New Jersey Devils add depth with Curtis Lazar trade

The New Jersey Devils are one of the best teams in the National Hockey League. They are also amongst the Trade Deadline winners because of the fact that they made the big move for Timo Meier in a blockbuster with the San Jose Sharks.

Now, they aren’t done. They sent a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks for Curtis Lazar. This is a move that will allow the Devils to add to their depth up front. He is going to be a solid addition to their bottom-six forward group.

Lazar is probably better served to play right wing once the puck is dropped but he is outstanding at winning face-offs. Only Nico Hischier, Michael McLeod, and Erik Haula have a better faceoff winning percentage this season. That is great depth in that department.

He doesn’t score a lot of goals but he can bring an intensity with intangibles that will help an already solid bottom-six for the team. He has proven that he loves to win and can bring that energy to this team.

The New Jersey Devils added Curtis Lazar to their group on Friday.

This also sends a message to the rest of the NHL. They didn’t acquire a guy who has a lot of goals and that is okay with them. They care way more about the other things that he brings because they don’t have an issue with goals.

They are one of two NHL teams that have five 20-goal scorers and they will probably end up with seven. They acquire Meier for goals so Lazar isn’t needed for that.

At this point, this team is trying to get better because they believe in themselves. If they want to win a playoff round and possibly more, they needed to make a move like this. It isn’t going to be easy down the stretch but adding a guy like Lazar will help.

New Jersey has a game on Friday night against the Vegas Golden Knights which is going to be a big test for them. We will see when it is that Lazar gets into a game. Players like Michael McLeod, Miles Wood, and Nathan Bastian amongst others are going to be better because of his addition.