The New Jersey Devils made some moves at the trade deadline, but maybe not that one huge deal that people were expecting to happen.
The New Jersey Devils were one of the more active teams ahead of the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline. They traded Andy Greene to the New York Islanders and Blake Coleman to the Tampa Bay Lightning. They received some draft picks and prospects in exchange for those two last week. It was seen as a good return for each guy for different reasons. Then, the actual trade deadline came and went with the Devils somewhat taking part in it.
First, they traded Wayne Simmonds to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. That is a lot less of a return for Simmonds than a lot of people thought but it probably makes sense anyway. Simmonds is a good leader and well-liked but what he brings on the ice these days is easily replaceable. It is more strange to see Buffalo acquire him when they aren’t going to the playoffs either. Simmonds is set to be a free agent in July.
Then the Devils were very quiet for pretty much the entire day beyond that. Then, right as the buzzer sounded, two trades involving the Devils came in. The first, and most notable, is that Sami Vatanen was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Janne Kuokkanen, Fredrik Claesson, and a conditional 4th-round pick. The 4th can become a 3rd if Vatanen plays a certain number of games. Vatanen is still injured, so that may have lowered his value.
Louis Domingue going to Vancouver was the second trade that came in at the last second. The Devils cleared him through waivers already, so if the Canucks want to send him down they can. He is probably going to be the backup at the NHL level to begin. Goaltender Sane McIntyre is headed back to the Devils in the trade.
They didn’t trade Kyle Palmieri, Miles Wood, or any of the other names that were rumored to be out the door from a variety of analysts with different trust factors. Those guys might still be shopped around ahead of the draft, but they will play the season out with New Jersey. It wasn’t the craziest deadline in Devils history, but if you combine all of the trades, they got a somewhat decent return overall.