The banged-up New Jersey Devils wasted no time filling an area of need just a little more than 24 hours before the trade deadline, as talks pick up around the NHL and players keep changing places.
New Jersey acquired veteran defenseman Brian Dumoulin from the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday for a second-round pick and the rights to unsigned 19-year-old prospect Herman Traff. The Ducks are retaining half of Dumoulin's salary for the rest of this season and will get the better of the second-rounders between Edmonton's and Winnipeg's in the draft this summer.
Dumoulin, 33, has played 768 career regular-season and playoff games. He won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 and this season has 16 points while skating just under 20 minutes on average over 61 games with Anaheim.
"Brian was good for us both on and off the ice, and we wish him well in New Jersey," Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. "This wasn't an easy decision for us. We do feel this allows more opportunity for our young defensemen, who have proven they can play and succeed at the NHL level."
The Devils' acquisition comes after they learned leading scorer Jack Hughes is done for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery and with No. 1 defenseman Dougie Hamilton also out because of injury. With Hughes joining Jonas Siegenthaler on long-term injured reserve, they can add roughly $10 million worth of players before the deadline, even after getting Dumoulin.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald has any number of options for how to use that space. Getting a high-end forward -- ideally a center -- would help fill the void left by Hughes' absence. Hughes is tied with Carolina's Mikko Rantanen in the league scoring race with 70 points on 27 goals and 43 assists.
Rantanen's future remains the biggest mystery to watch before Friday's 3 p.m. ET deadline. Already traded once this year from the Colorado Avalanche to the Hurricanes in a three-team blockbuster in late January, the 2022 Cup-winning, point-per-game winger in his prime could be on the move again with no guarantee Carolina will be able to sign the pending free agent beyond this season.
Others available include several forwards: the New York Islanders' Brock Nelson, the Penguins' Rickard Rakell, the Philadelphia Flyers' Scott Laughton and the Vancouver Canucks' Brock Boeser.