Kovi is not eligible for the 2017 draft because he can't be signed before July 1. As a devils fan I'd rather have the 2018 one anyway. He's your headache now. Good luck getting him at 5 million.

Reportedly Kovalchuk wants at least 4 to 5 years @ $5 million+ no way is Kovalchuk accepting a 1 year $5 million deal.

Last I heard is Kovalchuk is considering staying in the KHL SO he can play in the Olympics

In all fairness it was reported that radulov wanted 2 years 7mil aav

- Do not want Stepan. He's a good player, but I would never pay a player 6.5 million dollars for reaching the 20 goal mark twice in his career. Also, shifting Seguin to RW is a terrible idea that I hated Ruff for continuing to do last season.

- Alzner is going to get paid, but he's a 2nd pair guy who I do not feel comfortable committing that kind of money to for that term. Brenden Smith would be a similar player who you could target for less than Alzner will get.

- Kovalchuk doesn't even need to be given consideration as it's not worth giving up assets to get a contract that could potentially be ridiculous.

As far as the RFAs. Faksa is gonna get a 4+ year deal and Lindell is likely to get something similar, or one of them will end up with a bridge deal. They've been named specifically as members of the core group and the best thing to do is get them cost controlled for as long as possible. I do agree that Oleksiak only gets a 1 year deal, likely at or just above the QO price.