Things were tough enough for Ed Ward while fighting for a job with Atlanta and Anaheim, then the Stanley Cup champs went and traded for him.

“What New Jersey does, and you see it through the years, is that they promote from their youth and draft their players. Then you come, and you’re obviously intimidated,” said the 30-year-old right winger, who is getting and taking a real shot at making the team.

At 6-3 and 220, Ward has the size the Devils like, but he’s also showing them surprisingly good hands, taking passes deftly and relaying them promptly. He had two points in his first preseason game, added five hits in his second, and will be getting his third straight look when the Devils face the Bruins in Albany tonight.

Ward, drafted by Quebec in 1988, signed a one-year deal with the Devils after they traded a seventh-rounder for him to Anaheim on June 12. A veteran of 274 NHL games with Quebec and Calgary, as well as Atlanta and Anaheim, he can become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

“He’s skated well, played his position well, done a lot of good things in camp, and he has a pretty good burst of speed that I didn’t know about,” Larry Robinson said.

Like Turner Stevenson and Jim McKenzie, Ward is with the Devils to add muscle. There are no promises, and Ward could find himself available in the waiver draft Sept. 27. Otherwise, the Edmonton native is looking to earn a roster spot with hard-nosed play.

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Petr Sykora is working out off-ice at South Mountain after his Sept. 7 tonsillectomy. He had hoped to skate lightly today, but Robinson seemed dubious about that possibility … Devils visit the Isles tomorrow.