New Jersey Devils acquire Brian Dumoulin

Despite losing Jack Hughes for the season, the Devils spent some quality assets on the rental defenseman.

Follow along on Twitter @ToddCordell | @InfernalAccess

Be sure to join the Discord channel to talk hockey with our writers and subscribers.

---

There was a lot of speculation – rightly or wrongly – the season-ending injury to Jack Hughes would not change the New Jersey Devils’ plans to buy at the trade deadline. The rumors were true.

I predicted Tom Fitzgerald would make three deals leading up to Friday afternoon’s deadline.

He has pulled the trigger on his first, shipping a 2nd round pick and prospect Herman Traff (a 3rd in 2024) to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Brian Dumoulin.

Dumoulin is a 6’4’, left-shot defenseman who has averaged just under 20 minutes a night for the Anaheim Ducks this season.

He is not the player he once was – his skating has started to slip with age – but his defensive impacts have generally been solid on a yearly basis.

The metrics haven’t been as great this season but he still ranks 3rd among Ducks defenseman in defensive rating, behind only Jackson LaCombe and Radko Gudas.

The Devils are comfortable he can hold his own on a better and more structured team. I think that’s a reasonable assumption.