2021 Seattle Expansion Draft

[RunninWithTheDevil]

2 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

Well, other than his shot being off this season (and his offensive game in general) he wasn’t really throwing the big hits he used to either. I remember seeing him absolutely destroy guy’s when he was in Montreal. 

 

[Nicomo]

1 minute ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

 

Glorious. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

This.  I want another look at Subban after this offseason. He is CUT. UP.   He looks like PK Subban before the injury.

 

43 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I'm not sure that's what was missing in his game, but I am not ready to give up on him yet either. 

I'm definitely not a Subban guy (based on how his numbers fell off as his final season in Nashville wore on, and his rough year last season), and I wouldn't miss him if the Devils were able to move him...

BUT, the good news with him is that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  Only two seasons left.  Devils aren't crippled by his cap hit.  I've seen older athletes get all gung-ho about getting into tip-top shape, or suddenly feeling like they have something to prove, or feeling extra motivated or re-invigorated...but that obviously doesn't automatically translate into turning back the Decline Clock, no matter how lean, ripped, or bulked up someone might look.  I'll be surprised if we seem play that much better than he did last year.

That being said, basically how much do the Devils have to lose by essentially approaching the upcoming season as a "do-over" year for PK?  Hopefully he plays well enough that he might be able to bring something back (I would never risk re-signing him), and actually helps his team in the process.  If he looks like he did last season...you just gotta put up with him for one more year at most.  Best thing about him is that the Devils were only tied to him for three seasons once they got him.  

[mfitz804]

I guess he wasn’t really looking like a finely tuned athlete last summer. 

https://mobile.twitter.com/pksubban1/status/1146909041500852225

 

[Devil Dan 56]

5 hours ago, Nicomo said:

Well, other than his shot being off this season (and his offensive game in general) he wasn’t really throwing the big hits he used to either. I remember seeing him absolutely destroy guy’s when he was in Montreal. 

I remember him having a great hit on opening night before the seventh seal was opened after the second period and our season (and apparently the world) fell into this alternate time line. 

Also I was at a game when he was a Canadien and he murdered poor Adam Larsson. 

[thecoffeecake]

It's crazy to be talking about the end of Zajac's Devils career, whenever that does happen. I know we've all said this when Marty and Patty left, but Zajac leaving will really be a final goodbye to that era of Devils hockey. Played his first year at CAA with Marty, Patty, Sarge, Pandolfo, Madden, Langs, Brian Gionta. He's the last link to any great Devils teams. Can't believe he was only 27 when he scored that goal to keep us alive against Florida in 2012. 2007 and 2010 could've been special, too. 

I have no idea where the years went. I usually find the charm in watching losing teams, but with the Devils it seems like the last decade just went up in smoke, year after year. 

[jagknife]

On 8/6/2020 at 2:38 PM, Devil Dan 56 said:

I remember him having a great hit on opening night before the seventh seal was opened after the second period and our season (and apparently the world) fell into this alternate time line. 

Also I was at a game when he was a Canadien and he murdered poor Adam Larsson. 

I too was there and remember thinking Larsson shoulda kept his head up and he was probably dead.

Re Zajac: I’m a huge homer of his so in the words of Teddy KGB, “Pay that man his money” and keep him. If someone like Zacha tries to use age or ability as a negotiation point, I’d come back with “okay, play over 1,000 games in your career and put up about 600 points on some dogsh!t teams then come back and you’ll get Zajac money.”

As for the expansion draft, man I dunno which I’d pick. Usually it’d be a simple pick 7-3-1 but now we’re such a meh team that 8-1 would probably be enough.

Nico

Bratt

Hughes

Zajac

Palms (if he’s willing to stay)

Goose (if he’s insane enough to stay here)

Severson (please keep getting better, please)

PK/Butcher/Rooney (completely kidding about Rooney, and as much as I love PK, he needs to bounce back this year to earn this spot or if Butcher bounces back he takes it)

Blackwood

[Nicomo]

They don’t have to protect Hughes. 

[Satans Hockey]

Thankfully this really should be the last of these damn expansion drafts for a very long time. 

[jagknife]

9 hours ago, Nicomo said:

They don’t have to protect Hughes. 

So here was my concern/misunderstanding - I thought the player who finishes his second full year of service would not be considered a 2 year player. Kind of like one of those "less than 2 years of service" clauses meaning since he finished, he was considered more than 2 years.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

This is creeping closer and closer. 

