Some interesting names have been on the NHL’s waiver wire over the past week. What kind of player should the Devils have their eye on in the coming weeks?
The NHL Trade Deadline is now less than two months away, and teams around the Eastern Conference are largely battling for postseason spots, with the West looking much more set. The Devils are one of just five Eastern teams to have crossed the 50-point marker. After that, there are five teams with between 44 and 49 points, with 46 (Columbus) being the eighth-place marker. Thanks to the Islanders and Flyers picking up plenty of overtime losses, there are also three teams with 41 or 42 points, with only the Sabres sitting below 40 points at 37.
The West is starkly divided. With seven teams over 50 points, the only contested playoff spot is the last Wild Card, which is currently held onto by the Vancouver Canucks with 48 points. However, there are only three teams (Calgary, St. Louis, and Utah) that are within a decent striking distance of five points. This means that, after the Ducks, who are in no-man’s-land with 41 points, there are four Western Conference teams with under 40 points: the Kraken Predators, Sharks, and Blackhawks.
This means that there are only five easily-identifiable sellers in the league as of now, unless some of the middling teams wise up and retool for a better year. Could this number grow by March 7? Absolutely, but the loser point and the fact that some of these teams (e.g. the New York teams and Anaheim) have stellar goaltending means that several GMs around the league will try to hold on for dear life until the last minute. You don’t always know how the market is going to shake out, but I think we are on track for a big seller’s bias in the deals that go down in a month and a half, given the parity among middle-of-the-pack teams.
We have already seen the New York Rangers hit the waiver wire with their pickup of Arthur Kaliyev. I see Kaliyev as a future middle or top six winger, so I was a bit disappointed to see him land there. However, the team that picks the player up matters too, and the Rangers might not be able to get the most out of Kaliyev if they try to use him in the same limited fashion that Los Angeles has for three seasons. That aside, who else has been on waivers over the past month? Could the New Jersey Devils have used anyone?
Since December 13, the following true NHL skaters (i.e. over 100 career games) have been waived. The bolded were claimed. Any italicized names are still on waivers.
Oliver Wahlstrom, Devin Shore, Chris Wagner, Justin Dowling, Dylan Coghlan, Tyler Johnson, Jesse Puljujarvi, Nick DeSimone, Arthur Kaliyev, Daniel Sprong, Ty Smith, and Erik Brannstrom.
Unfortunately, the Devils were not able to make a claim for either Wahlstrom or Kaliyev, as both players were selected by higher-priority teams. However, this does not mean that none of the other names were not worth considering. While some players, such as Devin Shore and Chris Wagner, are possibly on the last legs of their NHL careers, with both journeymen struggling at just one point in over 20 games each, others have more to offer. (I also think a team like Nashville or San Jose should have been all over a guy like Ty Smith, but that’s a story for another team’s blog.)
Jesse Puljujarvi, for example, is playing a strong possession game when he actually gets ice time on the fourth line in Pittsburgh. His 9 points in 25 games would match the production of Tomas Tatar (39 games), while eclipsing Nate Bastian (5 in 27), Justin Dowling (3 in 28) and Curtis Lazar (2 in 20). His numbers would not even be that far off from Erik Haula (11 in 42), and they’re similar to Paul Cotter’s on a rate basis (16 in 45), though Cotter has actually provided goal scoring, unlike others in the bottom six. Making just $800,000 this season, the Devils could have claimed Puljujarvi and continued to accumulate deadline space.
I also would have been interested in seeing how Tyler Johnson would have fared on the fourth line for the Devils, as Justin Dowling has not been much more than a temporary measure. Johnson was very bad for Chicago last season, but he did fine in limited action for the Bruins before being disfavored by Joe Sacco and eventually released by the team from his $775,000 contract. Center has become even more of a concern since Johnson was released by Boston, as Haula’s injury combined with Lazar looking out of place since his return has caved the potential effectiveness of the bottom six.
Since Dowling has started playing with Dawson Mercer, those two have combined for a CF% of 41.49 and an xGF% of 49.86 (outscored 2:1), which is starkly down from Mercer’s numbers away from Dowling (53.46 CF%, 58.14 xGF%, outscoring others 25:18) and Dowling’s fourth line numbers (48.09 CF%, 58.12 xGF%, outscored 5:3). And since Lazar came back to the team, he has seen the Devils outscored 2 to 1 at even strength while posting some of the worst possession and expected goals numbers on the team. The difference is most noticeable with the drop-off in fourth line defense from Dowling to Lazar.
Evolving-Hockey
On the note of the team’s issues at center, though, Dawson Mercer could be a fix here if he stepped up to the task when asked to play up the middle. Perhaps adding a guy like Puljujarvi — or Daniel Sprong, who went unclaimed after being waived by Seattle — would make his life easier. As it stands, I am caught between two frames of mind: should Mercer stay on the middling third line, or should he switch with Noesen, hoping that the veteran can force enough scoring chances on that line to get a few more goals for the team? I would have loved to see the Devils experiment with a reclamation project such as Puljujarvi or Sprong, given their low costs and the negligible effect claiming them would have had on the team’s ability to accumulate cap space.
I believe there’s value to be had in acquiring a guy like Sprong, who had two straight 40-point seasons with fourth line minutes on Seattle and Detroit between 2022 and 2024. You might expect his defense to tank the team, but his lines outscored opponents 78 to 66 at even strength in those two years. At the very least, Sprong is someone who is at the level that the Devils wanted Alex Holtz to play at last season — someone who can find spots to score on the fourth line while chipping in PP2 production without posting unmanageable defensive numbers.
At the very least, I would like for the team to keep its eyes out for a player who might be able to bring more than one point for every 10 or 20 games played. It might be helpful on nights where the top six is locked down.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of the names that hit waivers over the last few weeks? Do you think the Devils should have considered them? Who would you have most wanted the team to claim? Do you think the Devils will play the waiver wire over the next few weeks? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.