New Jersey acquired Shane Bowers in the one-for-one trade.
By the end of the 2022-23 season, New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald knew his team was on the fast track to becoming a Stanley Cup contender. His young core got a taste of postseason hockey and now understands how difficult it is to win a round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In this summer series, I will chronologically break down every move the organization made this offseason and discuss how it positively or negatively impacts the team for the 2023-24 season.
GM Fitzgerald traded Reilly Walsh to the Boston Bruins in a one-for-one trade for Shane Bowers on June 26. The latter is a 24-year-old center who made his NHL debut as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.
Related: Shane Bowers: 3 Things to Know About Devils Newest Acquisition
The additions of defensemen Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes made one question the future of 24-year-old Walsh. A third-round draft pick, Walsh, has been in the Devils organization since the 2020-21 season and made his NHL debut on April 26, 2022, versus the Ottawa Senators.
Over his professional career, he was considered a top-ten prospect in New Jersey, but as the years went by, he was pushed further down the depth chart. During the 2021-22 campaign, the organization rotated Colton White, Kevin Bahl, Christian Jaros, and Nikita Okhotiuk, not giving Walsh an opportunity until the third to last game of the season.
To his credit, the Framingham, MA native celebrated his first NHL point in that game, earning the secondary assist on Nolan Foote's goal. This past season he did not receive a call-up as the club kept Bahl with the team as the sixth/seventh defenseman. In the American Hockey League (AHL), he led all Utica Comets defensemen with 41 points (nine goals, 32 assists) in 71 games.
This trade will ultimately benefit Walsh by giving him an opportunity he would never get in New Jersey. There is plenty to like about his game, but he would never jump ahead of Hughes, Nemec, or Bahl in the depth chart. After the trade, he posted the following message on Instagram:
"What a pleasure it’s been the last few years! I am so thankful for the memories given to me by Utica and New Jersey. With that being said, I am very excited for the opportunity to live out my childhood dream of wearing the Spoked B!"
Three photos accompanied the message. The first was from his Devils debut, the second as a member of the Utica Comets, and finally, a very young Walsh in a Boston Bruins jersey.
In a recent article, Russ Reed of WCVB-TV wrote that Walsh is good friends with Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
"We ended up playing golf a couple of weeks ago and kind of yucking it up with him," Walsh said to Reed. "So it was kind of cool to kind of get back talking with him a little bit more."
In addition to Swayman, he will reunite with former Devils teammates Pavel Zacha, Jesper Boqvist, and A.J. Greer at training camp.
Only time will tell if the Devils will end up regretting this trade, but at the moment, it was the best-case scenario for Walsh. The Massachusetts native will return home and fight for a roster spot for the team he grew up rooting for.