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1) On Monday, defenseman Yohann Auvitu signed a one-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers worth $700,000.
The writing was on the wall that his time with New Jersey was finished -- the organization seemed to sour on him pretty quickly -- but that doesn't necessarily mean they were smart to move on from him.
Auvitu had his faults -- he could be worked down low and at times made head-scratching turnovers -- but he was one of the few defensemen in the entire organization capable of skating/moving the puck up ice and he generated shots at a very high rate, albeit over a small sample size.
Realistically, he is probably just an offensive minded depth defenseman. There's nothing wrong with that, though.
With Auvitu out of the fold, the Devils are left with a declining Andy Greene, a one-way defenseman in John Moore, and a couple of unproven kids in Michael Kapla and Mirco Mueller on the left side.
I think the Devils are OK going with the kids on the 3rd pairing -- regardless of who fills that role, the team probably won't be great -- but what happens if one of those guys isn't ready and needs AHL seasoning? What happens if/when a left-handed defenseman goes down with an injury?
The Devils have essentially nothing in the organization. Brian Strait, who has been caved in at the NHL level everytime he's been given a chance, is probably the best option.
Whether the Devils were in love with Auvitu or not (clearly they weren't), I don't see what harm a one-year deal for pennies could have caused.
2) The Devils better hope they hit it big with at least one of Steve Santini, Mueller or Kapla, because there is very little help on the way (Yegor Rykov could be good but we don't know if/when he's coming over, and Reilly Walsh is years away).
Josh Jacobs is probably the biggest name prospect the Devils have on the blue line who *could* see some NHL duty within the next couple years, and his development isn't exactly coming along nicely.
Jacobs has never produced much offensively, so it's safe to say defense *should* be his strong suit. With that in mind, it's probably not a good thing Jacobs was the 6th best defenseman on the A-Devs when it came to suppressing goals at 5v5.
If and when Jacobs ever makes the NHL, the results probably won't be good.
The Devils really need to add some quality defensemen to the system -- and sooner than later -- because things are looking pretty bleak right now.
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