Expansion Draft.

[HBK27]

as of now, I imagine that the most likely players to be taken are Moore, Merrill, and Wedgewood

There are so many good goaltenders out there, that I would be surprised if Wedgewood gets selected. I guess it depends on how well he does this season and what else is out there.

Moore may be the best player the Devils expose, but with only one year left on his deal before being a UFA, Vegas might look to Merrill as they'd be able to control his rights longer.

Also depends on which fowards get exposed. Henrique, Palmieri, Blandisi, Boucher & Zajac are all locks or close to it IMO to being protected, leaving just 2 slots for Cammalleri, DSP, Josefson and whichever players are brought in via trades or free agency (figure at least one spot). I certainly wouldn't rule out the Devils losing a forward, though someone like Merrill right now seems more likely.

 

[Brick City]

Expansion related, the new scheduling matrix will result in us only playing division teams 4 times a season. Here is the scheduling matrix for the Metro division starting in 2017-2018:

Eastern Conference (Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions - 8 Teams)
Within Conference (Division): 28 games
* 7 Teams: 2 Home / 2 Away
* 7 x 4 = 28 games
Within Conference (Non-Division): 24 games
* 4 Teams: 2 Home / 1 Away
* 4 Teams: 1 Home / 2 Away
* 4 x 3 = 12 games
* 4 x 3 = 12 games
Non-Conference: 30 games
* 15 Home / 15 Away
* 2 x 15 = 30

 

[njdevils1982]

with vegas only choosing only one player from each team im confident the devils wont lose anyone they will miss.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Josefson isn't being protected... I hope.

 

[NJDevs26]

Josefson isn't being protected... I hope.

Ideally he's one of the two 70-game forwards we can expose. He only needs 12 games next year and to be signed

 

[Emperoreddy]

Ideally he's one of the two 70-game forwards we can expose. He only needs 12 games next year and to be signed

I would bring him back just to expose him.

 

[Bleedred]

Josefson isn't being protected... I hope.

Don't even get me started. I really hope Shero doesn't think of him as still having this untapped potential. My only reason for even wanting him back is the shootout. Hopefully in a year or two, we find other guys that can contribute in the shootout. And possible more than just one guy that can consistently do it. There's not many things I would rather do less than watching Josefson struggle to reach the 20 point mark as the third line center again. That was easily my biggest pet peeve of last year. Not just him particularly, every incarnation of a third line that we had all year.

Ideally he's one of the two 70-game forwards we can expose. He only needs 12 games next year and to be signed

I would bring him back just to expose him.

I probably would as well.
I'd expose him to. I believe he's eligible to be a UFA after this upcoming season too.

 

[BenedictGomez]

The D is easy

Larsson, Greene, Severson, all protected.

Andy Greene is going to be 35 years old the season this takes place.

You do not protect 35 year old defensemen in NHL expansion drafts.

 

[Devil X]

Andy Greene is going to be 35 years old the season this takes place.

You do not protect 35 year old defensemen in NHL expansion drafts.

He's the Captain and our best defenseman outside of maybe Larrson after next season. He doesnt play an overly physical game which means he will be fine. You do protect him no question. Unless we some how get some superstar dman then Greene sure as hell gets protected. He means more to this team then you realize.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yeah they'd pretty much have to trade for/sign a reasonably good d-man to even consider not protecting Greene. You're not exposing Greene to protect Jon Merrill or John Moore unless one has a massive breakout season which I don't see happening. UFA defense is pretty much a wasteland of long-term options, and trading for another d-man isn't ideal at this point either.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Yeah they'd pretty much have to trade for/sign a reasonably good d-man to even consider not protecting Greene. You're not exposing Greene to protect Jon Merrill or John Moore unless one has a massive breakout season which I don't see happening. UFA defense is pretty much a wasteland of long-term options, and trading for another d-man isn't ideal at this point either.

Exactly why a free agent D makes no sense for us this year. Signing someone like Demers forces us to trade one of Greene, Lars, Severson and we would lose negotiating leverage as a result. A total waste for someone who isn't clearly better than the 3 we are currently protecting.

I think people underestimate how much the expansion draft is going to loom over trades and UFA contracts this offseason.

 

[Bleedred]

If the expansion draft came a year or two later, I'd maybe not protect Greene.

But I think you gotta protect him for next year. I'd say the same thing about Zajac. Expansion draft was a year or two later, maybe I dump Zajac. Not for this one though.

And like Devs26 said, no reason to not protect Greene to keep Moore or Merrill. Barring an ugly Salvador-like fall from Greene next season. Which I think is highly unlikely anyway.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Andy Greene is going to be 35 years old the season this takes place.

