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New Jersey Devils: 2019 NHL Draft Mirrors 2016 Draft

By Vincent Parise

TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 18: Patrik Laine #29 of Team Finland skates against Auston Matthews #34 of Team North America during the World Cup of Hockey tournament at the Air Canada Centre on September 18, 2016 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 18: Patrik Laine #29 of Team Finland skates against Auston Matthews #34 of Team North America during the World Cup of Hockey tournament at the Air Canada Centre on September 18, 2016 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The 2019 NHL Draft has a couple of game-changers to be selected in the top two, but it mirrors the 2016 Draft in many ways.

The New Jersey Devils are going to make the first-overall selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. The New York Rangers won the second lottery spot that will allow them to make the second overall pick. The picks and their ranks are oddly familiar to those that were selected at the top of the 2016 NHL Draft.

In this upcoming draft, Jack Hughes has been the consensus first-overall selection for over a year. He is an American center that played for the United States National Development Program.

However, he is being pushed by Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko. Kakko has come up the ranks since the World Junior Championships in December/January. He has made some people believe, especially since his recent play in the IIHF World Championships, that he will be the first-overall pick instead.

Something similar happened in 2016. American center Auston Matthews had been the consensus first-overall pick the entire draft season.  Then, like Kakko, Patrik Laine (also an elite scoring Finnish winger) played well in the exact same tournaments. He was the MVP of the Worlds tournament and that had some people believing he would go first overall. The Draft Lottery winning Toronto Maple Leafs ended up selecting Matthews, leaving Laine for the Winnipeg Jets.

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Patrik Laine is a great scoring wingman, but we all know that Matthews is the far superior player. Matthews is a center that can score goals as good as any player in the NHL and makes players around him better. Hughes has a little bit of a different playing style, but the point remains the same. He is the center, which is the premier position and that would go a long way for the New Jersey Devils lineup.

Don’t take this the wrong way either. Kaapo Kakko is going to be an elite player for the New York Rangers, but a great center will go a long way for him. Jack Hughes is the guy the Devils need and should select first overall. Auston Matthews has done amazing things for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Jack Hughes is going to do amazing things for the New Jersey Devils.

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