New Jersey Devils: A Grade For Every Traded Player

The New Jersey Devils traded away some really good players this year but they do still get grades as they played roles on this team at some point.

The New Jersey Devils had a tough year. They went into it with real hopes that maybe they could compete for the Metropolitan Division. At the very least, they thought they would be a team that gets back to the playoffs after a setback in 2018-19. Well, that didn’t work out as they failed to meet any sort of expectations. They blew a four-goal lead on opening night and that pretty much set the tone for the entire season.

The league is going to do a 24 team playoff to follow up on the canceled regular season due to the coronavirus. With that, the Devils still weren’t good enough. They missed the 24 team dance by one win so you can look at opening night or any other blown opportunity as the reason they won’t be competing in this thing.

Regardless, there were ups and downs for every player on the team. They believe that kids like Nico Hischeir, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and MacKenzie Blackwood will be core pieces for a long time and that is awesome but it is going to take some time. That fact led to the Devils having to move on from some of the veterans to gain some assets for the future.

Some significant pieces were traded out of town throughout the season. The Devils improved their team’s chances of completing this rebuild by making these trades but we did have to watch some great players go. Either way, they played for the team we cheer for so they deserve some grades for how they played through their 2019-20 Devils season:

The New Jersey Devils are a team that needs help on defense. They aren’t very strong there but with Sami Vatanen on an expiring contract, it was hard to see New Jersey keeping him beyond the trade deadline if he wasn’t extended. It is probably for the better that he was moved because giving him term and a lot of money could haunt them down the line.

They also were lucky enough to get a prospect like Janne Kuokkanen out of the deal as well so Vatanen still provided that type of value to the Devils as well. Before the trade, he was putting up some numbers offensively too that deserve a positive note. He had five goals and 18 assists for 23 points in 47 games played for the Devils this year. He wasn’t awesome defensively by any means but not many players on the Devils were.

Vatanen wasn’t able to play in a single game for the Carolina Hurricanes following his trade due to injury. The virus took over before he was able to get back in the lineup but he will for sure be able to play for them once these play-in games start.

Vatanen had the offensive numbers, but it was tough to put a value on his play because of the other parts of his game. He deserves a grade as high as a C because of the way things went for him in the offensive zone, but nothing better than that because of the way the rest of his time was spent. Hopefully, Sami can figure it out soon with a new team once that time comes.

The New Jersey Devils had a revolving door of goaltenders early on in the season. Cory Schneider couldn’t figure it out while MacKenzie Blackwood thrived so they traded for Louis Domingue. Upon Domingue’s arrival, Schneider was put on waivers and thus sent to the AHL to play with the Binghamton Devils. It was a tough move for New Jersey but it wasn’t something that lasted for the entire season.

Domingue was coming in after having a nice tenure with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was a brilliant backup for Andrei Vasilevskiy there so people were hoping he and Blackwood would form a solid tandem. It didn’t work out that way but you can hardly blame him. He went from that sweet team down in Tampa Bay who does everything right to this dumpster fire defensive team in New Jersey.

In 16 games played for the Devils (14 starts), he had a record of 3-8-2. His numbers outside of his poor record were also lousy as he had a .882 save percentage and a 3.79 goals-against average. It wasn’t a good stretch for him at all.  Eventually, he was traded again from New Jersey to the Vancouver Canucks where he would get to play in one game. The Devils called Schneider back up in his place and he played okay after that.

Despite it being terrible circumstances, Louis Domingue was awful for the Devils. No, they aren’t as good as Tampa Bay and it’s really not even close, but Domingue wasn’t even able to help mask some of the issues in ways Blackwood was able to. Even Schneider figured it out at times but Domingue was awful. He could have won the backup job by simply being average and he wasn’t that so he was sent away.

It is always tough to see teams be forced to trade away their captain. Unfortunately, that is what the New Jersey Devils had to do when they traded Andy Greene away to the New York Islanders. He was tied with Travis Zajac as the two players with the longest tenure on the team. It was sad to see him go after he was such an important player for them for a long time.

He was never a superstar by any means, but he was always one of those guys who just always seemed to be doing the right thing. He was always in a solid position defensively, he was able to move the puck when it was needed, and he was a tremendous leader. He had been with the organization through some very good times and very bad times, but you never saw him change who he was on or off the ice.

Greene, despite being 37 years old, was one of the more solid defensive defensemen on the team. On a team that was catastrophically bad defensively, Greene was still a plus-player. He only had two goals and 12 assists for 14 points in 63 games played but the offense isn’t something Greene isn’t relied on for. There is a reason the Islanders wanted to bring him in as they loaded up for the playoffs.

Andy Greene is just a solid player. He isn’t getting an A because not many on this team get an A in a season that sees them come in last, but it was hardly Greene’s fault. He might not be an offensive powerhouse but he helps them get the job done as far as protecting the house when he is on the ice. He is well-deserving of a  B+ and all Devils fans should be appreciative of what he has done over the years.

Blake Coleman had been one of the most important players the Devils have had over the past two or three years. He sort of came out of nowhere to become one of the team’s all-purpose players. He was fantastic for them in all three zones and contributed a lot offensively despite getting very little power play ice. He was having a brilliant year for the Devils as he had 21 goals and 10 assists for 31 points in 57 games.

Only one of those goals was on the power play. Three of them, however, we’re shorthanded. Coleman was very dangerous with the puck on his stick when the Devils had a player in the box. It was a good asset that led to the Devils landing a first-round pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning. The pick previously belonged to the Vancouver Canucks before they gave it to Tampa for J.T. Miller.

It was sad to see one of the league’s best role players go but that return was very nice. Coleman didn’t produce the way we thought he would with the Lightning as he just has one assist in nine games played for them. It is clear that he is still a very good middle-six winger but the Devils got the most they ever could have asked for him.

Coleman deserves an A for the way he played. He battled every single night for New Jersey and played his role to the best of his ability. He managed to get over the 20 goal mark with very little time on the power play which says a lot about his play at even strength.

It makes you wonder what would happen if the Devils did ever give him some ice with the man advantage. Either way, he was great for the Devils this year and nobody who watches really should have anything negative to say about the way he accepted and executed his role.