3 Prospects New Jersey Devils Should Target With 2nd-Overall Pick In NHL Draft

Simon Nemec

The New Jersey Devils could consider a defenseman with the second pick.

The New Jersey Devils have some nice defensemen in the organization. Dougie Hamilton, Damon Severson, Ryan Graves, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Ty Smith figure to be the top five next season. There are also guys like Kevin Bahl, Reilly Walsh, and Nikita Okhotiuk trying to make it as well.

It won’t be long before Luke Hughes or Shakir Mukhamadullin try to crack the NHL roster as well. Both of them are first-round picks that New Jersey believes in as of right now. If all of these guys reach their potential (or even most of them), there are going to be some interesting decisions to make.

This team’s defense hasn’t been good enough over the last few years for anyone to think that they are done building either. That is why they could still consider adding to the pool of great young defensemen with the 2022 NHL Draft.

That is where Slovakia’s Simon Nemec comes in. He is for sure going to be the first defenseman that comes off the board in the draft. It just is a matter of when. If New Jersey sees that as a position of need (or sees him as the second-best player in the draft by far), they should do it.

It could be something that really helps them as the years go on. It is always tough with defensemen so they would have to be absolutely sure. Nemec is going to be a great player someday but you never know how great. It is something for the Devils to think about.