Familiar Face Returns

Eric Staal has returned from his year long loan in New York and Chicago!

The Devils have traded to bring back Eric Staal in exchange for Nick Foligno. This trade was done in two separate deals as agreed upon by GMs Gidlow and Knedel. 

The full trade is as follows:

New Jersey receives: Eric Staal, Matt Tennyson and CHI 2022 4th round pick

Chicago receives: Nick Foligno, NJ 2022 5th and FLA 2021 7th

Nick Foligno was brought in to help New Jersey possibly make a push for the playoffs at the start of the season, but it hasn’t turned out that way. New Jersey are currently 7th in the standings and don’t look as if they can get in the playoffs through a wild card spot. With his pending UFA status looming in the offseason it looked as if New Jersey weren’t planning on bringing him back. Moving Foligno to Chicago gives him an opportunity to play in the playoffs and a familiar face is brought back to New Jersey.

We spoke with GM Knedel to get his thoughts on the trade. “We’re excited to have Eric back with us. It was hard to make the trade that we did last year but we believed that the package was too good to pass up on and although we just brought Eric in that offseason, we wanted to give him a chance to play in the playoffs and challenge for a cup.”
 

In addition to this trade, New Jersey made a deal with Pittsburgh to move on from Jonathan Quick.

The trade:

New Jersey receives: PIT 2021 7th and $600,000

Pittsburgh receives: Jonathan Quick, Matt Tennyson and NJ 2021 5th

Quick wasn’t having the best year in New Jersey this season (1-4-1, 3.78 GAA and .893 sv%) and it was unfortunate as he was an all-star and a standout player last season. In order to give the organization some breathing room Quick became a cap casualty and moved to make space for any other potential moves the organization may make.

A smaller trade was made as well with Dallas to provide depth to the Devils and it allows Mario Ferraro to move down to Springfield and help them with their push for the Calder cup

The trade:

New Jersey receives: Anthony Bitetto

Dallas receive: PIT 2021 7th