The New Jersey Devils are looking ahead to the offseason with only a few games left. It’s possible the team could fall out of the top-two picks, so it’s time to scout those in that top-seven range.
The New Jersey Devils are no doubt going to get a very skilled prospect in the NHL Draft this year, but there’s a good chance the pick may fall out of the top two. Right now, they have less than a 20% chance to get Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko. Because of this fact, it’s time for us to start looking deeper into the prospect pool to prepare realistically who the Devils can take.
The Devils could face a worst-case scenario where they are forced to pick 6th or 7th. There are still good players in this area of the draft, but nowhere near the upside of Hughes, Kakko or even a Dylan Cozens. After the top five, the floor comes out of the player pool.
One player I’ve seen tied to the Devils in the past is Saskatoon center Kirby Dach. Dach is a prospect that’s been rising up draft boards over the past couple months. He took major steps forward in the past year. His goal-scoring ability has gone up tenfold. He went from seven goals last season to 25 this season.
He came into this season looking like a Travis Zajac type. Dach has a great wing span, and used that to get pucks to his teammates. He was focused more on assists than goals. However, he made slight changes to his play style, and now he’s scoring goals at a nice clip.
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He’ll never be a player who scores 40-50 goals at the NHL level (but seriously, who can these days), but if he can add a scoring touch to a playmaking ability, then he could end up being a nice overall prospect.
Dach also has one thing that many Devils fans want, he’s big. He stands at 6’4 and close to 200 lbs. This big body moves in between defensemen to put his team in the best position. He can get to the dirty areas. This sounds like a Brian Boyle type, however, that’s not really what you want from this pick.
There’s one problem with Dach, he has a decent ceiling, but his floor is in the basement. He could make Pavel Zacha look like a genius choice. Using a top-ten pick on a player who made such a jump in his draft year could mean he’s developing, or it could mean he’s like a player on an expiring deal trying to get a bigger payday.
Dach seems like a decent NHLer with something the Devils could use in a big-bodied center, but if teams overvalue that size without realizing some of the other intangibles, then it could end up being another bust. He’s more likely to be a decent NHL player, but from what we’ve seen so far he’s a major risk.