were strong ones for a bad team with an even worse defense in front of him, as he won thirty-two games over those seasons, finishing at .500 in his rookie year and 22-14-8 in the second season, finishing both years with a GAA under three and save percentages of over ninety-one percent.

But Blackwood never seemed to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown as his game fell into a decline that he was unable to reverse.

Blackwood suffered from illness, injury, and battles over the Covid-19 vaccine as Blackwood first refused to take the vaccine, and after taking it, playing even worse.

Blackwood was a restricted free agent and when you consider that the Devils were unlikely to make a qualifying offer of over four million dollars for a third goaltender that has struggled for years, Tom Fitzgerald did well in getting a sixth-rounder, which isn't anything to leap into the air about but it is literally better than nothing.

New Jersey also made a minor trade with the Boston Bruins as the Devils added forward Shane Bowers from Boston for defenseman Reilly Walsh.

The best part of this trade is the two teams swapped two players from the 2017 draft and the two have each played one game in the NHL.

Bowers was the first-round pick of Ottawa in 2017 and played his only NHL game for Colorado last season.

Bowers spent the rest of the season playing in the American Hockey League for fifty-seven games split between Colorado and Providence, where he combined for eight goals and seventeen assists between the two teams.

Walsh was taken by New Jersey in the third round in 2017, and played his lone game for New Jersey in 2020-21, finishing with an assist.

Walsh played last season for the Utica Comets in the AHL, finishing with nine goals and thirty-two assists in seventy-one games.

Both players are likely to play for their teams' respective AHL affiliates with a possible emergency callup.

Devils extend Jesper Bratt

    The New Jersey Devils entered the off-season with questions about two of their high-scoring forwards with both Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt on the restricted free agent market.

Considering the past problems between the Devils and Bratt in contract negotiations, it wouldn't have been a long reach to figure that Meier would be the more likely of the duo to settle first.

However, it was Jesper Bratt, who the Devils will be welcoming back into the fold as New Jersey signed Bratt to an eight-year contract extension (Bratt technically would not be a free agent until July 1) worth sixty-three million dollars.

Bratt's contract starts high and dwindles as the agreement progresses from ten million for next season to the smallest amount of six million in the final year of the deal in 2030-31.

The twenty-four-year-old Bratt scored a career-high thirty-two goals last season and his seventy-three total points equaled his previous season, which was then a career-high.

Bratt is about as well-rounded offensively as a forward can be with both his shot and passing touch, and his defensive skills aren't a drag on the Devils either, so I think this is a deal that can wear well over the course of those eight years.

The Devils can now turn to an attempt to lock up Timo Meier for the long-term, which I would think would come soon as the Devils will have to send him a one-year, ten-million-dollar contract offer unless his extension can be agreed upon.

New Jersey's acquisition of Meier at the trade deadline cost them four prospects, their first-rounder in the upcoming draft, and their second-round choice in the 2024 draft, so general manager Tom Fitzgerald is motivated to lock Meier up and avoid having Meier leave as an unrestricted free agent following the 2023-24 season. 

 

Devils trade Damon Severson to Columbus

  The New Jersey Devils have two defensemen they selected with top-five overall draft picks coming up through the pipeline with Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec perhaps arriving as soon as next season.

That didn't leave a lot of room for veteran Damon Severson and while the team would have been interested in retaining Severson, who would be an unrestricted free agent when the free agency period begins later this month, had he been amenable to a short-term contract of a year or two, Severson, understandably so, at twenty-eight, was ready for his big cash-in contract and was looking for a long-term deal.

Those reasons made sense for both Severson and the Devils as New Jersey traded Severson to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a third-round pick in the upcoming draft that Columbus had obtained from Calgary, which is the 80th pick overall.

New Jersey didn't have a third-rounder, having traded their third-rounder last summer to Pittsburgh in the trade that brought John Marino to Newark, so the Devils managed to get something from a player that was almost certain to leave the team shortly.

Severson immediately signed an eight-year contract with Columbus worth fifty million over the course of the contract and the eighth year is the reason that the Devils were able to acquire something for Severson by working out a "sign and trade" with Columbus, who could only offer Severson seven years since they were not his original employer and by obtaining his rights before signing Severson as a free agent, the eighth year was able to be added to Severson's contract.

Severson was part of the Devils top defensive pairing at times in his New Jersey tenure but signing him long-term didn't make sense when you consider the Devils have Dougie Hamilton on a long-term contract, John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler as cheaper options in the veteran defensemen role, and Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec on their way at some point next season.

Severson played well last season finishing with seven goals and twenty-six assists and a plus-nine but as All About the Jersey stated, Severson may have improved due to improved talent around him which enabled him to play fewer minutes last season.

Severson was a frustrating player for most of his career as he always seemed to be the player that committed a silly penalty or a turnover that appeared to be due to a lack of focus but he did show improvement in those areas last season and he's an above-average defenseman, it's simply that for the dollars that he was paid by Columbus, the Devils can cover his loss with Hughes and Nemec in the long term and perhaps a less-pricey veteran could be obtained for next season to cover any growing pains that the rookies could endure.

New Jersey will have five unrestricted free agents, as of this writing, but only four will need a decision to be made as veteran goaltender Jonathan Bernier, who played in only ten games due to a hip injury over his two-year contract.

The Devils will have three forwards as UFA's-Tomas Tatar, Erik Haula, and Myles Wood, and one defenseman in Ryan Graves.

New Jersey may have to hope that one of the forwards would take a lesser contract to stay and I think that Ryan Graves may be leaving because he may be out of the Devils price range to retain him considering the team's situation at this time.

New Jersey will have the following as restricted free agents, giving the team the ability to match any offer made to the player- forwards Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Jesper Boqvist, Yegor Sharangovich, Michael McLeod, and Nathan Bastian, defenseman Kevin Bahl, and goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.

Considering the capital that was paid out to acquire Timo Meier and with Jesper Bratt as a home-grown talent that scored thirty-two goals at twenty-four last season, the Devils are certain to do what they must to retain both players and preferably to long-term contracts as both would be free to hit the unrestricted market following next season.

Keep in mind that the Devils will have to make qualifying offers to the restricted group and all of those players have arbitration rights with the exception of Kevin Bahl.

It will be interesting to see how many of these players return (and to varying degrees, I'd like to try to keep all or most of them at the right cost) and I think that the Devils are motivated to bring back each of the RFA's with the exception of Mackenzie Blackwood, who the team could be ready to part ways with.

New Jersey will not (unless they trade up) have a first-round choice in the upcoming draft due to trading it to San Jose in the Timo Meier trade.