Slump Shows Devils Light In Heaviness Department
Ordinarily, the loss of a bottom-six forward to injury shouldn’t have a significant adverse effect on an NHL club. Unfortunately, with the way the Devils are constructed, the team’s downward slide shortly after right wing Nathan Bastian got banged in the shoulder in a November 26 victory over Washington isn’t, in my view, coincidental.
Bastian, 25, is New Jersey’s only forward listed over 6-foot 2. He was their net-front presence on the power play and a demon when battling to win pucks along the walls. His willingness to block shots—he leads all Devils forwards in blocks per 60 minutes--made him a staple on the team’s penalty kill.
In general, the Devils, who didn’t miss a beat when Ondrej Palat went on injured reserve following groin surgery thanks to their overabundance of skilled but small-ish forwards, have lacked a heaviness in their game since Bastian went down, especially when he was rolling on a line with center Michael McLeod and wing Miles Wood. Though the team went 4-0-1 in the first five games of Bastian’s absence, you could see their game slipping. It didn’t take long for the results to follow, as New Jersey has now lost its last five games, all but one in regulation. They were a scintillating 17-4 with Bastian in the lineup.
The Devils’ slump has erased the cushion they built up from their hot start and they will fall out of first place in the Metropolitan Division with a loss at co-leader Carolina on Tuesday night. The schedule through the New Year gets no easier, with games at Florida, a pair at home versus league-leading Boston, a trip to Pittsburgh and a return visit from Carolina.
Alexander Holtz has ostensibly replaced Bastian in the lineup, but he brings an entirely different skillset to the table. Holtz may yet develop into the goal scorer he was projected to be when the Devils selected him with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, but on this team he is just one more finesse, perimeter-oriented player whereas the club could have really used more grit.
With Bastian’s return timeline still labelled as “indefinite”, you have to wonder whether Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald will address his club’s shortcoming at power forward via a trade. That he called up invisible veteran Andrea Johnsson up from AHL Utica rather than big-bodied Nolan Foote is somewhat telling.
The league has entered into its annual holiday roster freeze until December 28, but we should start seeing some trade activity shortly thereafter. Here are some candidates for whom the Devils should put in their due diligence:
Josh Anderson
The injury-prone Canadiens wing is 28 and makes a ton of money ($5.5 million AAV through the 2026-27 season) for what he does—plus Montreal is believed to have an obscenely high asking price. However, there are several analysts (not just Montreal fan sites) who believe that the Devils have expressed interest in acquiring Anderson in a hockey trade. With that high a salary, though, the Devils would have to send out nearly an equivalent amount to make the trade cap compliant. The word is that the Canadiens are holding out for top prospects/high draft picks, but they couldn’t receive that and, say a veteran of Tomas Tatar’s caliber. Maybe Montreal would be interested in Reilly Walsh, a promising young defenseman who is stuck in Utica due to all the top defensive prospects (Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, etc.) the Devils have acquired in recent years. A wild card here—and in all potential Devils trades, for that matter--is pending unrestricted free agent Damon Severson, who was a healthy scratch for Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Florida following an egregious giveaway that led to Philadelphia’s game-winning goal in a 2-1 defeat on Thursday. It would seem that the longest-tenured Devil isn’t in the team’s future plans, so it’s just a matter of maximizing the return on his rental contract. In this case, I view Anderson is too risky a proposition, so Fitzgerald should offer Walsh, a veteran (Tatar/Johnsson), and a conditional pick (no higher than a second-rounder) based on games played/playoff levels reached—and if that’s not enough, he should look elsewhere.
Jesse Puljujarvi
This should be a significantly easier negotiation as the Edmonton wing is struggling mightily this season. He’s also on a 1-year, $3 million contract with another offseason coming as a restricted free agent. Puljujarvi, 24, was the Oilers No. 4 overall selection in the 2016 Draft but has never lived up to his billing, scoring just 47 goals in 291 career games over five-plus seasons. He is, however, a big body who isn’t afraid to crash the net front or hit. Some (fanboy?) journalist even gave him a fourth-place vote for last season’s Selke Award as the NHL’s best defensive forward. In all but one of his seasons, the Oilers have been on the plus side of the NaturalStatTrick.com advanced metrics when he was on the ice. He just hasn’t produced, even when placed on a line with superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Oilers need some cap relief for when Evander Kane eventually comes off the long-term injured reserve, so a columnist from The Athletic surmised that Puljujarvi’s days are numbered. It’s hard to believe that there’d be a high ask for a player with just two goals and five assists in 33 games this season—some of the veteran names being floated as possible returns seem preposterous, but I guess you never know what a tanking team would do to lessen cap space going forward. Would Edmonton be happy if all they could recoup from the Devils is Walsh and maybe a second-round pick? If they want Severson, however, more assets will have to go in New Jersey’s direction.
James van Riemsdyk
Oddly, though van Riemsdyk grew up in central New Jersey, he was neither a Devils nor a Flyers fan—he rooted for the Rangers. Bitter rivals New Jersey and Philadelphia haven’t consummated a trade since the Devils acquired the immortal Petr Straka for a draft pick six years ago. Dealing a player with van Riemsdyk’s resume within the division will be highly delicate, to say the least. New Jersey certainly couldn’t take in JVR’s $7 million AAV into its cap without sending back veterans and/or having the Flyers eat some of the money, thereby owing Philly a little extra in compensation. The good news in terms of van Riemsdyk being tradeable is that, at 33, he isn’t a spring chicken, and he will be treated as a rental. He still fits the bill for what New Jersey needs with Bastian out—and when he gets back. Since returning from a finger injury, the 6-foot 3 wing has received high marks for his battle level in the hard areas around the net and along the boards. To entice Philly, the Devils may need to flip one of their top prospects, whether it’s Holtz or a player not yet in the system like defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin. As such, I find JVR to be the least likely of the three targets, but Fitzgerald may soon find himself under a bit of pressure to get something done, so it wouldn’t be a shocker to see a little overpay here.