I think ideally we'd trade for a vet that can handle top 4 on the left that only has a year or two left on his contract. It would give a little time for the LHD to develop with less pressure. I'm just not sure who would feasibly be available, and if it would be worth the cost.The Defense is in a weird situation...
The right side is significantly better than than left - So you are going to be hard pressed to upgrade on Vatanen and Severson imo and even if you do upgrade on one of those what good is going to do having 1 as 3rd defender?
But the left side is full of Youth...Smith, Butcher, Davies, Mueller - And of course not youth but Greene. So any upgrade on the left side is going to hit the development of the youth...
Believe it or not but I think the Devils need to Standpat. Phase Greene out this season and see where you stand with Butcher, Davies and Smith. I do believe that is the best approach - Do nothing.
I've been saying for a year now that our left has quantity while the right has quality. I think both Vatanen and Severson are better than any of our LHD. I'm hoping that eventually changes after Ty gets his feet wet.
One argument for standing pat is that if we pick up any significant D, we're forced to expose one of our D that we probably don't wan to in the expansion draft. I presume the keepers right now are Vatanen, Severson, and Butcher, with Smith exempt. Perhaps there's a deal to be made with Seattle, or maybe we can end up leveraging the odd man out of another team like we thought was a possibility in the last expansion.