Fantasy Fallout: Subban Traded to Devils

During Day 2 of the NHL Draft, the Nashville Predators traded defenseman P.K. Subban to the New Jersey Devils for Steven Santini, Jeremy Davies, and two second-round picks.

Ellis/Fabbro Move Up

Subban played 22:40 TOI/GM with Nashville last season, so there are plenty of minutes to go around in 2020. The 30-year-old missed 19 games in his second year with the Predators and posted the second-worst statistical season of his career. Subban had nine goals and 22 assists (31 points) in 63 games.

During the 19 games that Subban was out, Ryan Ellis was the player who was tasked with eating up the extra playing time. Despite the increased playing time, Ellis’ numbers didn’t improve:

The 2018-19 season was a down year for Ellis all together but most of that had to do with with a diminished shooting percentage (4.7%). Ellis should be the biggest benefactor of this trade. He should play over 25 minutes per game and score double-digit goals when he sees some positive regression in his shooting percentage.

It obviously won’t hurt Roman Josi but it shouldn’t change his value too much. Josi already led the Predators in TOI/GM (25:10) and PP TOI/GM (2:59), he just needs the power-play to improve to take his value to the next level.

The salary cap necessitated this trade but Dante Fabbro allowed Nashville to do it and keep moving forward. Fabbro turned pro following his Junior Year at Boston University, where he had seven goals and 26 assists (33 points) in 38 games—ranking first among BU defenseman and second on the team. The 2016 No.17 overall pick is an extremely mobile defenseman with a massive point-shot, which will replace Subban on the second unit.

Subban gets a New Jersey

Subban joins the Devils, who already have three skilled offensive defensemen. Damon Severson has the booming point-shot and led Devils’ defensemen in goals (11), assists (28) and points (39) last year. Will Butcher is the poised power-play quarterback who led New Jersey D-men in PP TOI/GM (2:46) while chipping in 30 points (4G / 26A) in 78 games. Lastly, Sami Vatanen is the slick puck-mover but missed 32 games with injuries last year, tallying 17 points (4G / 13A) in 50 games.

Subban will likely push all of them down the depth chart but we could see a Subban/Butcher or Subban/Vatanen duo on the top power-play. With Butcher’s passing and Subban’s shot, that could be a lethal combo for the Devils. Not to mention you also have Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Nico Hischier and now Jack Hughes to mix in there as well.

You have to imagine that Subban will see close to 3:00 per night on the PP while Butcher is around 2:30 and both Severson and Vatanen hover around the 1:30/2:00 mark. Overall, the Devils are definitely an improved team following this weekend and even if last year’s D-corps sees their minutes drop a bit, New Jersey should be a more productive team with the Hughes and Subban additions.

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