Devils acquire Siegenthaler, waive Gusev

   I'm not sure what I'm watching tonight with the New Jersey Devils hosting Pittsburgh and the Cleveland Cavaliers in New Orleans to face the Pelicans and both games starting at the same time.

And even so, it is Masters Sunday, so the Masters could play a part in what I decide to watch, but the Devils have made another trade as they traded the third-round draft pick that they obtained from Arizona in the Taylor Hall trade last season to Washington for defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler.

The trade seems to fit both teams' needs for the upcoming expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken.

Washington had too many defensemen of quality and couldn't protect them all, while New Jersey needed a defenseman worth keeping along with Damon Severson with Ty Smith's lack of experience keeping the team from being forced to use a spot on him.

Adding Siegenthaler allows New Jersey to expose either Will Butcher or P.K. Subban to the Kraken and hope that Seattle selects either the out of favor Butcher or the overpaid Subban to loosen even more salary for a team that is in good shape already as far as cap space.

As for Jonas Siegenthaler, he has been scratched in 30 of Washington's most recent 31 games, but as mentioned, Washington is very deep on their defensive roster.

Siegenthaler didn't score a point in the seven games that he did play this season and in the 2019-20 season, Siegenthaler scored two goals with seven assists in 64 games for Washington.

Siegenthaler is reported to be a good skater and a defense-first blueliner that could develop into a solid second-pairing defenseman.

The 2015 second-round pick hails from Switzerland and is a former national teammate of Nico Hischier on the Swiss junior world team, so there is some familiarity there.

Siegenthaler is only 23 and will be a restricted free agent after the season, but New Jersey didn't trade for him to allow him to walk away...

Meanwhile, I missed this note from earlier in the week as the Devils waived/terminated winger Nikita Gusev and allowed him to search for a new team, which Gusev found in the Florida Panthers.

Gusev arrived in New Jersey with a large amount of fanfare after dominating the KHL and the Devils traded a second-round pick to Las Vegas to gain his rights with the team signing him shortly thereafter.

At times in 2019-20, Gusev looked like a player capable of spectacular things and finished with 13 goals and 31 assists in 66 games, but never seemed to connect with Lindy Ruff and his style of play and was only active for twenty games this season, finishing with two goals and three assists.

In the end, a player with Gusev's defensive deficiencies had better be able to finish around the net and he simply didn't do that enough to be worth his playing time.

Gusev may succeed in Florida, as it seemed to me to be more of a fit within the Lindy Ruff system than a lack of talent or even hustle.

New Jersey also waived Sami Vatanen today after making their trade with Washington.

Vatanen was re-signed by the Devils as a free agent, but arrived late due to Covid-19 passport problems and played in only 29 games, scoring two goals with three assists.

Devils ground Jets in shootout win!

Terrence Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The New Jersey Devils shuffled the lineup for the shootout and it paid off in spades as the Devils first two shooters scored and were backed up by two Mackenzie Blackwood saves to win a shootout as quickly as you can and defeat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 in Winnipeg.
Nikita Gusev and Jesper Boqvist each beat Connor Hellebuyck in the shootout and give the Devils a huge two points at the start of their Western Canadian road trip.
Nico Hischier scored the only Devils goal (2) in regulation in the first period and Mackenzie Blackwood finished the night with 32 saves in net.
New Jersey will be in Calgary on Thursday and Edmonton on Friday for back to back games against the Flames and Oilers.
No coverage for those games due to the late start conflicting with work.

Hell Raisers

1) Mackenzie Blackwood was the first star and it was a well-deserved one.
Blackwood made several strong saves and from has been shown from the Devils first thirteen games, it's Blackwood that deserves to have the lion's share of playing time over veteran Cory Schneider.
Blackwood's play is going to force the Devils to make a decision on Schneider and I still believe that the acquisition of Louis Domingue last week was to be ready for an eventual move with Schneider.

2) Give John Hynes credit for changing the shootout order and giving new blood a chance.
Taylor Hall has always struggled and Kyle Palmieri isn't an ace at the shootout either, so changing the lineup around made sense and particularly with the selections of Nikita Gusev and Jesper Boqvist, both of whom are the type of players that you would suspect would have strong skills in the shootout.

3) I also thought the defense played well and that is something that I don't always say.
Andy Greene played well and Sami Vatanen continued his recent run of good play.
If the Devils are going to get back into the race, the defense will have to continue to improve.

4) Winnipeg's Bryan Little took a slap shot from Jets teammate Nikolaj Ethers to the side of the head and went down like a shot.
Little has been dealing with concussion issues over the past few years and while you never want to see someone take a puck in that manner, Little was especially vulnerable to such a hit.

5) The play of Nikita Gusev has been a question among the Devils fan base.
Sure, he's weak on defense and many offensive standouts are, but it's a process and the Devils would be better suited to worry about how to shelter his weaknesses, rather than bench him and take away the offensive talent that's only going to improve with ice time.

Sorry so short, but things to take care of- I'm going to try to return from the road office with a short preview of tomorrow's early morning World Boxing Super Series bantamweight finals from Japan.

Devils throw away victory in opener.

For nearly two entire periods, the New Jersey Devils and their fans could not have scripted a better opening night than they were receiving from their team.
After all, the Devils had raced up, down and around the Winnipeg Jets and built a four-goal lead.
But games aren't won for play over thirty-nine minutes and forty-nine seconds and when Winnipeg's Dmitry Kulikov beat Cory Schneider with just eleven seconds to go in the second period, little did the Devils or I know it, but it was all bad news from there as the Jets would score three times in the third period, almost end the game in regulation and eventually deal the Devils a 5-4 loss via the shootout.
It wasn't all bad news as the Devils at least landed one point on the evening, but this could have been so much more.
Devils goals to Blake Coleman (1 and 2), Nikita Gusev (1) and Sami Vatanen (1).
The Devils travel to Buffalo on Saturday night, so there is no coverage here due to conflict with Ohio State-Michigan State.

