The theme so far for the 2019 offseason has been watching other teams in the Metro get better while the New York Islanders move laterally on July 1 and then don’t do anything else when it comes to improving the team.
Yesterday, the Devils were the team getting better for a relatively cheap price. For a third-round pick in 2020 and a second-rounder in 2021, the Devils landed Nikita Gusev from the Vegas Golden Knights.
They then inked him to a two-year $9 million deal ($4.5 million AAV). Gusev has never played in the NHL but over the last three years in the KHL he’s put up 214 points.