The New Jersey Devils made a lot of changes during the offseason and will enter the 2024-25 regular season with a brand-new look. They hired a new head coach, added more offensive depth, found a new starting goalie, and revamped their blue line. Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon were arguably their biggest offseason additions. However, they also added another defenseman that's been flying beneath the radar. Right-handed defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic was brought over to New Jersey in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on June 30th. He stands 6'5'' while weighing in at 223 lbs.
Something that the Devils struggled with last year, compared to their historic 2022-23 season, was defensive depth. That was evident once Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler both missed significant time due to injury. Kovacevic is not a big-name player, but he will certainly give the Devils more options on the backend. Since Kevin Bahl was involved in the Jacob Markstrom trade, it's safe to assume that Kovacevic will fill his role: playing valuable minutes in limited game appearances while also generating hits and blocks.
"I play a hard defensive game. I take care of my own zone first, so a responsible game. But I also make good breakout passes, get the puck moving north. I'm a big body, so I use my reach to defend well... I want to play a hard reliable game and be someone that the team can depend on back there. "Johnathan Kovacevic in July
While Kovacevic won't play in all of the games, he's certainly a useful defenseman. He put up respectable numbers last season with the Habs. He had a 2.7 defensive point shares rating (1st on the Canadiens), +11 plus-minus rating (1st), 83 blocks (5th), 3.3 points shares rating (8th), and 75 hits (8th). With the new defensive additions, Hamilton being fully healthy, and the developments of Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes, Kovacevic is ecstatic about this team's future.
"I know the way these Devils play...they bring a lot of speed and skill. I'm grateful to be a part of that and I see the additions they've made on the blue line...I think we've added a lot of defensemen that are hard to play against...I'm really looking forward to being a part of that. Being a D-core is something that you take a lot of pride in with you...I'm looking forward to the challenge of shutting down some of the other top teams [from] around the league. "Johnathan Kovacevic