The Devils made a different kind of move today, sending a third-round pick to the Washington Capitals for defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler.
The Devils traded the Arizona Coyotes’ conditional third-round pick in the 2021 Draft (acquired in the Taylor Hall deal on December 15, 2019 according to the press release put out on the subject).
The condition for the pick is “if Arizona’s third-round pick for the 2021 NHL Draft is not transferred to New Jersey, New Jersey will instead trade their own third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft to Washington.”
The Devils acquired Siegenthaler, presumably to fill in on the blue line for the veterans they will likely be trading (think Dmitry Kulikov and Ryan Murray). Siegenthaler is 23-years-old.
He has not really gotten an opportunity to crack the Washington lineup this year, playing only seven games this season. He played 64 games in 2019-20, logging two goals, seven assists (nine points) and 43 penalty minutes.
He has played 97 career NHL games since 2018-19 and has a total of those two goals plus 11 assists (13 points) and 55 penalty minutes.
He is 6-foot, 2-inches and 210-pounds and a left-hand shot. The native of Zurich, Switzerland has played in 11 Playoff games, including seven in 2020.
He shares a birthday with Devils’ great Martin Brodeur, born May 6, 1997. He was the Caps’ second-round pick (57th overall) in 2015.
Prior to coming to North America to play for the Caps’ AHL affiliate in Hershey – where he played from 2014-15 to 2017-18 – Siegenthaler played in his native Switzerland with ZSC (National League A) and GC Kusnacht.
He has represented Switzerland internationally in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 World Championships. The press release notes that in 2017, he played with current Devils’ captain Nico Hischier. The two finished top two in scoring for the Swiss – Hischier with four goals, three assists for seven points and Siegenthaler with one goal and five assists for six points.