The New Jersey Devils made the trade many were waiting for by acquiring another defenseman. They seemed to have an extra protection slot after Damon Severson and Jonas Siegenthaler for the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, and there are teams that are going to lose a defenseman for free. One of the clear examples of that is the Colorado Avalanche, who turned around and trade the most obvious exposure candidate Ryan Graves for a decent package with the Devils.
The Devils are sending their 2nd-round pick in this year’s draft and Russian prospect Mikhail Maltsev. Maltsev was pretty good for the Devils this season, surprisingly playing 33 games in the NHL last season. He played very smart, high IQ hockey and the Devils trusted him in intense situations. He was on the ice at times with the game on the line, and he even protected his own zone when the other team had an empty net.
We literally predicted a Ryan Graves trade in a Colorado Avalanche piece a few weeks ago. In that piece, we said “This would really help the Devils at the price of a forward who finally hit his stride.” In the article, we were talking about Michael McLeod, but the same thing goes for Maltsev.
The issue with Maltsev is his offensive upside is pretty low compared to other prospects the Devils have coming up. Are the Devils going to make players like Alexander Holtz, Graeme Clarke, or Dawson Mercer wait to give time to Maltsev? This helps with a logjam the Devils have with NHL-ready prospects.
The Devils are getting a player in Graves who is very good on the penalty kill. He led the Avs in penalty kill minutes this season with 177, and Colorado was in the top ten in that unit. The Devils, meanwhile, were historically low when it comes to stopping the other team from scoring with the man advantage. There was nothing more important this offseason than fixing the penalty kill, and this move puts the Devils well on their way to doing that.
Graves is likely not the only move the Devils will make on the blue line. This move likely means the Devils will leave P.K. Subban and Will Butcher unprotected in the expansion draft. The Kraken could very well go for one or the other. They still have something left in the tank, and Butcher is young enough to prove himself with another franchise.
Losing the 2nd-round pick hurts since the Devils don’t have another one, but they have their own 3rd-round pick which comes just seven picks later.
This is just a great pickup by Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils. This is a perfect example of the Devils GM taking advantage of a team in trouble. The Devils acquire a 26-year-old defenseman that still has two years left on his deal. Colorado could use the extra money to sign Gabriel Landeskog or add another defenseman in free agency. This is a great trade for everyone involved.
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July 16, 2021 at 08:01AM
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New Jersey Devils Trade For Colorado Avalanche Defenseman Ryan Graves - Pucks and Pitchforks
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