5 Worst New Jersey Devils 1st-Round Draft Picks Of All Time

5.

Mattias Tedenby – 24th overall in 2008 NHL Draft

Mattias Tedenby was one of the great Swedish players in all of our heads. He was doing really well in international competition, and eventually, he was going to complement the big names on the team like Zach Parise and Travis Zajac.

For years, fans waited with bated breath for him to break out on the NHL level. Maybe it was forcing him to play too much in his rookie year for a team that was originally led by John MacLean. Maybe it was putting him in positions where he wasn’t meant to succeed. Either way, Tedenby never really made the jump to a competent NHL player.

Tedenby isn’t the type of bust that just never made it to the NHL, but we felt the many busts from the late Lou Lamoriello era needed to be represented. At least Jacob Josefson had a couple of moments in the shootout that brought us to our feet. We just don’t have those memories with Tedenby.

He played 120 games in the NHL, scoring 30 points along the way. He eventually went back to the Swedish Hockey League and is now signed to play in the KHL this season. It’s fair to say his career in the NHL is beyond over, and he’s going to be the worst of the most recent Devils draft picks. There are some picks that could surpass his ugliness, but Tedenby was someone we had a ton of faith in and it just never worked out.