Thst early list suggestion might need looking into again. 

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

The players not available are as follows:

Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev, Jesper Boqvist, Alexander Holtz, Dawson Mercer, Nolan Foote, Fabian Zetterlund, Mikhail Maltsev, Nathan Schnarr, Reilly Walsh, Ty Smith, Kevin Bahl, Nikita Okhotyuk, Jeremy Groleau, Gilles Senn

Any players drafted in 2019 or 2020 are also exempt, along with any prospects who did not play in a NHL or AHL game until 2019-20 or later.

So looking now who do we keep? I can in no way see the devil's going the 8 skaters route. I think it has to be the 7 forwards , 3 D one goalie scenario. 

Nico & Bratt are obviously locks to be protected. But this season so far has show that actually anyone else is vulnerable. 

Last year I would say the following players were probably on the list to be protected Zajac, Palmieir & Johnnson.

Now I would say it's probably Zacha, Wood, Sharangovic and Kuokkanen. 

Outside Severson on D it's a toss up who you protect. 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Chimaira_Devil_#9

[mfitz804]

24 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

The players not available are as follows:

Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev, Jesper Boqvist, Alexander Holtz, Dawson Mercer, Nolan Foote, Fabian Zetterlund, Mikhail Maltsev, Nathan Schnarr, Reilly Walsh, Ty Smith, Kevin Bahl, Nikita Okhotyuk, Jeremy Groleau, Gilles Senn

Any players drafted in 2019 or 2020 are also exempt, along with any prospects who did not play in a NHL or AHL game until 2019-20 or later.

So looking now who do we keep? I can in no way see the devil's going the 8 skaters route. I think it has to be the 7 forwards , 3 D one goalie scenario. 

Nico & Bratt are obviously locks to be protected. But this season so far has show that actually anyone else is vulnerable. 

Last year I would say the following players were probably on the list to be protected Zajac, Palmieir & Johnnson.

Now I would say it's probably Zacha, Wood, Sharangovic and Kuokkanen. 

Outside Severson on D it's a toss up who you protect. 

I think you have it exactly right. We have the luxury of having more spots than people we "need" to protect. 

I agree Bratt will be protected, not that he deserves it based on his performance YTD, but we know he has more talent than that and I wouldn't expose him, he'd definitely be picked. 

Gusev is a free agent at season's end, I thought that made him available? Does the NMC still prevent him from being exposed?

I think the guy whose status has changed the most is Wood. I think there was a time most of us would have said to expose him, but I don't think that is the right move. i like a guy like that on our roster. I don't especially like that he is our leading goals scorer, he's not that kind of guy, but he only leads because our offense has been standing in line to blow a line of 50 goats all year. 

[Crisis]

Palmieri and Gusev are FAs, so wouldn't the Devils just not protect them?  Unless they have extensions in place by then, obv.

[mfitz804]

1 minute ago, Crisis said:

Palmieri and Gusev are FAs, so wouldn't the Devils just not protect them?  Unless they have extensions in place by then, obv.

I have to assume that's how that works.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

2 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

I think you have it exactly right. We have the luxury of having more spots than people we "need" to protect. 

I agree Bratt will be protected, not that he deserves it based on his performance YTD, but we know he has more talent than that and I wouldn't expose him, he'd definitely be picked. 

Gusev is a free agent at season's end, I thought that made him available? Does the NMC still prevent him from being exposed?

I think the guy whose status has changed the most is Wood. I think there was a time most of us would have said to expose him, but I don't think that is the right move. i like a guy like that on our roster. I don't especially like that he is our leading goals scorer, he's not that kind of guy, but he only leads because our offense has been standing in line to blow a line of 50 goats all year. 

 I personally think this couldn't have fallen at a better time for the Devil's. We have a number of players you want to build long term around who are not eligible and then the ones that are are getting towards the end of their prime or are past it. 

The below should clarify the UFA rules:

 

If Zajac has a NMC we can't offer him up unless he agrees. In which case he has to be protected and takes up a slot. Which is a bitch. 

[Crisis]

5 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

 I personally think this couldn't have fallen at a better time for the Devil's. We have a number of players you want to build long term around who are not eligible and then the ones that are are getting towards the end of their prime or are past it. 

The below should clarify the UFA rules:

 

If Zajac has a NMC we can't offer him up unless he agrees. In which case he has to be protected and takes up a slot. Which is a bitch. 

