The New Jersey Devils need to come out of the NHL Draft with a sniper to eventually help scoring. There is one guy who might make all the difference once he gets to the NHL.
The New Jersey Devils have a lot of work to do in the 2020 NHL Draft. They need to make smart decisions to help move the franchise forward. They already have an abundance of highly skilled forwards that are “pass first” type players. Nico Hischier is more of a two-way player, but in the offensive zone he is mostly a pass-first guy. Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev, and Jesper Bratt are all players who dish the puck very well.
Kyle Palmieri is the only highly skilled player that’s a natural shooter first. He can get a team anywhere from 25-35 goals if placed in the right situation. The Devils desperately need another sniper in the mix. That is why they should draft Jack Quinn if he is available to them with one of their three 1st-round picks.
Their own 1st-round pick is going to be in the top-8 and they probably don’t need to select Quinn that high. He would, however, be the perfect selection for the Devils with the Arizona Coyotes pick that they received in the Taylor Hall trade. They really could use Quinn’s skillset down the road.
If two players in Hischier and Hughes are the future of the franchise, they need goal scorers to compliment them. Quinn exploded as a member of the Ottawa 67’s this season. He had 52 goals and 37 assists in 62 games. Those 52 goals were second in the OHL only to Nick Robertson who is a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect. There doesn’t seem to be much of a playmaking game in him, as shown by his mediocre assist numbers, but he can surely score.
The Devils also have a crazy connection to the Ottawa 67’s. They already have four prospects that played for them this season. Mitchell Hoelscher, Nikita Okhotyuk, Graeme Clarke, and Kevin Bahl all had great seasons with that stacked team. Adding Quinn to potentially have the chance at the NHL with his 67’s teammates would be a home run. The scouts likely know him very well.
A lot has to do with where the Devils draft picks land and who the management team sees as the best players available, but Jack Quinn would certainly be a good option. Adding a legit sniper that is under the age of 20 could go a long way in building a core that has everything it needs to build around.