NJD has number 7 overall? If Detroit ends up picking what Ottawa wants at 5, a move down for another 1st in a deep draft is enticing.

Yeah Devils are 7, Coyotes seems to probably be 10 or 11 if they lose the play-in and don't win the lottery.

Three rookie defensemen?

I wouldn't want to give up 2 picks in the top 11 (if arizona loses) to move up two slots. At 7 one of Perfetti/Holtz/Raymond/Rossi will be there, and then at 10 or 11 i would think one of Quinn or Sanderson will be there. I would take a combination of any of those two (ideally Holtz/Sanderson IMO) than Drysdale/whoever is there in the 2nd round.

While it's not ideal, they're all highly touted prospects. The Devils aren't winning the Cup next year, so why not let the kids get their feet wet and grow together?

I totally get that, and I like any of those guys at 7. However, what I keep coming back to is that they have virtually no one coming up on the right side and I think Drysdale is so much further ahead of Sanderson that it kind of makes it worth it. They'll have two firsts next year and potentially another if we trade Palms.

The D core is way too small imo. Fitz said he wants to get bigger all around, especially on the backend. You have 4 Defensemen that all do the same thing with Butcher, Smith, Walsh, and Drysdale. I think the devils need to move Butcher in the worst way while he still has some value rn.

I've said it before on these boards and have gotten push back over it, but I think Butcher is a quiet buyout candidate since he isn't 26 yet. They'd only owe him 1/3 and I don't believe he has any signing bonus money coming to him.

hmm That's interesting. You think they'd buyout butcher over a guy like schneider? I think the only reason they might not buyout Butcher is because he actually does carry some trade value because with teams on a cap crunch, his cap hit is not that high at all and a team with PP needs could take him. But it's an interesting take of buying him out.

no from the Leafs I would hope

It's tough to say, but they would save 1.67m real world dollars if they bought out Butcher and then waited a year to buyout Schneider.

I would do all of those trades except for the Sens one. If Holtz, Sanderson, or Quinn is available at ARI pick, the Devils should keep that pick and trade Vancouvers pick.

So Pick 5 and a late 2nd round pick for Pick 7 and Vancouvers pick

Yeah I see where you're coming from. Another thing to consider is the 2021 draft is stacked with defensive prospects like 2020 is with forwards, so loading up on forwards now and defensive prospects next year may be the move.

Totally agree here.

I’m not a huge fan of moving up - too many needs and too deep a draft. If anything, I’d say if the Devils don’t see Sanderson, Quinn, Lundell with the Ari pick, I’d want to move back and grab a late 1st and a 2nd/3rd.

Also, I don’t think Drysdale makes the team.

Ideally, I would want Raymond or Holtz with pick 7 and package pick 11 in a trade for Sergachev. Or Drysdale with pick 7 and package pick 11 for Boeser.

exactly what I was going to say

They also have no one coming up at RW and only Foote at LW who probably won't even be a top line guy. I'm not big on Sanderson at all but there are people who would argue he's better than Drysdale, when you have a weak crop of defenceman in any given draft year it's a total toss up. I would bet the guy that ends up as the best defenceman from this class is either taken late 1st or in the 2nd / 3rd round. Devils would be far better off just staying put and using their picks imo, especially considering Drysdale might still be on the board at 7. If I was the GM I would be going with 3 forwards (if they get all 3 picks).

I totally agree sir. Devils likely miss the playoffs again next year and there are a number of fantastic defenceman in that draft. Getting 2 or 3 high end wingers this year to put around Nico and Jack, and then a defenceman in 2021 to come up with Smith on the back end would set us up real real nice.

Fitz has to do this rebuild the right way otherwise it’s going to be another miserable couple of years. Watch us be horrible next year, than somehow be a playoff team in 2022 with Wright and Lambert available in the draft...would be the move Devils thing ever

that would be a nightmare scenario, reminiscent of how we missed out on McDavid, Eichel, Matthews, Laine, Dahlin etc. and ended up with Hischier and Hughes. No disrespect to those 2 I think they'll be good but they're clearly in a lower tier than those other guys at this point.

Instead of jvr why not a FA like Dand or Hoffman, keep the player and pick. Or trade for AAs rights with McLeod going the other way
Let Palms move to LW2 slide Hoffman to RW1, KK at 2
Janne takes over at 4th C when zajac gone. Woukd be a pretty quick team to defend against