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Devils expected to pursue Will Butcher, Blaine Byron |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
Defenseman Will Butcher, the 2017 Hobey Baker winner, is officially a free agent after waiting out the Colorado Avalanche in order to explore his options elsewhere.
As expected, the New Jersey Devils are among the many teams gunning for his signature and they will speak to him today.
There will be a lot of suitors for Butcher -- there always is for top college free agents -- and that may result in him being overhyped but he'd still be a nice addition for any organization.
He is a smart, puck-moving defenseman with leadership qualities (he wore a letter for years at the University of Denver) and he's probably not far off from making an NHL roster.
How much of an impact he can make if and when he does remains to be seen, but it's definitely worth giving him a shot to find out.
On top of Butcher, the Devils are also believed to be eying 22-year-old center Blaine Byron.
Byron spent the last four seasons playing for the University of Maine. He is coming off his best season where he led the team in scoring with 41 points (18 goals, 23 assists) in 36 games.
Admittedly, I haven't seen him play so
I'll defer to SBNation's College Hockey blog for a quick scouting report:
Blaine Byron has always been a crafty offensive player that created chances thanks to his hockey IQ rather than raw physical ability. In his fourth year in Orono, Byron has gotten stronger and more consistent, allowing him to become one of the top scorers in Hockey East this season with an 18-23-41 scoring line.
His lack of size may make him a bit of a tweener as a pro prospect, but Byron’s understanding of timing and space in the offensive zone may allow him to continue to overcome some of those size concerns.
The lack of size they're eluding to is in regards to weight, not height, as he stands 6'0' tall.
I don't know how much interest Byron will have in New Jersey -- they have some promising forward prospects coming through the system, particularly at center -- but it certainly wouldn't hurt to add another skilled, high IQ player to the organization.
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