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1) I've gone on record saying
the New Jersey Devils should give Kyle Palmieri a long-term deal rather than a bridge contract this off-season.
The key reasons for that are a) if the Devils wait and give him a long-term contract down the road they'll still be paying him big money when he exits his prime/starts to decline and; b) his rate stats have always been good and suggest last season was no fluke.
Kyle Palmieri's agent, Steve Bartlett, wouldn't specify what type of contract he is working on with Ray Shero and the Devils but only that they're in the "
very early stages of discussions."
If I had to guess I think the Devils will go the long-term route. Something like six-years, $33 million ($5.5 per) would make sense for both sides.
Palmieri would cash in on his 30 goal year while, should Palmieri continue to pot 25-30 per season, the Devils would lock up the best goal scorer on their roster at a relatively friendly number.
2) I have been asked quite a bit about who the Devils should protect from next year's expansion draft.
It's a tough question to answer given the Devils will surely trade for/sign some players this off-season worth keeping, however, I'll take a stab at it with the current roster.
Up front I would keep Ryane Clowe (necessary unless he waives his NMC, which is probably what will happen), Mike Cammalleri, Adam Henrique, Palmieri, Jacob Josefson, Joseph Blandisi and Reid Boucher.
The most notable forward exposed would be Travis Zajac. I've long been a supporter but his best (offensive) days are long behind him. If someone wants to pay him almost $6 million per they can do just that.
On the back end I would keep Andy Greene, Adam Larsson and Damon Severson. I think those picks are pretty straight forward and most people would agree that John Moore should be the only notable blue liner exposed.
In goal Cory Schneider is the obvious keeper.
Notables exempt from this process include Sergei Kalinin, Pavel Zacha, John Quenneville, Steve Santini and Mackenzie Blackwood, among others.
As it stands the Devils don't really have to expose many quality players. Hopefully the decision on who to keep is more difficult a year from now. That, of course, would mean the Devils added some quality players this off-season.
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