The New Jersey Devils had a busy offseason, signing Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, Arseni Gritsuk, and re-signing Jake Allen and Cody Glass, but they didn’t fill all of the holes they needed to going into the offseason. Most of the reason the Devils are sitting here on August 11th without a full top-six and a third-line center is because of the availability of those assets this offseason.
When it comes to top-line wingers, the ones that were available were sparse. Mitch Marner was already traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, Matt Duchene re-signed with the Dallas Stars, and Brock Nelson and Brad Marchand stuck with the teams that traded for them last season. To say it was slim pickings is an insult to pickings.
The only prominent free agent wing was Nikolaj Ehlers, and the Carolina Hurricanes seemed like they were going to go above and beyond to make that deal happen. As far as trades are concerned, nobody was moving. There wasn’t even an offer sheet despite everyone talking about how prevalent offer sheets would be in 2025.
It left the Devils with those holes now gaping. However, they literally just traded away their third-line center. Erik Haula was on the roster, but they moved him to the Nashville Predators for an ECHL player and a fourth-round pick.
The trade was widely praised by Devils fans, and most thought it was a sign of things to come. The Devils were moving cap space to make a move for something bigger. Most thought Ondrej Palat would be on the next flight after Haula, but that never happened. Everyone thought the Devils would replace Haula at center, but that didn’t happen, either.
Instead, the Devils are in a precarious position where they have to choose between playing Dawson Mercer at 3C, a position he hasn’t done well at in the past, or elevating Cody Glass to the third line, where he’s playing a little above his head.
It has us questioning the Haula trade. Of course, the Devils wouldn’t have been able to sign Connor Brown if they kept Haula, so that’s an important piece of the puzzle, but Brown is a wing. The Devils lost their best faceoff man. They now have four centers who are average at best in the dot.
There’s also the sneaky effectiveness of Haula in the playoffs. He was tied for third on the team last season with seven individual high-danger chances at 5v5 according to Natural Stat Trick.
Erik Haula was good while he lasted
Only Timo Meier and Nico Hischier had more individual high-danger chances than Haula. He actually tied Jesper Bratt in that category.
Haula is a veteran who has seen his fair share of playoff games. He knows what he needs to bring to be effective in those situations.
Listen, we get it. Haula was dreadful during the regular season last year. An early-season injury seemed to really impact his game, but the Devils can’t take chances on guys anymore. They especially can’t take chances on guys making over $3 million. Haula was crucial in his role with the Devils, and they haven’t replaced him yet. However, the Devils are better off exploring other options and seeing if a center becomes available, rather than relying on Haula to repeat his performance from just five playoff games.
Haula was a great member of this organization, but it was clearly time to move on. The Devils still need their rebound center to get them through the 2025-26 season, but that doesn’t mean they should miss Haula.