Want more signs Lou Lamoriello wasn't happy with how the Devils defense was playing? Aside from the rumors that New Jersey had talked to Anaheim about Scott Niedermayer? Well, Lou went through and made a deal that improves their depth at the position if nothing else. The Devils acquired Martin Skoula from the Toronto Maple Leafs, the morning after he'd been traded to Toronto for Alexei Ponikorovski from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The deal appears to be for what TSN's Darren Dreger calls "a middle-round pick". UPDATE: Bob McKenzie of TSN calls it a 5th Rounder.
Skoula won a Stanley Cup in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche, and spent four years playing under Devils head coach Jacques Lemaire with the Minnesota Wild. Frankly, if Jacques likes him, and he's been through the battles, I'm fine with the deal. I understand Lou's reticence to blow things up yet again for a big-name defenseman that he may be unfamiliar with. That said, it doesn't necessarily alleviate your fears of the Devils defense breaking down like they did last night again.
More to come the rest of the day, we'll all see if this is just a part of more work being done by Lou to improve the team. Check out SBNation's Trade Deadline section for much more.