The New Jersey Devils are therefore willing to trade their first pick, tenth overall, to obtain shorter-term reinforcement and move up in the standings. The Ottawa Senators used the same strategy in 2022 by trading away their seventh overall pick to get an established scorer, 24-year-old Alex DeBrincat. Why would this be a good plan for New Jersey when it was a failure for the Senators?
By analyzing the strengths of the two teams, that of the Devils at present and the Senators of two years ago, we must admit that New Jersey is in a better position to afford such a move. glow. Their reconstruction is more complete and rests on solid foundations.
The Devils have two established and successful first centers. Jack Hughes, the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, was on pace to have another 99-point or higher season if it weren’t for an injury. He got 74 in just 62 games. He just turned 23 and will already be in his sixth season in the NHL.
Nico Hischier, also first overall pick in 2017, is less explosive offensively, but extremely effective in defense. He’s producing at a rate of nearly a point per game, he’s 25 years old and already has seven years of experience with the Devils.
At the time of DeBrincat’s acquisition, the Senators’ first center, Tim Stützle, was 20 years old. He was coming off a good second season in the National League with 58 points. Josh Norris was 23 years old and had 55 points in 66 games in his second full season.
The Devils will therefore send sixth-year (Hughes) and eighth-year (Hischier) centers onto the ice next season. Stützle and Norris both had just two seasons in the corps. Shoulder injuries would sabotage Norris’ season.
By obtaining Alex DeBrincat and offering a lucrative contract to Claude Giroux, Senators GM Pierre Dorion wanted to give ammunition to Stützle and Norris. There was Brady Tkachuk, just shy of 23, 67 points, including 30 goals, and Drake Batherson, 24, 44 points in 46 games, but it was pretty thin after them.
New Jersey doesn’t need its top pick to bail out on the wings in the long term. The yard is full. Jesper Bratt, 25, just collected 83 points. Timo Meier, 27, finally had a season that lived up to expectations with 52 points, including 28 goals, in just 69 games. Dawson Mercer, 22, has seen his production drop to 20 goals and 33 points after his 56-point year two years ago, but he remains a promising young winger. We’ll see if Sheldon Keefe can revive Alexander Holtz, 22, seventh overall pick in 2020, 16 goals last year.
There’s also a lot more depth on defense in New Jersey. There was the number one, Thomas Chabot, formidable offensively, although often injured in previous years, and his reliable partner Artem Zub. The fifth overall pick in 2020, 20-year-old Jake Sanderson, showed promise, but he didn’t yet have a single game of NHL experience. We were hoping for a great season from Erik Brannstrom, who has been disappointing since his acquisition from the Golden Knights for Mark Stone, and good support from supporting defensemen Travis Hamonic and Nikita Zaitsev.
At 27, right-handed defenseman John Marino is recognized as one of the NHL’s good defensive backs, despite a less accomplished season last year. Dougie Hamilton, 30, has been injured most of the season. His absence hurt. We are counting on his return to health next year. He had 74 points, including 22 goals, in 2022-23.
In his first full NHL season, at just 20 years old, left-handed defenseman Luke Hughes, the fourth overall pick in 2021, had 47 points. He was among the finalists for rookie of the year. The second overall pick in 2022, right-handed defenseman Simon Nemec played 60 games in the National League last year at age 19, following a full season in the American League the previous winter. He typically played between 16 and 25 minutes late in the season. Jonas Siegenthaler and Kevin Bahl are good supporting defensive specialists.
The Senators were counting on Cam Talbot and Anton Forsberg in 2022-2023. The Devils have Jake Allen and are looking for a number one. The first choice will perhaps be used to find one.
Not only are the Devils roster significantly more complete right now than the Senators were in 2022 as they looked to take off, but New Jersey’s core showed its potential two years ago with a 112-point season and a victory in the first elimination round.
The Senators had just finished 26th overall when acquiring DeBrincat, finished 30th-worst three years in a row between 2018 and 2020, before a 23rd-place finish in the shortened 2020-21 season under a record of 23-28-5. In short, we wanted to run before learning to walk in Ottawa.
The Anaheim Ducks are not actively looking to trade their goaltender John Gibson and young forward Trevor Zegras, but would not hesitate to proceed with an interesting offer, says informant Pierre Lebrun.
“I would like to add a few experienced players, a defender for the top 4 and an attacker for one of our first two lines,” said GM Pat Verbeek to our colleague.
The Canadian would have inquired about the availability of Zegras, says Lebrun, but will not strip down to acquire it.