NHL Expansion Draft - New Jersey Devils

Expansion Draft Rules

All information from NHL.com

Protected Lists

• Clubs can protect one of two options:
• Seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goaltender
• Eight skaters and one goaltender
• All players with No-Movement clauses in their contract have to be protected unless they waive their clauses
• All first- and second-year pro players will be exempt from selections and don't have to be protected

Player Exposure Requirements

• Clubs must meet minimum requirements for exposure in the Expansion Draft:
• One defenseman who is under contract in 2017-18 and played in 40 or more games in 2016-17 or played in 70 or more games in two prior seasons.
• Two forwards who meet the same requirements as above
• One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18.

Vegas Requirements

• Must select one player from each existing club for a total of 30 players
• Must select at least 14 forwards, 9 defensemen, and 3 goaltenders
• Must have a minimum 20 players under contract for the 2017-18 season
• Must reach the salary cap floor and cannot exceed the cap ceiling
• May not buy out any players selected in the Expansion Draft before the first summer following their first full season

Protection List

• NMC= No Movement Clause
• NTC= No Trade Clause
• Red = Who I would protect

Forwards

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
LW	25	Taylor Hall	$6,000,000	UFA – 2020	X
C	31	Travis Zajac	$5,750,000	UFA – 2021	X
LW	34	Mike Cammalleri	$5,000,000	UFA – 2019	X
RW	26	Kyle Palmieri	$4,650,000	UFA – 2021	X
C	27	Adam Henrique	$4,000,000	UFA – 2019	X
RW	24	Devante Smith-Pelly	$1,300,000	RFA – 2018	X
C	26	Jacob Josefson	$1,100,000	RFA – 2017	X
RW	25	Beau Bennett	$725,000	RFA – 2017	X
LW	27	Luke Gazdic	$700,000	UFA – 2017	30GR
RW	24	Petr Straka	$650,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
RW	28	Shane Harper	$650,000	UFA – 2017	26GR
RW	24	Stefan Noesen	$600,000	RFA – 2017	X
C	28	Carter Camper	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR

  Defensemen

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
D	34	Andy Greene	$5,000,000	UFA – 2020	X
D	33	Ben Lovejoy	$2,666,667	UFA – 2019	X
D	26	John Moore	$1,666,667	UFA – 2018	X
D	27	Dalton Prout	$1,575,000	UFA – 2018	X
D	25	Jon Merrill	$1,137,500	RFA – 2018	X
D	24	Viktor Loov	$650,000	RFA – 2018	40GR
D	22	Damon Severson	$605,833	RFA – 2017	X
D	27	Andrew MacWilliam	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
D	29	Karl Stollery	$575,000	UFA – 2017	29GR
D	26	Seth Helgeson	$587,500	UFA – 2017	31GR

Goaltenders

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration
G	31	Cory Schneider	$6,000,000	UFA – 2022
G	27	Keith Kinkaid	$725,000	UFA – 2017
G	24	Scott Wedgewood	$587,500	RFA – 2017

Exempt List

• NMC/INJ LW Ryane Clowe
• INJ C Marc Savard
• LW Miles Wood
• C Michael McLeod
• C Pavel Zacha
• RW Nick Lappin
• C John Quenneville
• RW Nathan Bastian
• C Brandon Gignac
• C Blake Speers
• C Ryan Kujawinski
• LW Blake Coleman
• LW Brandon Baddock
• LW Blake Pietila
• C Joseph Blandisi
• C Kevin Rooney
• D Steven Santini
• D Michael Kapla
• D Yohann Auvitu
• D Josh Jacobs
• D Colton White
• D Vojtech Mozik
• D Colby Sissons
• G Mackenzie Blackwood
• G Ken Appleby

Explanation of my Protection List

• The Devils have no players with NMC who aren't exempt in the Expansion Draft.  For their protection list, they will certainly utilize the seven forwards/three defensemen approach since most of their valuable players are at forward.  At forward, I think that they will take the seven highest paid players - Taylor Hall, Travis Zajac, Mike Cammalleri, Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique, Devante Smith-Pelley, and Jacob Josefson.  On defense, they actually have five players who are under contract for next season and beyond so they will have to make decisions at the position.  Andy Greene is their captain so he will be protected.  I think that they will also protect Damon Severson despite him being an RFA after this season.  He is too young and has shown too much potential for them to possibly lose him.  For the last spot I would protect John Moore, who is probably the best of the remaining defensemen.  Finally, in net Cory Schneider will be protected, which is no surprise.
• The Devils will need to re-sign two of their forward free agents in order to meet the exposure requirements.  Beau Bennett, Ben Thompson, and Stefan Noesen are all RFAs so these players will probably be the forwards most likely to be re-signed.  On defense, Ben Lovejoy, Dalton Prout, and Jon Merrill are all players with term left who are going to be exposed.  In net, the Devils will also need to re-sign one of their free agents in order to meet exposure requirements.
• New Jersey will probably lose no players of value in the Expansion Draft and will be fine.  Even if they lose one of their defensemen, none of the ones who will be exposed are overly talented or hold much value to the team.

*All cap and salary information come from CapFriendly.com*