New Jersey Devils: Thoughts On Bob McKenzie’s Top-10 Prospects

Bob McKenzie’s Top-10 list might intrigue some New Jersey Devils fans.

The New Jersey Devils are, in all likelihood, going to have either two or three picks in the 1st round of the 2020 NHL Draft. Two top-ten picks could be on their way to the organization. That makes this year’s edition of the draft and draft lottery interesting for fans of the Devils. Bob McKenzie of TSN just released his top-ten list of 2020 draft prospects, and it is very interesting to see what he came up with.

The first one on the list is very obvious. Whoever wins Friday night’s Draft Lottery is going to select Alexis Lafreniere of the Rimouski Oceanic. He is going to make an immediate impact in the NHL right away for anyone lucky enough to draft him. What comes after him is where the intrigue begins.

McKenzie has Tim Stutzle at number two and Quinton Byfield behind him at three. The argument over which one of them will go second is one that has been a major debate on Twitter for a few months now and could be the Devils’ choice depending on how this week’s lottery goes. There are a lot of advocates for both of them to go second overall so whoever wins that second spot will have a lot of decisions to make. If the Devils are there at pick number two, they could go either way.

Jamie Drysdale is next on his list at four. This is notable since he is the consensus number-one defenseman in the draft. He will join a lucky organization’s blue line in the not so distant future following his selection, wherever that ends up being, in the not so distant future. Cole Perfetti, Lucas Raymond, Marco Rossi, Jake Sanderson, Alexander Holtz, and Jack Quinn round out the top ten.

The rest of this list is interesting for a few reasons. First off, you have to remember that this list isn’t based on McKenzie’s opinion. He comes up with this list by putting together information from all of the scouts that he talks to. It makes you wonder if the list he gives is one that the NHL GMs mostly agree with, give, or take a few players.

Jake Sanderson is often ranked between 10 and the mid-teens, but McKenzie has him at pick eight and the second-highest defenseman off the board. It makes you think that a lot of NHL scouts see him as a highly-touted defenseman prospect that could go in the top ten. It is unclear if that would be a smart pick for New Jersey in the 10-12 range but if he was there at 17 it would be awesome.

Jack Quinn sitting there at ten is where things are really fun. He is a fantastic goalscorer and perhaps the best pure goal scorer in his class. A lot of teams that pass on him are going to regret it many years down the line. He also plays for the Ottawa 67s which would just really make him a good fit in the Devils’ organization.

Regardless of who you or anyone thinks of these players, the New Jersey Devils just need to be right. It is rare to enter a draft this deep with this many picks like the Devils are going to, hopefully. They need to nail this draft so they can start adding more talent to the core of this team. If they hit on two or three really good players from this class and combine them with the Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes‘ of the world, this could be a really exciting group.