The Devils GM made quite a steal by acquiring Johnathan Kovacevic
When Kent Hughes traded Johnathan Kovacevic to the New Jersey Devils on June 30, no one was surprised by this personnel move.
As we know, there was starting to be some congestion on defense for the Canadiens and the proof was that Jordan Harris was also traded before the start of training camp.
However, as reported by the site Danslescoulisses.com, it seems the Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has managed the steal of the year so far because at the time of writing these lines, the new Devils colour bearer is doing quite well with his new team.
After eight games this season, the right-handed defenseman is tied for eighth place among his team's top scorers with a certain Jack Hughes.
Kovacevic also excels defensively with a +2 differential and ranks third among Devils defensemen in terms of playing time.
It must be said that the former Canadiens benefits from the fact that the young defensive prodigy Luke Hughes is still on the sidelines but that takes absolutely nothing away from the work of Kovacevic and who does the simple things that we expect from a defender of his caliber.
It must be admitted that the latter had still done well in the Canadiens uniform during the last two seasons with collections of 15 and 13 points.
Not bad for a player who was claimed on waivers before the start of the 2022-2023 season. We recall that the Canadiens traded Johnathan Kovacevic to the New Jersey Devils during the off-season in return for a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft.
