Devils acquire D Brian Dumoulin from the Ducks for a 2nd round pick & Herman Traff

Tom Fitzgerald made his first move to try to improve this year’s team and….it’s certainly a move.

The NHL Trade Deadline is tomorrow and aside from the minor deal earlier this week that saw the Devils act as a third party when Trent Frederic was sent from Boston to not New Jersey, GM Tom Fitzgerald has mostly been quiet in the leadup to the deadline. To the point where I wrote a bunch of words yesterday about the conundrum that he was facing heading into tomorrow.

Today, Fitzgerald finally got his guy. Did a team that is in desperate need of forwards go out and acquire one that could put the puck in the back of the net?

Of course not…..but how about a rental defensive defenseman? That sound good to you?

Wait, what? A second round pick for Brian Dumoulin? And a prospect?

Ummmmm….ok? But a second? Really?

Well, I guess that explains the second round pick (which will be the better of the Edmonton or Winnipeg picks that the Devils control). Particularly if salary retention is involved. Although that’s still a steep price for Brian Dumoulin.

Here’s the JFresh card on Dumoulin.

So let’s talk about Dumoulin.

Dumoulin is a 12 year veteran, having spent most of his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he has bounced around the last couple years with stops in Seattle and Anaheim. Listed at 6’4”, 214 lb., he is your prototypical defensive defenseman who blocks shots, hits people and is generally pretty good at keeping the puck out of the net. He also has a ton of playoff experience, being a key member of the Penguins blueline that won back-to-back Stanley Cups in the mid 2010s. It should also be noted that Tom Fitzgerald was in the Penguins front office when they drafted and developed Dumoulin.

The Devils have lost Jonas Siegenthaler to LTIR and Dougie Hamilton is week-to-week with the injury he sustained Tuesday in Dallas. All of a sudden, one of the strengths of this Devils team, their blueline, is looking thin. They wanted to add another veteran defenseman who can kill penalties, play tough minutes, and be trusted in that role. Dumoulin has played both LHD and RHD in the past so he does give the Devils a little flexibility there as well should Siegenthaler/Hamilton return at some point prior to the end of the season.

I can buy the argument of “If you can’t score, we’ll do the best we can to keep you from scoring”, so Dumoulin should help in that regard. Considering they were looking at the possibility of playing some combination of an inexperienced Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey, and maybe Santeri Hatakka instead, I get that.

But for a second round pick? With so many glaring needs up front with the forward group? With so many holes at center BEFORE you lost Jack Hughes for the season?

The most interesting slash devastating part of this deal might be that Tom Fitzgerald felt the need to pay the second round pick to get the Ducks to retain 50% of Dumoulin’s salary. The Devils have $13.1M in their LTIR pool after this deal with Dumoulin’s cap hit being cut in half to just over $1.5M. That would seem to be an indicator that Fitzgerald has a few other things in the hopper and he might intend on using that full LTIR pool. I would certainly hope so seeing as Dumoulin doesn’t address the biggest issues with this team right now. He’s not a center and he’s not going to contribute a whole heck of a lot offensively.

I don’t have an issue with Dumoulin, per se. He’s fine for what he is at this stage of his career, which is a solid role player. He shouldn’t hurt the Devils over the final 19 games of the regular season as they hope to hang on to a playoff spot. Maybe the Devils like what they see over the final six weeks of the season and consider signing him to a one or two year extension, which would make this trade at least a little more palatable. And in fairness to Fitzgerald, I’d like to see the full body of work of what he does at the deadline before judging him and before judging each move in isolation.

That said, my reaction was similar to yours, which was somewhere between “Why?”, “He’s not a forward”, “A rental defenseman, really?”, and “Make a move Fitz….no, not THAT one.”.

I get the logic behind adding another defenseman, especially with the rash of injuries on the backend. I get the idea of doubling down on one of your strengths. But to me, this felt like the equivalent of getting your car detailed and buying a new air freshener when the check engine light has been on for six months and you just broke down on the side of the highway last week.

Is Dumoulin addressing a need? Sure, I guess. Is he addressing the Devils biggest needs right now? Absolutely not.