New Jersey Devils: Grading 2019 Offseason Moves a Year Later
Though this offseason is far different from the last for the NHL and the New Jersey Devils, the offseason of 2019 is still very relevant to the future of this Devils organization. The moves Ray Shero made as General Manager were regarded as some of the most exciting by a Devils executive in a long time. The unadulterated hype that was felt by Devils fans far and wide seemed unprecedented. Fans had their positivity stifled for years leading up to the 2019 off-season. Through the Kovalchuk departure, the rise of Taylor Hall, the fall of Cory Schneider, and the brief playoff appearance of 2018, Devils fans rode a rollercoaster.
There were glimmers of legitimate hope along the way – Schneider’s prime performances (even when the Devils’ skaters struggled), Taylor Hall’s Hart Trophy-winning season, A lottery victory that brought Nico Hischier to the New Jersey Devils.
As time would tell, the 2019 offseason moves proved to be just as detrimental as they were beneficial for the Devils. The results the Devils showed were actually so bad that both Head Coach John Hynes and GM Ray Shero were fired. This, of course, was after Hynes terribly mismanaged the Devils lineup and Shero scrambled to deal Taylor Hall.
Now, a year later, we can reflect on how the offseason transactions that involved Wayne Simmonds, John Hayden, Nikita Gusev, P.K. Subban, and Jack Hughes.
A. . C. New Jersey Devils. JACK HUGHES
The 2019 NHL Entry Draft narrative was controlled by the New Jersey Devils, as the big question was, “Who is New Jersey going to draft? Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko?” The New Jersey Devils, as we all know, drafted American-born center Jack Hughes.
This is an easy A. Everybody knows Hughes is going to develop into a great top-six forward at the minimum. His development ceiling is as high as anyone in the NHL right now after his rookie year, and with a historically long offseason ahead, Hughes has plenty of time to get bigger, stronger, and better.
We expect Hughes to continue to take big steps that will land him on the top 2 lines and be a large part of the New Jersey Devils’ offensive production for years. Long-term, this acquisition will likely serve as the most important move the New Jersey Devils made in the 2019 offseason.
F. . RD. New Jersey Devils. P.K. SUBBAN
On June 22nd, 2019, the New Jersey Devils traded Jeremy Davies, Steven Santini, and a 2nd-round draft pick to the Nashville Predators for former Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban. Subban was on a steep and steady decline in the years leading up to this move, and his decline worsened with the Devils. Despite flashes of very exciting hockey from Subban, he failed to achieve any sort of consistency in a Devils jersey. He was a defensive liability and caused difficulty in the depth chart, as Devils coaching staff struggled to find the best defensive pairings.
With a player like Subban, fans can hope for offensive production to make up for some shaky defensive play. Devils fans did not see that counteraction. Subban’s point totals at the end of the New Jersey Devils season were 7 goals and 11 assists in 68 games.
Fans also hoped Subban would be the star powerplay quarterback that would finally give the Devils a lethal powerplay. This was not the case with Subban, as he struggled to hold his spot on the first powerplay unit and eventually lost it to Sami Vatanen of all players. It was the cherry on top of a strange season.
The Devils, however, could use any defense they could get. The part of this deal that makes it a full failure is the fact that Ray Shero took on 100 percent of Subban’s cap hit. Subban’s cap hit is $9 million and expires in 2022. This can and will potentially restrict the Devils from making big signings in the future as part of their elongated rebuild. The Devils suffering a $9 million cap hit for 18 points and unreliable defense is nothing short of a travesty. That is what makes this deal an abject failure.
LW. New Jersey Devils. JOHN HAYDEN. C-.
On June 22nd, 2019, the New Jersey Devils traded prospect John Quenneville to the Chicago Blackhawks for tough-guy John Hayden. In theory, this was a very efficient trade. Former Devils GM Ray Shero was able to dish a prospect, Quenneville, who just wasn’t panning out. In doing this, he freed up space on the Binghamton Devils’ roster for other young prospects looking to develop.
In return, he brought grit to a New Jersey Devils lineup that previously relied on Miles Wood, and only Miles Wood, to provide any sort of grit on the ice. John Hayden was a player who played in both the NHL and Chicago’s minor system and showed he could skate and fight. He was a grinder.
However, his production has always severely lacked, and he never could prove any sort of defensive ability from the wing.
Spoiler alert: nothing changed.
When Hayden came to the Devils, he couldn’t seem to take a step forward. His advanced statistics told the story of a player who could not control the puck or push the pace of play enough to produce any sort of offense and didn’t stand out enough defensively to make up for that.
The only way he was able to sew himself into the Devils’ lineup was by becoming one of Devils ex-head coach John Hynes’ favorites, along with fan-favorite Kevin Rooney.
I give this trade a C-.
The only reasons I didn’t give this move a D are 1. John Hayden did play a significant amount of NHL minutes for his ability and he had some exciting tough-guy moments; and 2. The Devils were able to acquire Hayden for a prospect that was not likely to make an impact on an NHL level.
. RW. New Jersey Devils. WAYNE SIMMONDS. C+
On July 1st, 2019, the New Jersey Devils signed veteran Free Agent Wayne Simmonds, who had most recently played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Nashville Predators. The Devils signed Simmonds to a one year, $5 million contract. It seemed like a clear “prove-it” deal.
Simmonds brought even more grit to the Devils lineup than John Hayden, and he played higher up the lineup. With this extra time, Simmonds was able to produce on an average pace. However, his age showed and Simmonds often looked slow. This sometimes hindered him from making big plays that he would have been able to make earlier in his career.
The ‘Simmonds experiment’ ultimately failed, because he was too slow to keep up with and insulate young players like Jack Hughes, and not skilled or quick enough to make big plays in important situations.
The benefit of this signing was that the Devils were able to flip Simmonds at the trade deadline in a deal with the Buffalo Sabres that brought Jersey’s team a 5th-round draft pick. This is much worse than what Devils fans had hoped for, but at least we got something… right?
A-. . LW. New Jersey Devils. NIKITA GUSEV
Potentially the most impactful offseason move the Devils made in 2019 was their move to acquire KHL standout Nikita Gusev. Gusev was among the KHL’s best and was looking to come to the NHL. His rights were acquired by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, and it was clear they couldn’t afford to sign him to a new deal. On July 29th, 2019, the New Jersey Devils traded a 2020 3rd-round draft pick and a 2021 2nd-round draft pick for Gusev’s rights, and then signed him to a 2-year, $9 million contract.
Gusev had an exciting preseason showing and from there it looked like this deal would be a home run. However, Gusev struggled with his two-way game early in the regular season. He spent time with Devils legend Patrik Elias and looked much better from there.
His point production was second most on the devils, behind only Kyle Palmieri. He produced 13 goals and 31 assists in 66 games and was able to find great chemistry with many players on the 2019-20 New Jersey Devils roster such as Blake Coleman, Travis Zajac, Pavel Zacha, and Jesper Bratt.
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Given the positive impact Gusev had on the Devils’ offense, with a cap hit of only 4.5 million dollars, I love this deal even a year later. This move earns an A-.