Yeah I can't imagine any scenario where Zajac would do that.  If Fitz decides that he wants Zajac back, it makes the most sense for him to waive the NMC, go unprotected, then ink the deal post July 1; unless Fitz doesn't want him back next season and Zajac is salty enough to force the Devils to protect him then he walks.  Travis just does not seem like that kind of person though.

[Nicomo]

Zajac is a UFA next year. 

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

36 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

Zajac is a UFA next year. 

Yeah, but the draft is before the UFA period. 

[Nicomo]

1 minute ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Yeah, but the draft is before the UFA period. 

But the player has to be under contract to be able to play for the new team, no? 

[mfitz804]

30 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

But the player has to be under contract to be able to play for the new team, no? 

Like it says above, Seattle gets 2 days to negotiate with the pending UFAs before drafting them to see if they will sign.  And, they can draft a pending UFA and not re-sign him, which just makes that dude a free agent. 

[Nicomo]

6 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Like it says above, Seattle gets 2 days to negotiate with the pending UFAs before drafting them to see if they will sign.  And, they can draft a pending UFA and not re-sign him, which just makes that dude a free agent. 

That’s even more convoluted than I thought it was. Expansion drafts are annoying. Hopefully this is the last one for quite a while. 

[mfitz804]

10 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

That’s even more convoluted than I thought it was. Expansion drafts are annoying. Hopefully this is the last one for quite a while. 

I'm not thrilled with expansion drafts. Teams should get to protect more players. I really don't care if an expansion team is competitive right away. If they want that, put your money where your mouth is and go out and get a bunch of free agents, make trades, etc. 

I almost feel like teams should be able to designate say, 4 guys they don't really want anymore, and that's who they should have to pick from. Maybe you throw a PK in there because he costs to much, or Gusev because he blows goats now, or a guy with a personality problem in the locker room. They should have to pick through our sh!t to try to find a diamond.

The concept of just letting them pick guys from another team and them having to move their families across the country, etc. is also kind of fvcked up. But I guess that's part of the price you pay to be an NHL player. 

[Devil Dan 56]

1 hour ago, mfitz804 said:

I'm not thrilled with expansion drafts. Teams should get to protect more players. I really don't care if an expansion team is competitive right away. If they want that, put your money where your mouth is and go out and get a bunch of free agents, make trades, etc. 

I almost feel like teams should be able to designate say, 4 guys they don't really want anymore, and that's who they should have to pick from. Maybe you throw a PK in there because he costs to much, or Gusev because he blows goats now, or a guy with a personality problem in the locker room. They should have to pick through our sh!t to try to find a diamond.

The concept of just letting them pick guys from another team and them having to move their families across the country, etc. is also kind of fvcked up. But I guess that's part of the price you pay to be an NHL player. 

I don't see any more expansion coming but I think it would only get worse going forward. It was the league's soggy dream to have Vegas come in and go straight to the finals. Just look at the NHL social media. Some days you'd think it was run by the Vegas marketing department. I'm sure it'll be the same with Seattle. 

And I understand the idea that it's good for a new team to win from an advertising and local marketing standpoint. I just don't really like it. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

28 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

I don't see any more expansion coming but I think it would only get worse going forward. It was the league's soggy dream to have Vegas come in and go straight to the finals. Just look at the NHL social media. Some days you'd think it was run by the Vegas marketing department. I'm sure it'll be the same with Seattle. 

And I understand the idea that it's good for a new team to win from an advertising and local marketing standpoint. I just don't really like it. 

Yeah, I always kinda liked the idea of an expansion team having to pay some serious dues first...not for forever, but 2-3 rough seasons feels fair (provided management isn't completely incompetent)...if you do a great job nailing your expansion picks and are able to sign a key UFA or two and be more respectable, all the power to you. 

When I think of expansion teams, I still think of teams like the 1962 Mets, the 1974-75 Caps, the 1991-92 Sharks (the 1992-93 Sharks were even worse)...the second-year KC Scouts won 1 out of their final 44 games.  The 1982-83 and 83-84 Devils managed to be expansion-team bad, despite the franchise having had eight seasons (and their share of high picks) to start to move the train forward.  They never won more than 22 games in any of the franchise's first 11 seasons...hell, they needed 84 games just to reach 40 wins for the first time in franchise history (1992-93).  Sometimes I forget how dreadful those Scouts-Rockies-early Devils seasons really were.