The New Jersey Devils have made their first trade in 2019 and it is a swap of minor league defensemen. As announced earlier this evening on their website, the Devils traded 24-year old left-shooting defenseman Michael Kapla to the Minnesota Wild organization for 25-year old right-shooting defenseman Ryan Murphy. As clarified in this tweet by the Devils, Murphy will report to Binghamton.
This is a minor league deal. Kapla made five appearances for New Jersey in the 2016-17 after he signed a contract out of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.