On the Devils' Dumoulin Trade, Mittelstadt & O'Reilly Rumors, & More

The New Jersey Devils acquired Brian Dumoulin yesterday, but that's unlikely to be their only move ahead of today's trade deadline.

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The New Jersey Devils are off and running...kind of. Early yesterday, they acquired defenseman Brian Dumoulin from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a second-round pick and prospect Herman Traff. That was their only move of the day, but there have been plenty of rumors.

The Devils were in the Mikko Rantanen sweepstakes, but it appears he's heading to the Dallas Stars. Frank Seravalli reported they've checked in on Ryan O'Reilly, who has two years remaining on his deal. And there may be some smoke around Casey Mittelstadt. Let's get into the latest on this Trade Deadline Day.

Dumoulin Helps, But at a Steep Price

This was NOT the trade Devils fans wanted to start their trade deadline with. Before getting into the cost, let's talk about Dumoulin, the player. He's struggled this season, but that likely has to do with his role rather than his skill set.

The Ducks are an improved team, but they still played Dumoulin in a role above his pay grade. He was logging just over 70 percent of his ice time against elite and middle-of-the-lineup players (per PuckIQ). That shouldn't be the case with the Devils, even with Jonas Siegenthaler out of the lineup.

With Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon on the left side, Dumoulin will likely slide into a third-pair role, something he excelled at with the Seattle Kraken last season. As JFresh tweeted yesterday, Dumoulin defends high-danger areas well, has some puck-moving ability, and a good defensive stick:

Now, the cost. Yeah, this is not great. The Devils are not where they were a few years ago when they were stocked with draft capital and prospects. They have some, but not a lot. They have to be careful about how they spend their best assets, and they overpaid in this instance.

Dumoulin is a good defensive defenseman. That's not the issue, but paying a second-round pick and in a decent prospect in Traff for a third-pair rental defenseman? I know it's a sellers' market, but that's a steep price for a rental depth defender.

At least we know this won't be the only move the Devils make because why would you acquire Dumoulin and not do anything else? We'll see what comes next.