New Jersey Devils: Grading Nicolas Daws Pick In 2020 NHL Draft

The New Jersey Devils took a goalie with their first pick of the second day of the NHL Draft.

There was a lot of buzz around the goalies of the 2020 NHL Draft. Obviously, a large majority of the hype was around 1st-round pick Yaroslav Askarov. He’s being hyped up as the next great goalie prospect of our generation. However, there were multiple other goalie prospect who were given a fair bit of hype. One of them was taken by the New Jersey Devils in the 3rd round of the NHL Draft.

The Devils selected Nicolas Daws with their 84th overall pick. There is a lot to like about the pick, as the Devils could use better goalie prospects in the organization. Gilles Senn had a nice season with the Binghamton Devils, Akira Schmid is still a raw prospect, and Evan Cormier is still floating around somewhere, but Daws immediately becomes the Devils best goalie prospect.

Daws played has been with the Guelph Storm the past three seasons, but he never put up numbers like he did this year. In the shortened OHL season, he had a .924 save percentage over 38 games. He had a rough World Junior Championship, where he only played two games with a .840 save percentage. Daws still won a gold medal with Team Canada, so no harm no foul.

Daws seemingly came out of nowhere. He was available to be drafted last year, but teams passed entirely. He could have been signed for free, but teams did not know the season Daws was about to have. Now, the Devils used their top pick on the second day of the draft to get him, and nobody is saying it’s the wrong move.

It’s clear Daws ran out of steam slightly towards the end of last season. He was the starter for the first time in his junior career, and his workload basically doubled. He had insane numbers in the middle of December (13-2-4 record, .941 save percentage). One could absolutely argue those numbers could translate over a full season now that he’s used to that type of workload.

There is a ton of upside with this pick for the Devils. Daws is an overager, so they may not have to wait as long as other goalie prospects like Calle Clang (Pittsburgh Penguins draftee), Arthur Akhtyamov (Toronto Maple Leafs), or Leevi Meriläinen (Detroit Red Wings).

The Devils took the right guy in between the pipes. Dylan Peterson and Oliver Tarnstrom were interesting players still on the board, but Daws could be a starting goaltender in the near future. He can at least be a 1B to Mackenzie Blackwood when Cory Schneider‘s contract ends. He’s on the trajectory to make it to the league, and finding a goalie like that in the 3rd round is huge. This was a great way to round out the Sami Vatanen trade.