New Jersey Devils: Pre-Season Look At Expansion Draft
Defensemen
The Devils protect
Expected roster players who do not need to be protected
Ty Smith, Reilly Walsh
Last candidate options
P.K. Subban has the biggest contract on the Devils and at the time of the expansion draft will have 1 year left. He may be the most interesting player to keep an eye on since the Devils gave up a lot and he has only spent one season here but the GM who traded for him is gone so management may not have the loyalty to the player and can admit it was a mistake, if it still looks that way. From the Seattle side he will give them a player they can throw on a billboard right away and use his name to try and bring in newer fans who know less about hockey. He may be a middle, or worse, pairing defender now but if you get fans in seats an owner may even push his GM to take him. His contract at 9 million will also be a big help getting them to the floor of the salary cap.
Ryan Murray was a high pick and is a solid defender when healthy. If he manages to do that he will almost for sure be protected but till that happens there is no reason to protect him.
And with the last spot spots the Devils protect…
Colton White, an interesting choice and one that may surprise a lot of people but currently it is really not worth protecting one of the most overpaid players. White is at the age he may or may not pan out but has shown well in Binghamton and does have an outside shot at the bottom pairing this season along with Reilly Walsh. This spot would have been going to Sami Vatanen once upon a time but the Devils have a bottom 5 defense in the league so there is not a lot to protect despite the bright future those players are all so young and do not need to be protected.
Goaltending
In the most obvious choice the Devils protect Mackenzie Blackwood, the future of our organization really hangs on him being as good as he has been. Not a lot more needs to be said than this.
Next. Analyzing Devils Prospects Playing Overseas. dark
Options for Seattle
Zajac, McCleod, Wood, Subban, Murray, Kulikov, Carrick, Crawford.
The most likely options to be picked are Subban and McCleod as it stands now. The real question is do they want all that salary or to try on a young player. For the Devils, there is very virtually nothing to worry about as neither piece will hurt the team if they leave much at all, especially in a few years when we are better.