It is easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback or, in this case, Monday Morning General Manager. However, once the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline was over, it was clear that New Jersey Devils President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald had a plan but had to change it because of the injuries to Jonas Siegenthaler, Dougie Hamilton, and Jack Hughes.
Fair or not, excuse or not, the Devils played it safe by adding depth instead of making a splash at the deadline. With Siegenthaler and Hughes on LTIR (long-term injured reserve), the Devils had $13 million in cap space to use to improve the club’s biggest weakness: goal-scoring.
NHL Trade: New Jersey Devils Acquire Brian Dumoulin from Anaheim
While the depth scoring was an issue, the top-six was an issue as well. And of course, the Devils needed help on defense, too. Fitzgerald added Brian Dumoulin from the Anaheim Ducks and Dennis Cholowski from the New York Islanders. Meanwhile, the Devils traded for Cody Glass and Daniel Sprong on offense. But there should have been more done.
While creating competition amongst those on the roster and those down on the farm with the cap space, the Devils are fighting for their playoff lives. This team is still third in the Metro Division, and Fitzgerald had a chance to reward the group. While Fitzgerald stated this is the group that got the Devils to this point, injuries shouldn’t be an excuse for why they did not do anything more significant, especially a goal scorer.
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils Need a Center, and the Price for Brayden Schenn and Others is High
Just look at the Dallas Stars. The Stars dealt major blows, with Tyler Seguin and Miro Heiskanen losing for most of the season. What does their GM do? He goes out and acquires Mikael Granlund, Cody Ceci, and Mikko Rantanen, whom the Devils were linked to.
The Devils were unwilling to part with assets like Simon Nemec and Dawson Mercer as they discussed a potential trade for Brayden Schenn with the St. Louis Blues. The same goes for going after Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators. But it seemed that going conservative at the deadline was the only answer, even if the big trade existed. It just made sense to find their footing again, just like this group.
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin. When asked about the New Jersey Devils trade deadline plans, Pagnotta stated that sometimes things are not worth the risk when a team’s best player is out of the lineup.
DevilsNation.com Transcriptions
Devils Jack Hughes Lost For The Season, Does This Change Trade Deadline Plans?
Gord Stellick: “Yeah, kind of looking at things. And I guess the New Jersey Devils there wasn’t that, Dougie Hamilton, excuse me, that was tough to get a Jack Hughes full replacement there. And on the other side, just St. Louis being not fully out of the mix, but out of the mix really changed things dramatically because they were viewed that they would be big-time sellers.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, yeah. And, you know, it was a sell/retool. Like they were looking at the hockey trade, certainly, and coincidentally, you mentioned both of those clubs, New Jersey and St Louis. They both spoke, trying to figure out something on Brayden Schenn.
New Jersey was, was kicking around with tires on Ryan O’Reilly as well, and a number of others. But from the Devils perspective, without them, they have injuries to other guys too, but without Jack Hughes for the rest of the season, like, can you really go all in? Does it make sense? I mean, you kind of can’t. Like, they made some additions. They got Dumoulin. They made some depth as well to maintain their current positioning, and then come playoff time, who knows?
Could the New Jersey Devils Take A Run at Mikko Rantanen?
But I just got the sense it didn’t make sense for them to go all in like they wanted to because Jack’s not available until next season.
Regardless of the results of these last couple of games, the New Jersey Devils clearly changed their deadline plans. Again, whether that is right or wrong, it should not be an excuse. It is great to have new blood in the lineup, but the Devils still have holes on their roster, whether they had injuries or not. This team still cannot consistently score goals.
It is all good that they can defend and get stops from Jacob Markstrom, Jake Allen, and Nico Daws, but at some point, you have to score. That should have been the goal for the New Jersey Devils regardless of injuries.
