Devils acquire AHL rookie Étienne Morin in blockbuster trade
New Jersey paid for Étienne Morin’s upside, landing a 21-year-old who split his rookie pro year between 42 AHL games in Calgary and seven ECHL games in Rapid City.
The Devils paid a steep price for Étienne Morin, sending Šimon Nemec and Maxim Tsyplakov to Calgary along with two conditional first-round picks and a 2026 second-round pick to bring in the 21-year-old defenseman on June 23. For New Jersey, the move brought in a rookie who had already logged a full season in the American Hockey League and another brief stop in the ECHL, a profile that says more about development than finished product.
Morin finished his first pro season with the Calgary Wranglers at 42 games, one goal and six assists. He also appeared in seven games for the Rapid City Rush, where he added one goal and two assists. That split is part of the appeal for a team like New Jersey, because it shows a young defenseman already being used across levels while he adjusted to the pro pace.
The pedigree came long before the trade. Calgary drafted Morin 48th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft and signed him to a three-year entry-level contract on July 5, 2024. Before turning pro, Morin built a heavy offensive resume in major junior, including 58 points in 62 games for the Moncton Wildcats in 2024-25 and 49 points in 58 games in 2023-24. He also helped Moncton win the QMJHL championship in 2025, when the Wildcats edged Rimouski 3-2 on May 19 and Morin finished the series with seven points.
That is the type of track record New Jersey is buying, a puck-moving defenseman who has already shown he can produce at the junior level and hold up through a rookie AHL season. The question now is where he fits in the Devils’ defense pipeline. If he pushes quickly, the trade gives him a clearer NHL runway through Newark. If he lands in Utica first, he will have to work through the Comets’ blue line and earn his minutes the hard way.
For Calgary, the move cut loose another young defender who had already been through the Wranglers’ rotation. For New Jersey, it added a prospect with draft capital, a title run and a year of pro hockey behind him, plus a path that now runs through the Devils’ development system instead of the one he was just climbing in Alberta.
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