New Jersey Devils Waive Forward Hours After Acquiring Him Via Trade

On Friday, the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils made a deal involving two veteran enforcers, with the NHL world surprised by a deal that seemed to benefit neither team mightily.

The Devils turned around and made a surprise move on Saturday, as Elliotte Friedman has revealed the most prominent names on the NHL's waiver list as of Saturday.

Among those names was Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves, but beyond him, it was Zack MacEwan, acquired by the Devils in that deal was also waived, with the Devils likely to push him down to the AHL to start the new campaign.

Last season, the veteran forward played 21 games in the NHL and 23 games in the AHL, so clearly when making this deal, the Devils realized he would likely spend most of his time this season in the AHL.

As a result, it's unclear why exactly the Devils made this deal, as MacDermid has been a very solid piece for the team in years prior, but clearly they had a plan when making this move, and waiving MacEwan to get him down to the AHL was likely a part of that deal.

Beyond MacEwan, there weren't many big names placed on waivers on Saturday, and with the 2025/26 NHL campaign now right around the corner, it's safe to say that we haven't seen the last of some big time waiver additions ahead of the regular season opener.