Gourde Injury Shouldn't Affect Devils' Trade Deadline Plans

Even with Yanni Gourde out 5-7 weeks, the New Jersey Devils should find what they need to upgrade at center.

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The trade market is heating up, especially in the Metropolitan Division. Mikko Rantanen went to the Carolina Hurricanes last week, Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, and J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers last night.

We know the New Jersey Devils need a third-line center, among other things, but when will they pull the trigger on a trade? And, more importantly, what's the market looking like, especially after Yanni Gourde's injury?

Gourde Was a Fit Before Injury

Yesterday evening, the Seattle Kraken announced Gourde underwent sports hernia surgery, putting him out of action for 5-7 weeks. The trade deadline is exactly five weeks from yesterday, so he could return around the deadline if he's on the lower end of that timeline.

Gourde is not the player he used to be. He's slowed down, and injuries have been a problem, especially this season. Despite that, it still looks like there's a pretty capable player here.

Even though Gourde's underlying numbers don't look great, his impacts have been excellent when he's played. He's been one of the better two-way, middle-six centers in the NHL:

Gourde's counting totals may not show it (he has 16 points in 35 games), but he still looks like a serviceable play driver, per Corey Sznajder's tracked microstat data. The Devils need a driver to upgrade the third line, so I see the fit.

Had Gourde remained healthy until the trade deadline, I'm almost certain he would have been a top target for general manager Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils.

I still wouldn't rule it out since Gourde does project to come back around the trade deadline, but the Devils may want to make a trade before then since everyone around them is already loading up. So what does the rest of the market look like? And who could they turn to?