New Jersey Devils: Full Seven-Round Mock Draft

Round 3, Pick 68
Dylan Duke, Left Wing, U.S. National Team Development Program

This admittedly is also Pronman’s pick for the Devils, but it’s one that makes a lot of sense. His rankings are all over the place, but most draft writers have him in the top 40. To get a player with top 40 talent at pick 68 is great. When watching his game, he does a lot well but not a lot great. You know what they say about a jack of all trades. They are a master of none.

Still, the Devils aren’t looking for a superstar in the 3rd round. They want to draft players who have a high likelihood to make the NHL, and Duke is that type of player. He will play his role as well as the coach wants him to, he will fall in line to switch his game up between scorer, penalty killer, and distributer, and he is always going to be a fan favorite.

Duke is a player that can play 20 minutes a night if you need him to, but he would be best in a middle-six role where he is giving you secondary scoring and contributing on the power play. He is putting himself on what’s quickly becoming a stacked University of Michigan team where he will learn from some of the best prospects in the game and one of the best coaches in Mel Pearson. He should grow even more than he has already under the USNTDP.

There are other interesting players available here. Artem Grushnikov is a Russian defenseman that is very intriguing to me. He played zero games this past season because of the cancelation of the OHL season, and that will hurt him, but he’s a defenseman who can do just about anything he’s asked. Albert Sjoberg is a player I think the Devils will like, but I personally picked between Duke and Grushnikov. I went with Duke because he is closer to what he is going to be and Grushnikov needs more playing time, but this could be the same mistake that saw Grushnikov fall this far and I could regret this pick.