NJ Healthy, Read to Look Forward

Rantanen - Necas - Tarasenko :O

     The NJ Devils have been dealing with injuries consistently throughout the season, but now appear to be fully healthy at last and ready to go after embarrassing losses to Boston and Chicago. Adding Tarasenko should be a major boost to the offense long term but there is no time like the present for him to get hot. Rumor has it NJ is willing to flip prospects other than Knight/Oettinger, Newhook, and Perfetti for long term impact upgrades. This includes top prospects such as Suzuki, Beckman, Beaucage, and Harley. The first three project to be top six forwards and Harley projects to be a #1-2 defenseman. That also leaves NJ with two 2^nd round picks available.

     This is a challenging time to trade as well with an eye on the expansion draft with the need to protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and one goalie. It seems more likely NJ will look to add a forward who can be protected rather than a defenseman who may not be able to be protected.

Here is NJ’s projected line up for the next game, a vast improvement over one season ago:

Rantanen 71 – Necas 73 – Rantanen 81

Lucic 69 – Bonino 73 – Gourde 73

Maroon 66 – Bennett 69 – Debrusk 65

Martinook 66 – Frederic 60 – Hayden 63

Karlsson 75 – Oleksiak 73

Brodie 72 – Gardiner 70

Boqvist 68 – Fehervary 63

Oettinger 78

Koskinen 70