Seattle Kraken Mock Draft: New Jersey Devils Selection
By Rob DeLuca
Wednesday marks the first official day of the Seattle Kraken in the National Hockey League. Their expansion draft takes place at 8:00 P.M. ET on ESPN2. We are, of course, going to focus on who they will be taking from the New Jersey Devils. There are a couple of names that jump right out at you in terms of who is available, so let’s break this down.
The 26-year-old forward had an extremely underwhelming first season in New Jersey. A lot of fans are left wondering if that time with Auston Matthews and co. are the cause of possibly inflated numbers from his time in Toronto. He is due $3.4 million over the next two seasons and there is definitely room for growth. He is a solid overall playmaker that just could not find the back of the net with the Devils. It is definitely an intriguing player to take if you are the Kraken. The analytics people would tell you there is still hope for Johnsson as well. Also let’s not forget, the team only gave up Joey Anderson for him so it really is not a bad trade.
At 26, this young defenseman has done nothing but go downhill since an outstanding rookie season in 2017-18. Particularly on the scoresheet, Butcher has seen major regression in all of his numbers which is not a great sign for someone trying to turn things around. He was also a healthy scratch for most of this season, seeing just 23 out of the 56 games, which, would have been lower if not for injuries to other defensemen. But the analytics people believe Butcher should also be given another shot.
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This is an interesting possibility for Seattle. He is not going to dazzle you with any offensive showstoppers. This is a chance for the Kraken to get some physical presence on the team and to do it in a cheap way. With so much high-priced talent available for them to take they are going to need to take some lower contracts in order to balance it out. So this 23-year-old big body might just be the solution at just $875,000.
This is not going to happen. But I know you people will freak out if he is not at least mentioned as a possibility so I will throw the bone. This 32-year-old former Norris trophy defenseman has been underwhelming since he arrived in New Jersey in 2019. He is not performing even close to his $9 million salary. We can all acknowledge that for sure as well as he was a little bit better this past season than his first season. But once again with all of the other high-priced talent out there, Seattle will definitely be steering clear here. Plus, the Devils should not want him to be taken. Losing the Subban contract would put them back to $20 million under the cap floor.
Decision
There is a chance I could be completely wrong here and it is nobody I listed here. But that would be an absolute surprise to all of us. These are the four most notorious names we have available for the Kraken to take. It may be a tougher choice than many think, there are going to be a lot of side deals made and it will be interesting to see if Tom Fitzgerald makes one of his own. Regardless, someone has to be taken.
I believe that Will Butcher no longer has a future as a New Jersey Devil. He will be one of the first defensemen of the Seattle Kraken. We will see if I am correct on Wednesday night.