The Montreal Canadiens have dealt defenceman Johnathan Kovacevic to the New Jersey Devils in change for a fourth-round decide within the 2026 NHL Draft. Kovacevic had spent the final two seasons in a Canadiens uniform, taking part in in 139 video games and scoring 9 targets and 28 factors. He was claimed off of waivers from the Winnipeg Jets in October 2022.

Associated: Canadiens Ship Kovacevic to Devils for a Draft Decide

The 2017 third-round decide was caught in a logjam of younger Habs defencemen — he was the third-oldest rearguard on their roster behind David Savard and Mike Matheson, as he turns 27 on July 12.

Making Room for Younger Gamers?

This transfer seems to be in anticipation of a number of highly-touted prospects lastly making the soar full-time to the NHL. With Kovacevic being a right-handed defenceman, this may increasingly very properly imply that the staff is prepared to offer a number of of their high defence prospects an opportunity to crack the roster this season. Two of their finest prospects, David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux, are each right-handed defencemen. Mailloux obtained a one-game audition within the last sport of the common season, recording an help, whereas Reinbacher obtained an 11-game stint with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Laval Rocket.

The staff additionally boasts an abundance of left-handed defencemen — Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris, and the highly-touted Lane Hutson. Hutson made his debut on the finish of the season, recording two assists in two video games and can virtually actually be given each alternative to make the opening night time roster for the 2024-25 season. The staff additionally signed Adam Engstrom to a three-year entry-level contract on the finish of this season, although he’s doubtless headed to Laval for some seasoning in North America.

Kovacevic Joins One other Younger Squad

Whereas this transfer actually facilitates extra alternatives for the inflow of younger Habs defencemen, it additionally provides Kovacevic one other alternative on a membership with playoff aspirations. The Devils didn’t make the postseason final season, however superior to the second spherical in 2022-23 after defeating the New York Rangers in seven video games. He joins a squad boasting a number of the league’s most fun younger gamers with the likes of Jack and Luke Hughes, Nico Hischier, Simon Nemec, and Jesper Bratt. New Jersey additionally not too long ago acquired ahead Paul Cotter from the Vegas Golden Knights and goaltender Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames.

Kovacevic will even be part of his former teammate Jake Allen, because the netminder was traded from the Canadiens to the Devils on the commerce deadline final season. The function the Hamilton, Ontario native will serve in New Jersey is unclear — the place he matches on the depth chart amongst the likes of Dougie Hamilton, Hughes, Nemec, Brendan Smith, and Jonas Siegenthaler stays to be seen. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 223 kilos, he turns into the Devils’ second tallest and heaviest defenceman behind Hamilton.

This commerce forward of July 1’s NHL free company continues to propel the staff ahead of their rebuild. Simply days after a profitable draft, seeing them choose Ivan Demidov with their fifth-overall decide, they’ve appeared to proceed the youth motion by transferring out a veteran (compared to the remainder of the staff’s defensive corps) participant. Will probably be extraordinarily thrilling to see what basic supervisor Kent Hughes and firm have up their sleeves in an offseason the place expectations from the fanbase are rising and the staff goals to be extra aggressive.

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With this transfer, followers ought to count on Hutson (and presumably Reinbacher and/or Mailloux) to make the staff’s opening night time roster. This vastly will increase the probabilities of Reinbacher or Mailloux starting the season with the massive membership.