The New Jersey Devils want to be active at the NHL Trade Deadline. As it has been documented, they are looking for a center. They also needed to add depth in the bottom six, as their current options are not the right ones.
While Devils President and GM Tom Fitzgerald addressed needs at the deadline, there was a glaring hole in the top six and on defense. To make matters worse, Jack Hughes was injured against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday Night.
Jack Hughes went hard into the boards. Good to see Eichel making sure he was ok. Jack is holding his right shoulder, arm, and wrist and heading down the tunnel. #NJDevils
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) March 3, 2025
Sheldon Keefe could not provide an update after the game, but Hughes did fly back to New Jersey for further evaluation. Keefe’s initial thoughts on the injury were that it was not good and that he would be evaluated.
Keefe said no update on Jack Hughes. Said he will have to be evaluated to know the extent of the injury and said it didn’t look good. #njdevils
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) March 3, 2025
However, it appears the Devils want a long-term solution fix at center as Fitzgerald looks to target players with term left on their deals. But the price tags have been high.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on the Latest 32 Thoughts Podcast went through each team as the NHL Trade Deadline approached. They got to the New Jersey Devils, and Friedman was asked about their plans. He confirmed the Devils are looking for a center but could not confirm if plans are changing because of Jack Hughes’s injury.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils
Kyle Bukauskas: “The Jersey Devils Elliotte. I mean, they’ve had a firm grip on a playoff spot all season long. They are another team we’ve discussed it, Elliotte that I’m sure would love to get a little heavier, a little meaner. Is that kind of what Tom Fitzgerald is looking at adding if they are to do anything before the deadline?”
Elliotte Friedman: “There’s no nice way to say it. You sit here, you’re watching the games on Sunday night. It’s the last game of the evening, and you know, you’re the Devils at 0-0 in Vegas, tough place to play. You think you got, might, maybe got a chance to pull one out. And then not only do you lose, but you see Jack Hughes going to the boards hard like that, and there’s no attempt to injure. I heard Eichel felt terrible about it after the game.
But you’re sitting there and you’re looking at that and you’re going, oh geez, that looks terrible, and you hope it’s not as bad as it appears. Sheldon Keefe said at the end of the game that we’re going to need some time to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with here.
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And it’s a nightmare at any time of the year, but it’s also a nightmare just right before the trade deadline, the Devils, even before that had happened, were looking for a center. They’d been pretty known about that. They’d been very active. Tom Fitzgerald had been one of the most active general managers. He was looking for a center. I think he was also looking for a defenseman. You know, you sit here and you look at it and, you know, I think they were one of the teams that poked around on Brayden Schenn, but didn’t like the price.
And when you’ve already think you’ve got a hole you’re trying to fix in your lineup, and then you see Jack Hughes, and along with Hischier, that’s their one-two punch down the middle, you see something like that. Now all of a sudden, you have to completely adjust. And as we tape the pod, I can’t really answer it. It’s just too late, but now you’re thinking, Okay, we’ve got a bigger hole potentially. How do we attack it? Can you attack it in this short term, or is it? Do you stick to your plan, seeing what kind of center you can add, and then just trying to handle it from there?
It’s a complete change of pace and change of strategy here, that I’ll be fair, I can’t fully address when it happens right as we’re recording it. I don’t want to guess about what the Devils may end up doing here, but all of a sudden, the Devils are looking at it, and objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear. The Blue Jackets have been hot. The thing that really helps New Jersey is that a lot of those teams that are battling around the wild card are not from their division.
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The Rangers are around there, but a lot of the other teams, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, of course, those are Atlantic Division teams that can’t go up through the Metro. So that helps New Jersey a bit. But there’s no question, I didn’t think the way they started, that we’d be looking at this on March 3rd, and people have crept up on the Devils, and now you have to deal with this in addition to (Jonas) Siegenthaler being out, too.
It’s just the absolute worst possible thing at the worst possible time.
With just several days to the NHL Trade Deadline, the Devils are an interesting team with multiple options they could execute.”
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