The New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens have been connected in trades this year. They made two huge trades in 2024. They didn't look huge at the time, but they ended up being very impactful for the Devils this season. The first is when the Canadiens traded Jake Allen to the Devils at the trade deadline last season. The Devils appeared to overpay for Allen, but the details showed it was about fair for what is a quality backup. It ended up being a conditional third-round pick that becomes a second if Allen plays 40 or more games this season.
The other trade was the Devils sending a fourth-round pick to the Canadiens for Johnathan Kovacevic. That's been possibly the best trade in the entire league. The Devils got one of the best shutdown players on defense for a fourth-round pick. Kovacevic is the reason Seamus Casey and Simon Nemec are stuck in the AHL. He's been absolutely insane paired with Jonas Siegenthaler.
There was also a small deal that swapped Arnaud Durandeau for Nathan Legare. Tom Fitzgerald must have Kent Hughes on speed dial at this point. Maybe he's trying to call Jack or Luke and calls Kent accidentally, but they just work out trades while they are on the phone. There are a few options that continue to make sense for the Devils.
1. Christian Dvorak
It’s rare to see a trade work out worse than the Christian Dvorak trade has worked for the Montreal Canadiens. He looked like an up-and-coming star that needed to get out of Arizona to shine. Well, he got out of Arizona, and he’s been worse every season. Dvorak just hasn’t been able to make it work in Montreal, and this season he looks like he’s quickly hitting rock bottom.
However, this is a 28-year-old center. He should be in the middle of his prime. So, what happened? If the Devils feel like there’s something there that isn’t being taken advantage of, they can get someone for basically nothing and make something of it.
There is one stat that the Devils should put their primary focus on when it comes to Dvorak. According to Natural Stat Trick, Dvorak leads all Canadiens regulars in high-danger chance percentage. That’s exactly what the Devils want to see in their forward. Putting Dvorak on the fourth line and allowing him to play center, moving a now-healthy Curtis Lazar back to wing, will only help this team in the long haul.
The Devils do have to figure out the contract, as Dvorak is owed $4.45 million this season, but that can be done. They can either have the Canadiens take on half the contract and they send back a little money in return, or they find a third partner to take on even more of the contract to make it fit under the cap for the Devils.