With Jack Hughes out, will Devils turn to trade market for center help?
The New Jersey Devils were hit with yet another injury recently – but this time it has impacted the top of their lineup. Cutting his hand at a team dinner, top-line center Jack Hughes is now thought to be sidelined well into the New Year. This is not uncommon territory for the 2019 first overall pick, as Hughes has only once played more than 62 games (2022-23) in a season since entering the NHL.
Hughes, 24, was off to yet another great start this season, leading the Devils’ offense with 20 points through 17 games. His injury further impacts an already shallow center group for the Devils, who have now had to push captain Nico Hischier into a top-line role and shift Dawson Mercer to the middle of the ice.
It is no secret that GM Tom Fitzgerald has been on the lookout for a third-line center (going back to last season) to play behind Hughes and Hischier. The Devils were keeping tabs on Scott Laughton (eventually traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs) and St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn (who may very well be back on the block this season) before ultimately electing to go the cheaper route in acquiring Cody Glass from the Nashville Predators. The Devils pivoted from being “all-in” to adding on the margins once Hughes’ injury last winter knocked him out for the remainder of the season.
Speaking with a team source, while Hughes’ injury does certainly further highlight the Devils’ need for help down the middle, the team is not expecting to find a replacement for him on the trade market. Fitzgerald is working the phones and would like to make a trade “sooner rather than later,” but the Devils are not going to go big-game hunting in an effort to replace Hughes; they will stay the course in looking for a depth pivot.
Speaking with two league sources, the Devils are certainly not the only team looking for center help, which will make Fitzgerald’s trade position less than ideal. With “half the league” looking for centers, the Devils are going to have a lot of competition on the trade market.
In the interim, the Devils are comfortable rolling with what they have, according to a team source. There are those with the Devils who prefer Mercer as a center, so shifting him to the middle is not necessarily a negative. The depth on the wing (specifically with the play of Connor Brown and Arseny Gritsyuk) gives head coach Sheldon Keefe the flexibility to try a guy like Mercer down the middle for an extended period of time.
Though he is now injured, I was told that the Devils have been very impressed with Glass’ game this season. The 2017 sixth overall pick (by the Vegas Golden Knights) had three goals in 10 games this season before his injury, but the team feels that he has the potential and opportunity to grow into a third-line center. According to a source, there is a world in which Glass and Mercer can “platoon” to help fill the void at center in the team’s middle six.
In terms of potential trade targets, the top center everyone is pointing to on the market is Calgary Flames pivot Nazem Kadri. Schenn, as I previously mentioned, is a name the Devils I would presume to have interest in again due to them keeping tabs on him leading up to last year’s trade deadline. Adding size and/or competitiveness/grit (in addition to a center) is a priority for the Devils, I was told by a team source. Kadri would help check that box, but he would qualify as more of a big-game target and thus might not fit the team’s criteria. Perhaps Schenn would. But as mentioned before, they are far from the only team looking for help down the middle.
Beyond Hughes, the Devils have been fighting injuries the entire season. Forward Evgenii Dadonov and defensemen Brenden Dillon and Dougie Hamilton seem ready to return to the lineup, but it has still left the Devils with five regulars on the sidelines. Speaking with a team source, the Devils are expecting all their currently injured bodies to be back by the trade deadline.
According to puckpedia.com, the Devils are working with a little more than $1.75 million in daily cap space. The Devils are operating in LTIR – they are not accruing any additional space day over day as a result – with defensemen Brett Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic currently being placed on it; with all players back, they project to be a little less than $5.8 million over the $95.5 million salary ceiling. They will be able to shed some money by moving bodies down the AHL, but the Devils will have some “work to do” to rectify their tight cap situation once all players are healthy, I was told by a team source. This is something to consider for the Devils as they survey the trade market for potential additions.
Sitting with a record of 13-6-1 and sitting second in the Metropolitan Division as of Friday morning, the Devils do have some breathing room to tread water until they get Hughes and the rest of their injured bodies back. They are working the phones (as they were prior to the Hughes injury) to find an upgrade at third-line center, but are not going to shoot higher to attempt and replace their top forward. In the meantime, it will give some of their current players an opportunity to raise their respective games and prove if they have more to give.
The Devils’ hot start and forward depth have given them the chance to work with what they have (for now), but it doesn’t mean Fitzgerald won’t ideally look to bolster his bottom six.
_____
Recently by Anthony Di Marco
- Samuel Ersson is struggling, but Flyers aren’t giving up on him
- Are the Boston Bruins back as beasts of the East?
- So far, so good for Flyers’ offseason moves
- Fire sale time in Nashville? Not quite yet
- Are Owen Tippett’s days numbered with the Flyers?
- Sources: Wild hunting for middle-six forward in a trade