Devils obtain Timo Meier!

    I'll be the first to admit that the one thing that I enjoy in life that has suffered the most due to the chaos in my work life over the last four months has been the New Jersey Devils.

I do see a decent amount of Cleveland Cavaliers games since I have league pass (IF I can avoid the final score), even if I don't have time to write about them here, boxing is generally easy to find as I can watch on delay if needed, and my latest addition in Newcastle United (very little coverage here because I just don't know enough about soccer/European football to add much of substance other than Howay Lads!") is easy to follow because usually they play once a week and if they do play twice, it's on a delightful weekday afternoon when I am begging for something to watch!

But it's been the Devils that have suffered the most from my lack of time.

It's not that I don't know what's going on, I read every recap and boxscore and see most highlights, it's just been hard to watch games, which is saddening considering how the team has played this season and is about to make the playoffs with a talented young team coming into its own at second in their division (three points behind Carolina) and fourth in the Eastern Conference.

All of that is down for posterity but I am super jacked for the Devils trade for Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks as the trade deadline nears!

Tom Fitzgerald didn't insist on a signed contract extension for Meier (although the team will be pursuing one) which kept the price for Meier down a bit but does increase the risk should Meier decide to test the free agent meat market as Meier is a restricted free agent following the year.

Meier does have a ten million dollar qualifying offer, so assuming the Devils have to, they will do so and at minimum, the Devils will have Meier for a year and a half.

San Jose will pay half of Meier's remaining salary for this season as well.

Meier was easily the best player available on the trade market and could slot in on either of the Devils top two lines, which are pretty interchangeable and aren't true one and two lines as much as one and one A due to chemistry.

Meier scored 31 goals (13 Power Play) and 21 assists (5 Power Play) in fifty-seven games for the Sharks this season after scoring 35 goals last season for San Jose and is a dominant player on the power play.

Meier averages four and a half shots on goal per game and is a winger that makes his linemates better as he can extend possessions and is known as a play driver.

At 27, he is just entering his prime and there is nothing to dislike about his game, contract, or anything else.

In other words, if you have an issue with Timo Meier, I'd have to wonder either how much you know about hockey or you have to have a bias against Meier or the Devils!

The Devils obtained a few pieces other than Meier in the trade in defensemen Scott Harrington ( one goal and six assists in 28 games for the Sharks) and Santeri Hatakka  (two assists in eight AHL games), left-wing Timur Ibragimov (11 goals and 21 assists for ECHL Wichita), goaltender Zach Emond ( three games for ECHL Wichita) and Colorado's fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft).

Harrington has played most of his career with Columbus but only once (2018-19) has played more than thirty-nine games.

Harrington's a decent skating defenseman and you can play him but his level is anywhere between a third-pairing blueliner to a seventh man that is not always active or stashed in the AHL as their veteran defenseman for needed depth that can be used in the event of injury.

I've read a report or two that think Hatakka could eventually see some NHL action although his ceiling is very similar to that of Scott Harrington's as a back-of-the-pack defenseman and it appears that Ibraginov and Emond were toss-ins to keep the Sharks under the organizational limit for contracts.

Harrington will more than likely join the parent club, Hatakka is likely to report to AHL Albany, and who knows where Ibragimov and Emond will wind up.

New Jersey avoided having to give up any of the players that would have been targeted by the Sharks (or any other team looking to trade) as the team retained Dawson Mercer, Alexander Holtz, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec, which makes this team a potential force for years to come, especially if Meier can be signed to an extension.

The Sharks' end of the trade includes former first-round defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin,  defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk, wingers Fabian Zetterlund and Andreas Johnsson, New Jersey's 2023 first-rounder (conditional on the pick not being in the top two choices, which is as likely as Green Arrow finishing out of the money in an archery contest), a 2024 second rounder, which can become a first under playoff conditions and Meier's playing time, and a seventh-round choice in 2024.

While you never want to trade first-rounders, those picks are almost certain to be near the bottom of the round, so I'm fine with that.

The biggest potential loss appears to be Shakir Mukhamadullin, who was thought to be a reach when New Jersey selected him with the final of their three 2020 first-rounders but has developed into a strong prospect in his time since in the KHL with Ufa Salavat Yulavev.

Mukhamadullin currently has six goals with nineteen assists in sixty-seven games with a solid plus sixteen plus-minus and he appears to me to be the player in this trade that the Devils might eventually regret losing, although as regarded as Mukhamadullin is, both Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec are graded as even better prospects.

Nikita Okhotyuk was New Jersey's second-rounder in 2021 and while he doesn't look like a potential top-pairing defenseman, he could be a solid second-pairing player eventually.

Okhotyuk scored a goal in ten games for the Devils this season and two goals with four assists in twenty games for AHL Utica.

Fabian Zetterlund has played well in his rookie season with the Devils, scoring six goals and fourteen assists in his rookie season, and is the player that is likely for Sharks fans to see in the teal and black immediately.

