The New Jersey Devils had a busy season and offseason. Since January 1st, the Devils have made six trades. Ironically, seven came within hours of the NHL Trade Deadline. Tom Fitzgerald has made two trades this offseason, highlighted by the Erik Haula cap dump to the Nashville Predators. However, the big trades most expected never happened. They never traded Ondrej Palat, and they never traded for a top-six forward.
Still, they’ve made some major decisions this offseason. They’ve added a ton of depth both to the roster and the prospect pool. They’ve added Connor Brown, Cody Glass, Evgenii Dadonov, Arseniy Gristyuk, Shane Lachance, Dennis Cholowski, and Thomas Bordeleau. To make those moves, they had to give up on a few prospects they drafted.
Fitzgerald isn’t one to hold onto his prospects just because he drafted (or traded for) them. This year was no different. One note before we get to the five prospects the Devils gave up on this season: we didn’t mention Herman Traff or Chase Stillman. We’ve discussed Stillman multiple times (or he would be number one on this list), and Traff seemed to be the cost of doing business to secure Brian Dumoulin. Now, let’s jump in!
1. Petr Hauser
Current Rights Holder: Boston Bruins
The New Jersey Devils made a surprise trade when they agreed to take on salary to make a trade work for another team. The Edmonton Oilers were trying to fit the Boston Bruins’ Trent Frederic under the salary cap. When the trade came to fruition, the Devils agreed to take on $575,000 of Frederic’s contract in exchange for Oilers prospect and Mikhail Yegorov’s teammate at Boston University Shane Lachance.
However, the Devils also had to give up a player. Petr Hauser was traded to the Bruins. The 2022 fifth-round pick has been kind of terrible in the Czech league. He has one goal in three seasons in the pros. He plays in the secondary league there, and he’s been fine, but there’s nothing that says an NHL future is even possible.
2. Santeri Hatakka
Current Rights Holder: HV71
This was an unfortunate season for Santeri Hatakka. It was his most important season, where he was going to get a chance to truly prove he was an NHL player. The Devils had a few injuries to start the year, and Hatakka was one of the few left-handed defensemen with NHL experience. Unfortunately, he would suffer his own injury in the preseason, and this one was serious.
Hatakka wouldn’t return until well into the season and only played 19 games last year. Some thought he wouldn’t even make it through waivers when he returned from injury, but he did, and he finished the season with the Utica Comets. Then, things got weird. Hatakka was not called up to the Devils to be one of the Black Aces in the playoffs.
That’s because he had signed with HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League. So, you might say Hatakka quit on the Devils instead of vice versa. After that, the Devils gave up the rights of Hatakka, failing to send him a qualifying offer this offseason, making him a free agent if he were to ever return to North America.
3. Artem Shlaine
Current Rights Holder: Dallas Stars
This is another interesting situation for the Devils, because they had little control of what happened with Artem Shlaine. He had exhausted his eligibility in college, and since he played in the NCAA so long, he earned free agency status.
Shlaine was a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. The Devils selected him out of the USHL. He was going to the University of Connecticut, and the Devils would be paying attention to his development. It took… a while.
Shlaine scored one goal at UConn in his freshman season. After two mediocre seasons, he transferred to Northern Michigan University. There, he was also decent but never great. So, after two seasons there, he transferred to the up-and-coming Arizona State University. He scored 17 goals there, and he was ready to take the jump to the pros.
Instead of signing with the Devils, Shlaine decided to sign a contract with the Dallas Stars. He spent six games with their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, but he only had one point. He’s back in Texas, signing a one-year AHL deal this offseason to hopefully prove he should be given an entry-level contract to pay him a much bigger salary.
4. Adam Beckman
Current Rights Holder: New York Islanders
The Devils actually made quite a few trades with the New York Islanders since Lou Lamoriello took over as GM there. The most famous trade was the one that sent Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac to Long Island. However, there are a few others, including promising prospect Tyce Thompson (who just signed in the KHL) and former captain Andy Greene.
This past season, the Devils and Islanders made another trade, with the former sending a prospect they took a chance on for a guy to give them important depth. They sent Adam Beckman, whom they acquired from the Minnesota Wild in a trade for Graeme Clarke, for Dennis Cholowski.
Beckman would be suspended for 10 games to end his season with Bridgeport early, and Cholowski was in a few NHL playoff games for the Devils, although that was more an issue with the Devils' injuries than anything. Beckman didn’t play as well as the Devils had hoped, and he was a free agent at the end of the season. Both Beckman and Cholowski re-signed with their teams.
5. Shane Bowers
Current Rights Holder: San Jose Sharks
The New Jersey Devils added Shane Bowers in a trade that sent Reilly Walsh to the Boston Bruins. In his two seasons with the Devils, Bowers was called up to the NHL club both years. He was their center depth, but he played all positions when needed.
The Devils traded Bowers this offseason to the San Jose Sharks for Thomas Bordeleau. Most would agree that Bordeleau has so much upside; more than Bowers. The trade makes sense for the Devils, and maybe the Sharks have too many pieces to deal with this level of prospect at his age.