Can you believe what a difference one year makes?
Saturday afternoon the Devils hosted the Hurricanes for a matinee at Prudential Center that served as a stark reminder of just how different things are this year as compared to last season. The end result, a 4-2 loss for the Devils only highlighted those differences further. So, even though this was a 1-1 game through 40 minutes of play, it was a momentary slip-up by Nico Daws that allowed Carolina to go ahead 2-1 early in the third period. Last year, perhaps Vitek Vanecek made that “extra” save. Or, maybe one of the posts that was hit by Jack and Luke Hughes, turns into a goal instead of a missed opportunity.
Less than 24 hours after the NHL’s annual Trade Deadline, the Devils and Hurricanes showed just how much their rosters were changed by the flurry of trades that took place over the past couple of days. Tyler Toffoli no longer being a Devil and Evgeny Kuznetsov now being a Hurricane were two of the biggest changes and both had an effect on the outcome of this game.
Had Toffoli still been a Devil, perhaps they would have found a way to score another goal or two. And the addition of Kuznetsov made the Hurricanes more dangerous, especially on the power play. Even though he didn’t record a point, his puck movement with the man advantage gave Carolina an added dimension to its attack that had previously been lacking.
Now, as for the differences a year makes, let’s take a trip in our time machine to see exactly what I mean.
On March 9, 2023, the Hurricanes sat in first-place in the Metropolitan Division with 94 points. They were in the midst of a dominant season that saw them use their strong regular season to propel themselves all the way to the Eastern Conference Final before falling to the Cinderella story Florida Panthers.
Meanwhile, the Devils were sitting in second place, nipping at the Hurricanes’ heels with 90 points and enjoying a surprising season that saw them return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017-18. They came back from a multi-game deficit to beat the Rangers in the opening round of the post-season before succumbing to Carolina in round two.
Last year’s Trade Deadline took place on March 3, 2023, so about a week earlier than the March 8, 2024 deadline that just passed. Last season, Carolina and New Jersey were both in a position to buy at the deadline. Here’s a quick recap of the players each team brought in to fortify their rosters for the 2023 stretch run.
Carolina acquired Shayne Gostisbehere and Jesse Puljujarvi.
New Jersey obtained Timo Meier, Timur Ibragimov, Scott Harrington, Santeri Hatakka, Zachary Emond and Curtis Lazar. (Meier and Lazar were the only two players brought in to help the NHL roster as the others were considered organizational depth).
While Puljujarvi and Lazar didn’t contribute much to their new teams, Meier and Gostisbehere had varying degrees of success in their new homes.
Even though Meier did not perform up to his pre-trade levels, he still had 14 points in 21 regular season games before recording just four points in 11 playoff games last Spring. On the other side of things, Gostisbehere had 10 points in 23 regular season games with Carolina before contributing a scant three assists in 15 playoff games.
However, outside of point production, Gostisbehere had a terrific 68.6% CF% with the Hurricanes, meaning the team very much controlled play whenever he was on the ice. In the playoffs that dropped to a still solid 58.2%. Meanwhile, Meier’s CF% numbers were 60.2% in the regular season and 59.2% in the playoffs. Solid, but not spectacular.
Now that we know what 2023 looked like, let’s travel back to the present day and see how different things are.
Currently, Carolina is sitting in second place in the Metropolitan Division with 82 points – just a couple of points back of the division-leading Rangers. The Hurricanes have had to scratch and claw their way through large parts of this season due to injuries and poor goaltending. But now, as their health has returned, they look like a true Cup contender.
As for New Jersey, there were high expectations for this team when the season began, but the Devils have mostly crashed and burned. They currently sit in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with 66 points and are six points behind Tampa Bay for the second Wild Card spot. Goaltending, defense, and critical injuries have been Jersey’s undoing this season and they are now focusing on 2024-25 instead of being the Cup contenders they thought they’d be.
At this year’s deadline, the Hurricanes swung big, acquiring Jake Guentzel and Ty Smith from Pittsburgh. They also paid Washington pennies on the dollar to obtain Evgeny Kuznetsov.
On the flip side, New Jersey sold off Tyler Toffoli, Colin Miller, and Vitek Vanecek while bringing in Jake Allen, Kurtis MacDermid, Kaapo Kahkonen, and a handful of mid-to-late round draft picks over the next few years. (The Devils also had to surrender a few draft picks to make some of these trades happen).
In other words, these two teams are headed in very different directions.
With the additions of Guentzel and Kuznetsov, Carolina becomes an extremely scary team for any potential playoff opponent. As for the Devils, they’re now hoping to go “big-game hunting” in the offseason as they attempt to find a goalie. They’ll also need to fill holes on defense and upfront before they can get back to the playoffs, let alone be considered a Cup contender.
One year, that’s all it took for the fortunes of these teams to change. Will another year from now yield similar results or will the pendulum swing back in the other direction? Only time will tell.
