Last Summer, Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes traded Jonathan Kovacevic to the New Jersey Devils for a modest return, a 2026 fourth-round pick. Since then, the right-shot defenseman has scored a goal, 13 assists and has a plus-11 rating in 63 games.
Meanwhile, since Logan Mailloux wasn’t ready for the NHL and David Reinbacher suffered a serious knee injury, forcing Hughes to go out and get another right-shot defenseman in Alexandre Carrier from the Nashville Predators. Since arriving in Montreal, the Quebec native put up 13 points in 31 games and has a plus-six rating.
After losing Jack Hughes to a season-ending injury earlier this week, the Devils announced today that they have put pen to paper on a five-year pact with the Habs’ former defenseman worth $20 M with an AAV of $4M. One cannot make up for the other, but it’s still good news for the Devils.
This wasn’t Hughes’ best trade, far from it, but acquiring Carrier minimized the damage, furthermore, he’s still under contract for another two years at $3.75 M per. It will be interesting to see how Mailloux and Reinbacher look at next training camp, for now at least, it seems like they’ll be helping the Laval Rocket in the playoffs this Spring.