Nill made a move Saturday morning to bolster the team's blue line, acquiring defenseman Ben Lovejoy from New Jersey in exchange for defenseman Connor Carrick and a third-round pick in 2019. With Marc Methot (knee surgery) out for the season and Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches) unlikely to return, Nill said adding some experience on the blue line was on his to-do list.
"We are in the stretch run, and it's an area of our team that we needed to strengthen yet," Nill said. "It's been good for us, and I give credit to the guys that have been battling through all these injuries, but we needed to add to it because we are in the stretch run here. We are one or two injuries from being in a lot of trouble.
"It was a chance to add an experienced veteran. It's something we've been looking to do. There were not a lot of defensemen available, so it's something we thought we better act on quickly to get it done."
The 35-year-old Lovejoy, who is 6-foot-1, 205 pounds and shoots right-handed, has played in 524 NHL games for Pittsburgh, Anaheim, and New Jersey over eleven seasons. He's also played 63 NHL playoff games and won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016.
"Excited," said Montgomery. "To be able to add someone who has won a Stanley Cup and has that kind of experience, playoff experience, it's really going to help us down the stretch drive and the playoffs.
"He gives us another warrior back there, he eats a lot of hard minutes. He's hard to play against. He's an excellent penalty killer. Where does he end up playing? Does he end up playing with Miro [Heiskanen, does he end up playing with [Jamie] Oleksiak, or do we play four right D? I don't know. We've got seven D, eight D that can really play."
Lovejoy, who is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, is expected to join the team in Chicago as the Stars begin their four-game road trip Sunday against the Blackhawks.
