NHL Trade: Senators & Devils Complete Swap

Kurtis MacDermid throw punch in a fight during a game

A couple of enforcers have swapped jerseys in a trade announced on Friday by the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils. Kurtis MacDermid heads to Ottawa, while Zack MacEwen goes to Jersey.

The #sens have acquired Kurtis MacDermid from the #NJDevils for Zack MacEwen.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 3, 2025

MacEwan might be breathing a sigh of relief to be out of the Montreal Canadiens' division, where he's taken some beatings from Arber Xhekaj.

You would think that Zack MacEwan wouldn’t go after Arber Xhekaj again after getting his ass handed to him last year pic.twitter.com/OU8IIhTCpq
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) October 1, 2025

Meanwhile, Xhekaj and his brother Florian might be in for a tougher challenge going up against MacDermid, the latter of whom more than proved his mettle in his epic heavyweight tilt with NY Rangers' beast Matt Rempe last year.

Kurtis MacDermid will forever be a Devils legend just for this fight with Matt Rempe to start the game 🥊 pic.twitter.com/7rUeqz1dRy
— Devils Fanatics (@devilsfanatics) October 3, 2025

In fact, Senators insider Bruce Garrioch said the trade shows that "The Ottawa Senators have served notice to the Atlantic Division that they won’t be pushed around.

Senators 'serve notice they won't be pushed around' with MacDermid acquisition

"The Senators will never admit it, but part of this move was made to serve notice to the Montreal tough guys, Arber Xhekaj and his brother, Florian, that there won’t be any more nights like they had in Quebec City when they ran roughshod over the Senators," in a 5-0 Habs win in Tuesday's exhibition game.

Neither MacDermid nor MacEwan brings much to the scoresheet, but their various levels of toughness and hard-hitting styles provide a certain element that's needed for these teams.

MacDermid, 6'5", 233 pounds, has recorded 391 penalty minutes in 288 career games with 558 hits and just 31 points. He's never topped the single-digit point mark in his eight-year career, while averaging 9:09 of ice time. Last season, with the Devils, he was scoreless in 23 contests, in 5:47 TOI per night.

The Devils cleared $375K in cap space with the deal, as MacDermid’s $1.15 million cap hit for the next two seasons is off the books. MacEwen is going into the final year of his deal at the minimum $775,000.

MacEwen, 6'4", 225 pounds, scored two goals with one assist in 21 games with Ottawa last season, with 21 penalty minutes and three fights. He recorded 49 hits.