Todd Cordell: Three New Jersey Devils question marks for the 2018-19 season

If the young guys on defense progress from last year I think we will be fine and competitive. If not hopefully Hall's lottery skills are utilized again.

When are they trading for Karlsson?

Moore literally brought everyone he was paired with stats down. We can't keep Butcher with sheltered minutes & just use him on the power play. He has to progress. Middle pairing defenseman that can run the PP has a lot of value. Bottom pairing that's a defensive liability and only real value is the PP is eventually gonna have to be replaced. So he needs to move up. Vatanen makes the D sooo much better. We need a true replacement for Greene. Then Mueller, Severson, Santini, Butcher can play roles they are suited to excel at. The best thing we have going for us is all of our forwards are defensively responsible & most of the time don't put our D in bad spots.
I think the key to our goalie situation is Kinkaid being able to handle a much bigger role to keep Schneider from being pushed to his limits. Keeping Schneider fresh and maximizing his starts is crucial. If Kinkaid can give us quality starts this will be a very successful yr.
Secondary scoring should be better this yr. If MoJo can stay healthy that will make a huge difference. Coleman, Zacha, Noeson, Wood, all had better 2nd half's. If they just play like they did in the 2nd half our scoring will considerably increase. Coleman had 7 goals in March. If they improve on there 2nd half's this yr we'll be thrilled Ray didn't force a free agent into the lineup. Once all these questions start to be answered, we see what injuries we're gonna have, then Ray can go to work again. He's shown the ability to make things happen & I expect he'll do the same this yr.

If the young guys on defense progress from last year I think we will be fine and competitive. If not hopefully Hall's lottery skills are utilized again.
- redmonsters

If Greene regresses more this yr that may force us to take him off the top line. I think Mueller, Santini, Butcher, Severson, Lovejoy will excel in 2nd & 3rd pairing roles. None of them are ready for top pairing yet.

that would be a great move. Top D are not available very often.

Severson - Karsson
Greene -Vats
Boucher -Lovejoy

Throw in Ryan .....

Hall- Nico -Bratt
Mojo - Zacha - Palmieri
Wood - Boyle - Ryan
COleman -Zajac - Noesen

Karlsson is great offensively & defensively. Severson plays the right side. Mueller is the most physical stay at home left side defender. Put him on the top line with Karlsson. The forwards & Karlsson can attack while nobody gets behind Mueller. Butcher & Vatanen on the 2nd pair are both offensive & defensive capable. They would definitely provide extra secondary scoring for the forwards they are playing with. Greene & Severson compliment each very well on the 3rd pair. Greene can play his shutdown defensive role & the lower minutes will keep him fresh. Severson can open up on offense with Greene being the stay at home guy.
Ryan is an absolute deal breaker. He's 30 with a career high of 20 & 21 goals. He is dependent on who he's playing with to score. With all of the assists he's put up he is clearly a great set up man. His numbers have been cut in half the last couple of yr's. If he's gonna be a 30-40 pt guy (that's assuming his numbers go up from the last 2 yrs) we can't afford to pay a guy for that kind of production $7.25 for 4 yrs. Obviously we aren't giving up what it will take to get him without an extension signed. $11 is a minimum for him. So with him & Ryan we'd have $18.25 tied up in 2 players. Let's say combined for Hall, Nico, Vatanen, & Butcher are $31.75. that's 6 contracts @ $50. Add Schneider, Greene, Zajac, Palmieri, Severson that's roughly $27. Now we are at 11 contracts & $77. Even if the salary cap goes up to $88 by then that still means we're losing at least 2 quality players to fit that. Even if Ottawa retains half of Ryan's salary, which they won't, we'd still be in trouble. So if Ryan has to be part of the deal there is no way it's worth taking. We'd be better off waiting to see if he makes free agency & offer him a ridiculous $14.5 than to take Ryan as part of the trade. Does anyone think we can afford that?? If so please show me how.

In a magical land where we get Karlsson I think I'd do something like:

Butcher - Karlsson
Greene - Vatanen
Santini/Mueller - Severson/Lovejoy

Maybe a little aggressive to put Butcher on the first pairing but I honestly think he may be our best left handed D-man at the moment. I also figure if we get Karlsson that Severson is likely gone as part of the package to Ottawa.

I'd be open to taking Ryan if it brought the cost of Karlsson way down. He'd be a decent enough bottom-six guy while we still have a ton of cap space and then they could buy him out once Hall and Nico need new contracts. I feel like taking on Ryan is worth it if it gets you Karlsson for cheap. All of this is assuming Karlsson would sign an extension with NJ.

When are they trading for Karlsson?
- shvingter88

yes

In a magical land where we get Karlsson I think I'd do something like:

Butcher - Karlsson
Greene - Vatanen
Santini/Mueller - Severson/Lovejoy

Maybe a little aggressive to put Butcher on the first pairing but I honestly think he may be our best left handed D-man at the moment. I also figure if we get Karlsson that Severson is likely gone as part of the package to Ottawa.

I'd be open to taking Ryan if it brought the cost of Karlsson way down. He'd be a decent enough bottom-six guy while we still have a ton of cap space and then they could buy him out once Hall and Nico need new contracts. I feel like taking on Ryan is worth it if it gets you Karlsson for cheap. All of this is assuming Karlsson would sign an extension with NJ.
- MannySilvers

If we could work out an extension with Karlsson and get a reasonable deal from Ottawa for taking on Ryan, I'd do it. That said, I'd expect Ottawa's demands to be pretty excessive even with the Ryan albatross contract.

Good news fellow Devils,

Winnipeg extended Wheeler for an absurd amount for an old man... Enter Shero and his rapist instincts... They need space for Laine...

Morrissey? Trouba? Elhers?

Good news fellow Devils,

Winnipeg extended Wheeler for an absurd amount for an old man... Enter Shero and his rapist instincts... They need space for Laine...

Morrissey? Trouba? Elhers?
- Leniwm1

They have over $10M in cap space right now. Signing Laine and Trouba will require some planning but it doesn't seem that unmanageable a situation. They're both RFAs not UFAs so it's less likely to go nuclear.

Enter Shero and his rapist instincts-Leniwm1

Leniwm1 you really didn't need to go that far to get you're point across, I get you're trying to be funny (witch it wasn't), but I think you went a tad over the the top.

PS I'm not hating, I know your a good guy.

They have over $10M in cap space right now. Signing Laine and Trouba will require some planning but it doesn't seem that unmanageable a situation. They're both RFAs not UFAs so it's less likely to go nuclear.
- Queenie_5_hole

That 10+ mil is going to Laine. They def will have big issues.

That 10+ mil is going to Laine. They def will have big issues.
- Leniwm1

And Tyler Myers 5.5 Million hit comes off after this season, more than enough to get Trouba a healthy raise.