New Jersey Devils

On the Devils' expansion draft decisions
May 8, 2017, 1:17 PM ET [19 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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1) The expansion draft is just over a month away and I still have no idea who the New Jersey Devils are going to protect.

Up front, for example, it would make sense to expose someone like Mike Cammalleri. He is usually an effective contributor when healthy but, well, he's not healthy very often. The best course of action is probably exposing Cammalleri in hopes of getting his contract off the books (there are two years remaining at $5 million per).

In saying that, who are the Devils going to protect up front instead?

As it stands, I would say Taylor Hall, Travis Zajac, Kyle Palmieri, and Adam Henrique are locks. That is four forwards.

I think Beau Bennett will be re-signed and protected -- he quietly had a good year -- but I'm not sure that's as much of a lock as I'd like it to be.

After that, there are a whole lot of question marks. Stefan Noesen was pretty good down the stretch but a few bodies need to go to make room for the ones the Devils bring in (or the kids that come up). Devante Smith-Pelly had a horrible season and is not a guy you'd want to protect. Jacob Josefson did some nice things defensively but dealt with injury problems and couldn't produce. Then, the rest of the options (Luke Gazdic, Carter Camper, Petr Straka, Ben Thomson, etc.) are AHL fillers.

So, if the Devils are comfortable exposing Cammalleri they have five forwards they need to protect. If they are adamant about keeping Cammalleri, that's six forwards.

I guess the conclusion I'm getting to is that if the opportunity arises the Devils can add at least one, if not two, forwards prior to expansion without worrying about losing someone important.

2) On defense, Andy Greene and Damon Severson will undoubtedly be protected but it's anyone's guess who the third slot will be used on.

Technically, there are eight options to choose from but it really comes down to Ben Lovejoy, John Moore, and Jon Merrill.

Lovejoy was asked to play way over his head last season and that garnered the kind of results you'd expect. I don't think he is all that great but if properly slotted in the lineup he can be useful, especially on the penalty kill.

Moore's play without the puck leaves a lot to be desired but he is the best puck rusher on the team and is one of the only guys on defense capable of bringing anything to the table offensively.

Merrill plays a style somewhere in the middle of the two and, I can't believe I'm going to say this, was probably the most steady and reliable of the three last season. Personally, he is who I'd protect but I have a feeling the Devils may go with Lovejoy instead.

I don't think any of the three stand out as the best or worst option to keep, which is part of what makes this decision so interesting.