NHL Draft: 3 Options For New Jersey Devils To Trade Back Into 1st Round
The New Jersey Devils are focusing mostly on the second-overall pick in the NHL Draft, but they should be looking at the entire first round to see who might fall to them. If the right player falls, they should jump at a trade.
The New Jersey Devils have a lot of decent to good prospects in their system. They actually have some really good prospects at the top in Luke Hughes and Alexander Holtz, and they will likely add another one with the second-overall pick, but after them, there are literally 20 prospects who could all one day make the NHL. The Devils have a deep prospect pool, and that can end with some players looking to make a jump with nowhere to go.
That’s the issue with the Devils right now. They have only so many NHL and AHL spots remaining. They have a lot of players that are developing at a decent pace. Next week, they plan to add nine new prospects in the NHL Draft. That gives them so many prospects to deal with and a limited amount of space to place them. They hope to get a superstar with the second-overall pick, but they can get a superstar elsewhere, too.
That leads us to our next point. The Devils should really focus on who they should trade up for on Thursday. The Devils have had multiple first-round picks in the past two drafts, and they should do what they can to make it happen again. It likely happens with a trade-up scenario where the Devils add multiple picks to trade back into the first round. There are a few players who could fall into the 20s, and the Devils should jump at the chance to draft them.
1. Brad Lambert
Brad Lambert is the most disputed prospect in this year’s draft. He was considered up there with Shane Wright as the best player in the draft just last year, but this year his season was a disaster, and so was the coverage around it. There are questions about effort level, questions that Lambert obviously won’t like. Some teams reportedly took him off their draft boards entirely. The Devils should not be one of those teams.
If Lambert drops to 20, the Devils should send a bounty of picks short of future first rounders to the Pittsburgh Penguins to move up. The Pens, who are picking 21st, need to get more prospects in that system. The Devils need high-quality prospects only.
Lambert could easily become one of the best players in the draft, or he could completely flame out. However, his attitude and the lesson he is learning with this process seem like it will end with him destroying the competition. We even think there’s an outside chance he could work so hard he makes the NHL next season. He has NHL talent, he just doesn’t know how to use it.
We don’t want to put that kind of pressure on him just yet. Let him develop for a year or two, and see what happens. It’s possible the counter-arguments with Lambert might have had an opposite effect, and he could go earlier. He might even jump into the top ten, but if he doesn’t the Devils need to be all over that.
2. Danila Yurov
The Russians are a wild card in this year’s draft. The war in Ukraine has many questioning whether the KHL will easily allow the best players to come to North America to play in the NHL. It hasn’t stopped players from moving just yet, but anything is possible in the future with Russia. That has question marks surrounding the top players from that region.
One that the Devils should circle on their board is Danila Yurov. He’s likely going to be the first Russian forward off the board, but that doesn’t mean he’s going very high. The left-handed shooting right wing has decent size and strength, and he is in a position of need for the Devils.
Yurov has been one of the best players at his position and age group for years. In previous years, he might easily go in the top ten. The issue is his lack of production in the KHL. In 42 career games against men, he has two points. That’s not great, but the second he goes back to the MHL, he dominates. This is a teenager who just needs some development in the right situation. He’s also averaging less than five minutes per game in the pros, so some context is needed here.
Yurov with the right development could become a top-six winger. The Devils would love to have three dominant young lines to put out there every single night. His rankings are all over the place, with some putting him in the top ten and others putting him in the 20s. If he makes it to the 20s, the Devils need to trade up to get him. It would be worth to pair their second-round pick on top of a third and one of their fifths. They could even add a prospect to the deal to make the trade happen.
3. Rutger McGroarty
Rutger McGroarty is a player who is also splitting scouts and analysts alike. The U.S. forward is tenacious on the puck, and he has the kind of motor the Devils seem to love with their late first-round picks. McGroarty has been a leader everywhere he goes. He grew up in hockey, and it shows with his commitment to the sport.
He was a scoring machine with the U.S. National Development Team Program. He had 69 points in 54 games with the team last season. He scored 15 goals in 25 games in the USHL, as well. He was on the side of top prospect Logan Cooley most of this season, and he compares his game to Matthew Tkachuk. It’s actually a surprise he’s dropping this low on some people’s boards.
If he does, good for the Devils. He has a skill set that likely has him going higher, but the Devils might be able to make a move on other teams’ mistakes. This is a player with intangibles. While many other players in the Devils’ prospect pool have certain similar intangibles, McGroarty seems to put it all together in a total package. The Devils could be getting the ultimate steal here.
Next. Comparing Juraj Slafkovsky To Logan Cooley. dark
The Devils want to be a contender sooner rather than later. What will make them a contender sooner, taking three or four different players in the middle rounds or taking the big swing on a player at the top. Adding McGroarty is a much better option than taking a chance on a player falling to the second round. Make this deal happen Tom Fitzgerald!