The New Jersey Devils have been one of the NHL’s busiest teams over the last few weeks, and the moves that grabbed the biggest headlines were impossible to miss. Simon Nemec was traded to the Calgary Flames.
Jacob Markstrom went to the Florida Panthers. Nico Hischier landed a massive five-year extension.
Sunny Mehta has wasted no time making his mark in his first season as GM.
Day 2 of free agency has also kept the Devils in the conversation because of Barrett Hayden’s offer sheet with the Utah Mammoth. The one-year deal is worth $4.775 million, and while that number doesn’t exactly put Utah in a cap crunch, the Mammoth have too many players on the books. On top of that, the CBA means Utah would not be able to trade Hayden for a full year.
New Jersey has also been busy adding depth, bringing in Amadeus Lombardi, Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, Declan Chisholm, Riley Tufte, and Vladislav Kolyachonok. But all those additions came with a little roster housecleaning, and that meant saying goodbye to several familiar faces.
Paul Cotter is among the more notable departures after signing with the Vancouver Canucks, but he wasn’t the only one. More than 10 players who suited up for the Devils last season are headed elsewhere.
Brian Halonen is one of them, and he’s now with the Boston Bruins. Since the Devils signed him out of Michigan Tech in 2022, he’s spent most of his time trying to turn promise into a real NHL role.
He has appeared in 19 NHL games, 217 AHL games, and one ECHL game. Halonen was productive for the Utica Comets, but that scoring touch never really carried over to the NHL level.
He did get a real look in 2025-26 and scored his first career goal, but his overall impact was limited. He still has a chance to develop into a useful bottom-six piece, just not in New Jersey.
Zack MacEwen also found a new home, landing with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Plenty of Devils fans probably barely remember he was on the roster, and that’s mostly because his stint was so brief.
He came to New Jersey in the trade that sent Kurtis MacDermid to the Ottawa Senators, and he brought exactly the kind of pace and energy the bottom six could use. The problem was health.
Two major injuries kept him to just three games last season. There was a case to be made for bringing him back as a depth option, but Toronto gave him a two-year deal, and that likely wasn’t a number Mehta wanted to match coming off the injuries.
Dennis Cholowski is heading somewhere that will definitely get noticed, signing with the New York Rangers. His time with the Devils never really clicked, and the fanbase never seemed fully sold after Tom Fitzgerald committed to him twice.
He was a willing fill-in and even stepped into the lineup during the 2025 playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes, but he often looked overmatched by what New Jersey was asking of him in Sheldon Keefe’s system. Now he’s off to the Devils’ most hated rival, though at least he won’t have to haul his belongings very far.
In Other News...
A Familiar Devils Winger Is Already Someone Elses Toughness Fix
A familiar face is once again being asked to add some edge to a young blue line, with Vancouver turning to veteran defenseman Luke Schenn on a one-year contract. The move fits the Canucks need for sturdier habits and heavier play in front of their own net, especially after Schenn led the NHL in hits last season and built a reputation as a reliable, straightforward presence.
Vancouver also added left winger Paul Cotter on a one-year deal, another player whose value has been tied as much to his physical bite as to his scoring touch. Cotter came off a season with New Jersey in which he posted 15 points and 192 hits, and for the Devils, the signing only adds to the sense that a player who brought toughness to their lineup has already become a target for another club looking to get harder to play against. [Read more 🡒]
Sunny Mehta Is Forcing A New Devils Identity Into Focus
Sunny Mehtas first months as the Devils general manager have started to sketch out a different kind of roster, one built less on flash and more on structure. After trading Jacob Markstrom and Angus Crookshank and then bringing in Jesper Boqvist, Evan Rodrigues and Ben Steeves, New Jersey has kept moving pieces around while also re-signing Nico Hischier and Nico Daws and adding Vladislav Kolyachonok and Riley Tufte.
The pattern goes beyond the transaction log. Mehtas first draft class already reflected the same idea, with seven picks aimed at players who could think the game, compete and handle both sides of the puck. Even the Devils handling of Paul Cotter, who moved on after not receiving a qualifying offer, fits the sense that this front office is willing to make hard calls as it pushes toward a clearer identity. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Just Forced Utah Into A Tough Call With Bold Move
The Devils are still looking for ways to improve their forward group, but the bigger ripple this week came from the offer-sheet market, where New Jersey has pushed another team into an uncomfortable holding pattern. Around the rest of the league, the top of the remaining free-agent list is thinning out, with Eeli Tolvanen drawing multiple contract offers in the four- and five-year range and Patrick Kane not expected to move immediately on July 1, so every front office is weighing whether to strike now or wait for the market to settle.
For New Jersey, the intrigue is less about the names still floating around and more about the pressure point it created for Utah. The Devils extended an offer sheet that puts Utah on a short clock to decide its next step, and the call is about more than just keeping a young player in place. This is the kind of move that can reshape the rest of July, because matching, declining or trying to rework the roster all carry consequences that could linger well beyond free agency. [Read more 🡒]