Hell Raisers

1) Cory Schneider left the game after the initial goal in the third period by Winnipeg with an undisclosed injury and there is no word at this writing of the injury or its seriousness.
Schneider was good in goal until the Kulikov goal which was soft, as Schneider finished with 19 saves before leaving the game.
I wonder how much the game was affected by the Schneider absence?

2) Considering the circumstances, it is hard to criticize Mackenzie Blackwood too much for his problems in the loss.
Blackwood wasn't stretched and ready physically on short notice and when you add that to the hoopla of opening night for a player going through that for the first time, it's tough to knock anyone's performance- even if it wasn't very good.

3) The defensive breakdowns were glaring, particularly on the game-tying goal where it seemed like the Devils were on the ice since the Carter Administration and simply couldn't get off under any circumstances.
It didn't take a hockey expert to see what was going to occur and sure enough, it did.

4) That breakdown alone should have been on the coaching staff, but one other thing stood out to me.
Remember when I commented in the preview that I was always hesitant to try to figure out lines and defensive pairings because they were often obsolete quickly?
Well, that was true by the first game as the Devils placed captain Andy Greene with new acquisition P.K. Subban, breaking Greene up with his pairing with Damon Severson.
Severson was moved with Mirco Mueller and they were really bad.
Bad to the point that after the game-tying goal, they rode the pine for the rest of the game and deservedly so.
I'm not saying that this is more than a bad night, but even on the surface-Severson and Mueller's strengths and weaknesses don't seem to be a good match.

5) Some good news- I had forgotten how much I loved the grit of Blake Coleman.
Coleman's second goal was one of those that contained a large amount of luck, but luck often arrives through hustle and effort and the pair arrived together as Coleman swatted the puck with one hand, a defender on his back and falling to the ice.
Plays like that don't come often and they come along even less for the high effort players, so it was good to see that work be rewarded.

6) Nikita Gusev is going to be a star.
I know it's one game, but you can see the vision and the offensive skills with the ability to finish that isn't as common for even scorers as you would think.
This guy is going to be a standout and I think it might be sooner than one thinks.
The only thing that keeps Gusev from being a first-line forward is the Devils also having Taylor Hall on the roster.

7) Jack Hughes showed what he'll become, but he seemed a bit jittery and overwhelmed, but that's understandable, he's 18.
I can't imagine being in that situation at 18.
There will plenty of nights that you see the growth and struggles and then there will be others that you'll smile and think forward to the great days to come.

8) The Gusev/Hughes/Jesper Bratt line is going to be exciting to watch grow as well and I hope that John Hynes sticks with these guys as a unit.
The offensive creativity and skills combined with their speed on the ice will cause so many matchup problems for defenses that there will be times that they will seem to be overwhelming to rival teams.
There will be plenty of defensive breakdowns and there will be nights that will cost the Devils a game, but keeping these three together will be worth it.

9) I was surprised to see rookie Jesper Boqvist not dressed for the game and off-season addition John Hayden in the lineup.
Hayden's just a journeyman and even though it was only one game, I hate to already see Boqvist sitting when he could be learning, so that a guy like Hayden can play.
If this becomes a pattern, I would have rather seen Boqvist returned to Sweden for the year.

10) In the shootout, the Devils looked to use their best possible lineup with Nikita Gusev, Jack Hughes, Taylor Hall, and Kyle Palmieri before the game ended.
I'm not sure about the Devils other shootout performers (after missing most of last season), but on the surface, I'd wonder who would be the fifth and sixth shooters?
Just a guess, but maybe Myles Wood or Pavel Zacha?

11) I know it seems that I'm overly bothered about losing an opener with 81 games to go, but I hate giving away points that should have been safely in the pocket.
When you are a team that has playoff hopes, but you aren't a powerhouse that figures to steam into the playoffs with few roadblocks, every point means a lot when April rolls around.

12) Every recap won't be this long, it'll depend on time to both watch and write.

Please forgive a personal note as I wrap up.
I didn't really lose my love for the Devils or the game as part of my hiatus and although there were times that I missed both and especially last winter when I found myself a little bored without the Devils or Cavaliers to watch.
What I discovered that what I missed most was time with Rachel.
Hockey is the only thing that really bonds us together, she likes to spend more time with her mom with more things in common and that makes all the more reason that Devils hockey became even more important to me.
I knew from the first day when she gained such a passion for the team and for Adam Henrique that the day that Henrique left the organization was going to be difficult.
It always is with your first sports love as a fan, it's intense and passionate and when it changes, it changes you as a fan.
The love is never as pure, never quite as intense and it's never the same as that first time.
That doesn't mean that you don't care or lack passion, it's just different.

I expected Rachel to have a hard time with the trade, but I didn't quite expect the long-term issues to the point of rarely watching the team for the rest of that season.
Without watching with her, I didn't enjoy it as much and when she lacked interest for the 2018-19 season, I decided not to pay the money for Center Ice for the first time in close in two decades.
I missed it and watching the games with her.
I'm glad to have that back and to share my thoughts on the season here with whoever reads this.
Anything else that happens on the ice won't be this a bad season for me- Promise.

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!