You do not protect 35 year old defensemen in NHL expansion drafts.

how much do you want to bet that Greene gets protected?

your terms.

 

[Classic Devil]

Andy Greene is going to be 35 years old the season this takes place.

You do not protect 35 year old defensemen in NHL expansion drafts.

Barring something unforeseen like us trading for PK Subban or Alex Pietrangelo without giving up Larsson, Greene, or Severson, it's a very safe bet that Greene will be protected. Who else are we going to protect? Moore? Merrill?

Assuming our defense stays as it is currently, and Greene's game doesn't fall off a cliff next season, we'll protect him. I don't see much in Greene's game to expect a sudden catastrophic fall-off. Hell, we had Tommy Albelin playing 14 minutes a game until he was 39, and he was still pretty damn solid. I've always thought Albelin and Greene play a pretty similar game.

(Our 2003 defense was ancient.)

 

[tr83]

Greene also doesn't have a ton of miles on him. He wasn't playing regularly in the NHL until he was 26. He's still drastically underrated by nearly anyone who doesn't watch Devils hockey on a regular basis. Including guys named Poile

 

[Zippy316]

Andy Greene is going to be 35 years old the season this takes place.

You do not protect 35 year old defensemen in NHL expansion drafts.

I don't see us acquiring a good enough defender to not protect him.

If we would have gotten Yandle/Goligoski in free agency, I would agree with you. The next best option to protect is Moore or Merrill and that's not worth it to risk losing Greene.

 

[tr83]

Now that Hall MUST be protected, who gets exposed?

 

[Emperoreddy]

Now that Hall MUST be protected, who gets exposed?

I believe we were a forward shy actually. Let me see.

Hall, Rico, Palms, Camm, Zajac, Boosh.

I don't see us needing to protect anyone else barring another signing and no issues exposing DSP and Beau.

Edit: 7 forwards so today we protect DSP and if we sign Okposo or Helm we just protect tune and expose DSP. Worst case of we feel Camm is falling off a cliff we expose him.

 

[NJDevs26]

Now that Hall MUST be protected, who gets exposed?

The bigger question is what third defenseman are we protecting? Even money that guy isn't on the team yet. Or it comes down to whether Merrill (if he's re-signed) or Moore has the better season.

 

[Emperoreddy]

We are fine with the expansion draft, we still won't lose anyone of importance and we have room on D now to protect a third guy if we sign or trade for one.

 

[Classic Devil]

Yeah, we don't have much to fear from the expansion draft (at the moment).

 

[Brodeur]

Yeah, we don't have much to fear from the expansion draft (at the moment).

At this rate, we'll be a team that can stand to benefit. Calgary dumped J.S. Giguere for a pick right before the 2000 Expansion Draft because they couldn't protect him. So maybe there'll be a similar type guy in limbo next June.

--------------

7F: Hall|Henrique|Palmieri|Cammalleri|Zajac|Boucher|Bennett?
3D: Greene|Severson|(hopefully decent Larsson replacement)
1G: Schneider

Exposed: Josefson|DSP?|Moore|Merrill?|Kinkaid|Wedgewood

 

[NJDevs26]

Yeah I do think there'll be some surprising trades between now and the expansion draft from teams that don't have room to protect everyone.

 

[Classic Devil]

At this rate, we'll be a team that can stand to benefit. Calgary dumped J.S. Giguere for a pick right before the 2000 Expansion Draft because they couldn't protect him. So maybe there'll be a similar type guy in limbo next June.

--------------

7F: Hall|Henrique|Palmieri|Cammalleri|Zajac|Boucher|Bennett?
3D: Greene|Severson|(hopefully decent Larsson replacement)
1G: Schneider

Exposed: Josefson|DSP?|Moore|Merrill?|Kinkaid|Wedgewood

That's how I see it too. We're going to probably have at least one forward slot more or less open for a late season acquisition at discount, and maybe even one defenseman slot depending on circumstances.

 

[HBK27]

As of now, I would put it at:

1F - Hall
2F - Henrique
3F - Palmieri
4F - Zajac
5F - Boucher
6F - Blandisi
7F - Cammalleri

EDIT: Forgot Cam earlier. Seems pretty solid at this point who they would protect, though maybe they expose Cammalleri if he has another injury plagued season.

Just sucks that Blandisi most likely needs to be protected despite only playing 2 pro seasons (he technically signed for the prior year to burn a year off his ELC, but never played).

On defense:

1D - Severson
2D - Greene
3D - ???

Most likely is a UFA they sign. Otherwise, will have to see how Merril, Moore, Scarlett & Helgeson perform this season. Would be surprised if they protected Moore with only one season on his contract.