New Jersey Devils: Grading 2019 Offseason Moves a Year Later
By Owen Egbert
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.