Devils Should Not Mess With their Center Depth Prior to Trade Deadline

Nick Bjugstad and Cody Glass have been rumored to be on the block, but the Devils' brass should exercise caution instead.

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With the trade deadline just three days away, the rumor mill is running at Mach-10, with many of the New Jersey Devils’ players making their way on trade boards and the like.

Two names rumored to be out there are the Devils’ bottom-six centers Cody Glass and Nick Bjugstad. The former’s name has been thrown out by Arthur Staple and Thomas Hickey, while the latter appeared on Chris Johnson’s most recent trade board, where it was mentioned that he was “likely” to move.

I must admit utter confusion at either proposition.

It’s the first time in two seasons that the Devils have had legitimate four-line center depth, something that has been a sore subject for the team considering Jack Hughes’ status as being oft-injured. Last season, New Jersey was icing the likes of Justin Dowling for extended portions of the season, and this season, Luke Glendening solidified himself as one of the worst regularly deployed players in the entire National Hockey League.

Now, not only do the Devils have four NHL-caliber centers on their everyday roster, but they have four great options at their respective positions. Jack is a top-5 center in the NHL when healthy. Nico Hischier is arguably the second-best 2C in the league. As I’ve propositioned before, there is a legitimate argument to Glass being one of the best third-line centers in the league. I wouldn’t call Bjugstad a world-beating fourth-line center, but he is a solid enough choice and a monumental upgrade over Glendening.

I suppose that the argument for trading Glass is that he is in the midst of a true career year, pacing for 22 goals in a full 82 games. I would certainly argue that is unlikely for him to do so again, and teams always pay premiums for third-line centers.

With that said, there are plenty of counterarguments. For one, Glass fits the age of the core perfectly at 26 years of age, and I’m not sure the picks and young players that he could fetch actually amount to the on-ice impact that he has every time he steps out onto the sheet. He’s driving play at a high level, scoring quite a few goals relative to his deployment, and shutting down the opposition at his typically elite levels. I don’t think a late first-round pick is worth that at all. Plus, he has another year remaining on his very team-friendly $2.5 million AAV contract.

Then, there’s Bjugstad, who the Devils just acquired. He has played in just four games as a Devil. The 6’6, 210-pound former 24-goal-scorer was a quietly strong move by GM Tom Fitzgerald just prior to the Olympic freeze, who seemingly had eyes on next season and beyond with the trade.

He hasn’t been great with the Devils in his first few games from an underlying standpoint, but the eye test results are somewhat conflicting in that regard. On top of that, his underlying numbers throughout his career have been quite competitive, generally winning his minutes while providing a surprising amount of offense in a fourth-line capacity.

If the Devils believe they can get a substantially better package than what they paid to get him (Thomas Bordeleau and a fourth-round pick), then I can kind of see the appeal. Even still, it would have to be something like a second-rounder or an equivalent package for me to make sense of it. Reverting the center depth for a marginal asset upgrade doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me.

The other argument I can see in favor of moving off of Bjugstad is that the fourth line is too highly paid in general. Bjugstad is only a part of that, but I’m of the opinion that a fourth line is best served by three league-minimum (or close to) forwards who play less than 10 minutes of exorbitantly low-event hockey. Of course, some cap hit increase is warranted for a player who can meaningfully chip in every now and then, like Bjugstad, but the best teams in the league typically have some of the lowest-paid fourth lines.

To that extent, I would far prefer to move off of one or both of Stefan Noesen ($2.75 million) or Maxim Tsyplakov ($2.25 million) instead of Bjugstad, who gets $1.75 million for this season and next while playing a more premium position with a better impact than either of those two players. Fourth line wingers grow on trees, and if the fourth-line next season consists of Bjugstad at $1.75 million and two wingers at $1 million or less — call it Paul Cotter and Zack MacEwen — I think the Devils are in a decent spot.

With all of that fleshed out, I think it would be a mistake to move Glass or Bjugstad and mess with the best center depth they’ve had since 2022-23. Barring some major overpayment, the Devils should be more than comfortable rolling with what they have down the middle.