New Jersey Devils: 5 Possible 3rd-Round Picks In NHL Draft

Henri Nikkanen

Yeah, it’s another player from Finland. This one plays center though! All joking aside, Henri Nikkanen is a very intriguing player. He’s been playing in the men’s league this season, and even scored a couple goals. He’s listed at 6’2 and 185 pounds. That’s at 17 years old. He’s only going to get bigger.

Right now, people classify Nikkanen as someone who’s falling on draft boards. Again, these are the players were targeting for the Devils. Sure, they could completely flame out, but with so much volume from Shero, and the way that John Hynes usually treats his young players, it’s worth it to go after the high-reward players.

It’s very difficult to decipher his offensive upside when he spent most of the season playing with players out of his league, mostly because of his age. He did well in World Juniors U18, but that’s just nine games. We wished we had more of a sample size where he was playing well, but on the other hand if that was true he wouldn’t be falling to the 3rd round (or would fall further if he played terribly).