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Report: Devils to lose Jon Merrill in expansion draft |
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Jon Merrill's days as a member of the New Jersey Devils appear to be over.
The Vegas Golden Knights will make their expansion draft selections official later tonight but Merrill will be their pick when all is said and done.
It's hardly a surprise the 25-year-old defenseman was selected. Vegas GM George McPhee made it no secret he planned on loading up on blueliners and he is doing just that.
Whether Merrill sticks with Vegas -- or is one of the several players flipped in the coming days -- remains to be seen, but it's not hard to see why he was chosen.
Teams are always looking for defensemen and, though Merrill is not without his faults, he is definitely a serviceable player.
He was the best shot suppressor on the Devils' back end last year, he is still young, and carries a cap hit ($1.137 million) that makes him easily affordable for any team, be it Vegas or a contender with little money to spare.
Losing him will sting a little bit -- you could argue he was the 3rd best defenseman on the roster, although the bar is low -- but it's better than losing Beau Bennett, at least in my view.
It'll be interesting to see whether Merrill sticks with Vegas or is traded, and what he fetches in return if the latter proves to be the case.
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