5 Players Worth New Jersey Devils’ First-Round Pick In NHL Draft

Jakob Chychrun

So, the Devils don’t exactly need a defenseman, and the Arizona Coyotes are in a hard rebuild as they are about to play in a college hockey arena for a few years. They currently have $51 million in cap space this offseason. That’s insane. They need to find some players to fill that roster, and the Devils might be willing to make their first-round pick available to the Coyotes, another big help in the Coyotes rebuild.

The Yotes already have the Carolina Hurricanes pick (most likely) and the Colorado Avalanche pick.  Neither of those picks are going to be lower than 25th in the first round. Meanwhile, they are looking to offload Jakob Chychrun this year before the deadline. The defenseman should get them a haul of some kind, but how important is the pick to them?

If the Devils make their pick available, the Coyotes might want that over almost any other asset a team is willing to make available. Teams aren’t going to trade star prospects for Chychrun. However, a top-five pick could easily become a star. Chychrun is someone who would slot into the Devils lineup next to Dougie Hamilton to make one of the best offensive units on the blueline.

Listen, all of these deals still seem like they are a major, major risk to make a deal for a top-five pick. The Devils could be trading away a certified star. However, if they want to actually get out of this rebuild, they need to find NHL players. They likely aren’t getting a 2021-22 NHL player in the draft this season. They have a plethora of prospects who will be soon to NHL ready. Maybe it’s time to finally make a big-boy move.