Steven Santini has signed a new contract with the New Jersey Devils.

Santin and Mirco Meuller are the heirs apparent to both Andy Greene and Ben Lovejoy on the Devils blue line. Santini is a sold two-way defenseman w/ modest offensive upside-probably somewhere around 5G and 25 points next season if he makes the top six out of camp. This is a solid signing at a completely reasonable AAV.

IMO Santini is better defensively.

Better than Lovejoy offensively and defensively. But the Devils didn't wanna drop him from the lineup last season as Santini was waivers exempt and obviously Lovejoy was not. That'll change this year as Lovejoy is a pending UFA and more expendable.

I vote no.

Not to be contrarian but while this is a low Cap Hit for almost any player in their prime, Santini has barely begun to prove himself at the NHL level. He hasn’t made much of an impact even at the AHL level and, as NJ gains more defensive depth it’s likely that Santini is relegated to the Press Box or the AHL.

At 1.4M they can’t bury his entire Cap Hit in the AHL (most of it, but not all) for the next 3 years and so are left to carry $350k if he is unable to hack it in the NHL.

They could have likely gotten a 2y deal around $1M per and thus had the option of fully burying his salary. Now they can’t do that for the next 3 years and I don’t think the 1 extra year is worth it.

The problem is that the Devils are very bottom heavy w/ their defense. They are loaded w/ guys capable of being 2nd or 3rd pair minutes, but desperately need a top pair defenseman. Santini, Meuller, Lovejoy, Severson, and Gryba are all sort of stuck in that 3-8 role. Greene, Butcher, and Vatanen are all solidified in their roles. 2 of the aforementioned 5 guys will be watching from the press box. Possibly 3 if they can land another defenseman in a trade.

If Santini stops getting very difficult minutes, he could grow into a very good dman. We'll see how he's used next year.

Precisely. And I fail to see how locking Santini use for 3 years at a price that isn’t fully bury-able (and uses up one of 50 contact spots which are in short supply now) solves this issue. He could be a trade candidate as while higher than I would like its cost certainty at a low price for a 7th/injury replacement D option. He could be used to land one of those top pairing D-Men that you mention and that are so coveted. Obviously other pieces (much more significant ones) would have to be included.

You predicted it correctly. He's now a buyout candidate.