The NJ Devils Trade Deadline Review
This will be easy….no really…..as easy as pie! The New Jersey Devils really went into the deadline in a very weird position. As a matter of fact, their best deadline acquisition was Martin Brodeur. But I did want to show that basically in all these deals on Wednesday…the Devils were not in any of them. Maybe that is just as well at this point and time.
The point was the New Jersey Devils made their move on Monday….acquiring Niclas Havelid from the Atlanta Thrashers for Anssi Salmela and a minor prospect. It was the kind of move that probably needed to make for defensive depth given the high trade returns meted out on Wednesday…it was likely the best move GM Lou Lamoriello could have made. Ideally in a market of few sellers and many buyers…one had to see that coming.
Everyone remembers the guns and butter theory of economics. When the balance is optimum….that is when the economy does best. It is very similar to the success of the fate of a hockey team. For a hockey team, it is weapons that can score and the butter to defend. The issue that the New Jersey Devils had was defense and clearly they addressed it their way.
Now players like Pandolfo and Clemmensen did not get traded….maybe there just was not a market for them. Notice just how much of a dud this trade deadline actually was. Other than that 4-way trade and the Jokinen trade…it was just a lot of dumping and exchanging. Maybe New Jersey was the smartest of all in not getting too involved and making their move while the asking price was low.
So in the trade that was made…..it was a solid one for the New Jersey Devils. Getting Havelid will make the defense that much stronger in facing some of those top offensive lines out there. Could they have made another move perhaps? Yes…maybe! That does knock down the Devils overall grade a little bit. I just cannot give them an A on this one.
What grade do they get? Well they get some praise for the Havelid trade but it would have been nice to pawn off Clemmensen and/or Pandolfo for maybe some draft picks. So overall…..they get a B because getting Brodeur back was the highlight of this deadline…a rested Brodeur at that!
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Just a crazy Devils fan on the West Coast.
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