The Devils have acquired the signing rights to RFA forward Thomas Bordeleau from the Sharks in exchange for Shane Bowers, both clubs announced.
The trade marks a swap of underperforming prospects, although calling Bowers a prospect at this stage of his career is a big stretch. He turns 26 later this month and now joins his fifth NHL organization after being a first-round pick by the Senators in 2017 out of Boston University.
Bowers, a 6’2″ center, has seen NHL action in each of the last three seasons but is still looking for his first NHL point. Twelve of his 13 career appearances have come over the last two seasons with New Jersey, where he averaged 9:03 per game and went 8-for-23 on faceoffs (34.8%) with 12 hits.
The Nova Scotia native hasn’t displayed consistent upside in the minors, either. He had just three goals in 65 games with AHL Utica last season, adding 14 assists for 17 points with a -14 rating. He’s produced just 0.34 points per game over seven AHL seasons during stops in the Devils, Avalanche, and Bruins organizations.
While Bordeleau has a lower draft pedigree and has also failed to capture a full-time NHL role, he’s three years younger than Bowers and has displayed far more offensive competency at the NHL and AHL levels. That makes this a shrewd pickup for the Devils, and it’s fair to wonder if Bordeleau requested a trade out of San Jose amid a logjam of forward prospects in the Bay Area.
Either way, the 5’10” center gets a fresh start in Newark with a chance to make the opening night roster in October. The 23-year-old University of Michigan product posted six goals and 18 points in 44 NHL games with the Sharks in the last four years, and he logged a 14-24–38 scoring line in 59 games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda last year. He was an AHL All-Star in 2022-23 and was the Big 10’s Rookie of the Year with Michigan back in 2020-21.
New Jersey will need to get Bordeleau signed to a new contract, but once they do, he’ll look to compete for a roster spot alongside names like rookie Arseni Gritsyuk and depth signing Angus Crookshank. If he doesn’t crack the roster, he’d need to land on waivers to go to Utica.
Give me Bordeleau over Bowers for sure.
For whatever reason Bordeleau never got a legitimate shot on the Sharks. I think this is a great under the radar move by the Devils.
Well this is a head-scratcher. Only way this makes sense is if Bordeleau refused to sign with the Sharks. Which is a possibility.
Beat me to it
Mike Grier is not a good general manager when it comes to making trades. Unfortunately, making trades a huge part of the job
Literally what do you base this on? Trading Karlsson’s terrible contract with barely any retention is an amazing trade on its own.
Grier has actually done a pretty good job considering the shambles he took over .. getting out of the karlsson contract should buy him an extra couple of years .. he’s also doing his best to solve the hole in goal.. moving off players that don’t fit or don’t want to be there