At 23, Zetterlund is a strong shooter and I could see him scoring thirty goals a time or two over his career down the road.

Andreas Johnsson once scored twenty goals in a season and was thought of as a steal when the Devils obtained him in 2020.

Johnsson would only score eighteen goals in two seasons with the Devils, and spent this season in Utica, scoring nine goals in twenty-eight games for the Comets.

Johnsson is still only 28, so I wouldn't be surprised if he could contribute in San Jose but considering his recent play, I wouldn't count on it.

It was fun writing about hockey again and I'm fired to watch more games now when I can!

I'm not sure how much coverage I'll have as much as the Cavaliers, I have to have time to both watch the game and write as well but I'll do the best I can!

Devils sliced by Sabres in Shootout

       Jack Eichel scored the only goal of the shootout and it was all the Buffalo Sabres needed to slide by the New Jersey Devils 4-3 in Buffalo.

Devils goals to Ty Smith (2 Power Play), Andreas Johnsson (1), and Janne Kuokkanen (1).

New Jersey earns one point but takes their third loss in a row.

The Devils will rematch Buffalo Sunday at 1:00.

Hell Raisers

1) Before the game, the Devils placed Travis Zajac into Covid-19 protocol.

Zajac will miss both of the contests in Buffalo until his diagnosis is decided.

2) The Devils again lose a shootout without a score and one thing that many of the Devils have been doing in the shootout- they skate up very slowly and wait to shoot until they are almost on top of the goalie.

This gives the goalie time to read and commit to the shot but leaves the shooter with no other avenue for the shot.

3) Myles Wood on the power play continues to use himself on the man advantage as a parking cone and quite effectively.

On Ty Smith's goal, it was Wood directly in front of Linus Ullmark, screening him and allowing Smith's shot to go through.

4) Smith may have been the victim of a bad call in the third period and it cost the Devils a goal.

Smith was called for hooking and I didn't see a hook AT ALL.

The resulting penalty kill saw the Sabres score on Victor Olofsson's shot and take a 3-2 lead.

5) Those faceoff woes continue as the Devils won only 25 of 64 against the Sabres.

6) Janne Kuokkanen scored his first goal in the league and Andreas Johnsson scored his first in a Devils sweater in the defeat.

Devils trade for Andreas Johnsson

The New Jersey Devils still had cash to spend and general manager Tom Fitzgerald still had roster holes to fill on day two of the free-agency season, so Fitzgerald went shopping and brought back a player that could be a substantial help to the Devils next season.

The Devils acquired left-winger Andreas Johnsson from the cap-pressed Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Joey Anderson in a straight-up deal with the Devils assuming all of the cash on the three seasons remaining on Johnsson's contract which will pay him 3.4 million on average for the remainder of the term. 

New Jersey's assuming of the complete contract is the only reason that the cost for Johnsson was so low and Toronto still will have to negotiate with Anderson, who is a restricted free agent.

Johnsson will turn 26 in November and has played two seasons in the league (although he did have a nine-game cameo in 2017-18) with more success in his rookie season than last year.

Jonsson scored 20 goals with 23 assists in 2018-19 when he spent a lot of time on the Austin Matthews line as a rookie before scoring eight goals with thirteen assists in 43 games last season that ended early due to a knee injury that required surgery.

Johnsson fills a huge hole in the Devils lineup that had a second-line left-wing as a key portion of their shopping list to play behind Nikita Gusev on the depth chart.

Tom Fitzgerald praises his competitiveness, versatility, and scoring touch that is capable of seeing powerplay time, but the stat-based guys really like his game as well and in his rookie season, Johnsson notched an excellent +14 before an even zero last season, so it's not like he's awful defensively.

Of course, plus-minus will yo-yo up and down when you move from a decent team (Toronto not only made the expanded playoffs, they would have been the eighth seed in a normal playoff season) to a lesser one, but that's encouraging to me.

As for Joey Anderson, the twenty-two-year-old right-winger scored four goals with two assists in eighteen games last season for New Jersey and could still develop into a NHL journeyman type, but the Devils have many of those types and while Anderson's upside is of a Johnsson level player, the Devils are getting a player of that level now.

Another interesting thing about the contract of Johnsson is the deal was structured heavily toward the first season of the four year contract.

Toronto paid six million of the 13.6 contract in year one, so the Devils will be paying Johnsson only a small amount more over three seasons than the Maple Leafs paid in the first season.

I like this deal too as Tom Fitzgerald has addresses the three most glaring needs on a team with many of them in the first three days of open season in adding a veteran backup goaltender (Corey Crawford). a top four defenseman (Ryan Murray) and a left wing for the second line (Andreas Johnnson).

Only Murray comes with risk with his injury history and the Devils parted with a prospect that looked to be caught in the young player crossfire and a fifth round draft pick to do so.

I'll be back later with the Browns hosting the Colts by Lake Erie.