New Jersey Devils second-round pick Jesper Boqvist will undergo wrist surgery this week. He will miss three very important months of his development.
New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero had a very good draft this year. Obviously, most people will be looking at his choice at number one overall in Nico Hischier, but the depth he got is what made it one of the best drafts in the league.
One of those players with a very high ceiling is now out for months. Reports came out that Devils second-round pick Jesper Boqvist will be out for the next three months after undergoing wrist surgery.
That takes three months away from a player that could conceivably compete in the NHL with some needed development, but this injury derails that plan.
Boqvist is already a great skater and can do some interesting things with the puck. His main issues were with his consistency, something that gets better with ice time. He can’t fix his consistency issues if he isn’t on the ice.
Boqvist was expected to play with Brynas IF in the Swedish league. While three months isn’t a season’s death sentence, he will be playing with players who are on stride while trying to get his legs underneath him.
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Some experts had Boqvist as a first-round talent going into the draft last year. The Devils got multiple players that could conceivably go in the top 45 picks, so losing one for a relatively short period of time doesn’t kill their prospect pool, but this definitely hurts.
Listen, let’s put this into perspective. He wasn’t making the Devils this year, and he probably wasn’t going to make the team next year. Boqvist is just 18 years old. He needs some time to develop. However, this prospect pool needs to work out. If even a few don’t, it could mean the end of multiple jobs in the organization. Boqvist wouldn’t be on anybody’s list of most important prospect, but he could be soon. If he’s able to come off this injury like nothing happened, great. Three months is a short time if he plays for 15 years.