The New Jersey Devils have not sit still since Sunny Mehta took over as GM. Tom Fitzgerald had a history of making moves, but the big move eluded him after 2023. Ironically, the Devils tried to get Connor Hellebuyck one time, but he chose to stay with the Winnipeg Jets. Maybe if Fitzgerald pushed to get the future Hart Trophy winner back then, he’d still have a job today.
But he doesn’t have a job, and Mehta now gets to be the leader of his childhood team. And boy does Mehta have his finger on the pulse.
One of the moves that shows how well he knows what the Devils need is the Amadeus Lombardi move. A guy who couldn’t make the Detroit Red Wings is now an important part of the Devils lineup. And that importance might be what pushed Mehta to make the move for Hellebuyck.
Now, that’s overstating it a little bit. The real push was that Hellebuyck’s suspension was ending. The Jets knew they needed to get something done, and Jets GM Kevin Chevaldayoff said that Mehta jumped into the process very late. And they got it done.
The Devils needed to get Amadeus Lombardi back into the lineup
With Dawson Mercer heading to the Jets, the Devils open up a spot in the lineup that Lombardi can take back. And we don’t expect the rookie to ever be out of the lineup again.
The Devils actually won the two games with him out of the lineup, but the fourth line looked much worse with Connor Brown. Nothing against Brown, and he hasn’t even played that bad, but Lombardi just fit in so well with Cody Glass and Jesper Boqvist. He drives play, allowing Glass and Boqvist to do their thing. Brown is a different type of player, and probably fits very well with Evan Rodrigues and Anthony Mantha.
Sometimes, putting together a great hockey team isn’t just about putting the most talented people together. Sometimes, it’s about the fit. The Devils feel like they fit better today than they did a day ago. Adding Lombardi to the lineup daily only helps.
And while the Devils lost depth, they didn’t lose all of it. Both Stefan Noesen and Lenni Hameenaho are in the AHL with serious NHL experience. Shane Lachance, Matias Melovsky, and Marc McLaughlin are all good players with the Utica Comets.
This trade was to fix the goaltending once and for all, but it’s also about fixing the forward logjam. Lombardi needs to be in the lineup, and now they don’t have to make a really hard decision about Mercer’s Ironman streak.
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