The New Jersey Devils had a quiet trade deadline day -- GM Lou Lamoriello’s lone move was shipping out veteran d-man Marek Zidlicky -- and, all told, only two Devils changed teams over deadline week: Zidlicky and Jaromir Jagr, now with Florida.
This, of course, led to several questions about the guys that stayed put.
Like forwards Michael Ryder and Martin Havlat, specifically -- the two, who have served as healthy scratches repeatedly this season, remained in New Jersey following Monday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline... and neither sounded too excited about it.
Havlat was clearly frustrated about not being traded.
“Not much has changed. There’s no reason to talk at all,” Havlat said. “I never asked about being traded. We never talked about it. It was not in my hands.
“I’m just a player. That’s all.”
Ryder said he has not spoken to Lamoriello about not being traded.
“It’s pretty hard to move a guy when he hasn’t played and other teams are wondering why you’re not playing. It’s kind of tough, I think, to move somebody that’s not playing,” Ryder repeated.
“You don’t know what is going to happen at the trade deadline and what teams are looking and what people are trying to do. If I got moved, I got moved. I was hoping that something maybe would happen just so I would get an opportunity.”
As the comments suggest, it’s been a forgettable year for both. Havlat signed on the cheap in the hopes of reviving his career following a rough ending in San Jose, but has failed to make an impact and has just five goals and 14 points through 38 games.
Ryder, who had a decent campaign last year with 18 goals, has just six through 44 contests this season.
Neither Ryder nor Havlat dressed for Tuesday’s win over Nashville, and it’s tough to see how many opportunities they’ll get over the final 18 games of the season. While it’s possible that Lamoriello was just unable to move either of the two -- especially Ryder, who carries a $3.5M cap hit -- it does seem strange some kind of transaction couldn’t get done, especially since both will become UFAs on July 1.