The Devils deadline moves are indicative of a team preparing for the future. That means, it’s time to do a bit of a diagnostic on how the moves are as a means to that end. There are a lot of components to decisions/transactions like these, but I’m mostly concerned with two things 1) How is the tank process going? 2) How valuable is out set of draft picks?
How Goes the Tank?
The Devils are not doing well. Exactly how not well? According to The Athletic’s Dom Luszcyszcyszcsyzcysn, who has year-end projections for every team, the Devils are projected to finish with 73 points, which would be 4th worst in the league.