Last week, we looked at the draft options for the New Jersey Devils at second overall and it wasn’t something that was touched on at the time but now it feels far more realistic. At the time, most would say there was a 90% chance that Montreal would take Shane Wright despite the whispers going around. Smart hockey people like The Athletic’s Corey Pronman putting Juraj Slafkovsky at #1.
So what changed?
As 99% of Devils fans will know by now, Bob McKenzie’s list came out and he had Juraj Slafkovsky #1. This is important because his list is taken from 10 NHL scouts and 5 of them had the big Slovak going first while only 4 had Wright. Obviously, this does not mean it will happen but since 2008 he has been right about the first-overall pick every time.
There is also word going around that Montreal is incredibly torn on what to do. It was already floating around that they wanted the second pick to take both Wright and Slafkovsky. Now it looks like they are more than willing to swap picks with New Jersey. Does this mean they want Slafkovsky and want someone to pay extra for Wright?
The Devils are apparently high on Slavkovsky too, but they need to hold strong and not make a move on this. Whoever Montreal takes they take and the Devils can safely pick the other without much criticism from the fanbase.
Wright might not be looking like the superstar he was projected to be when he was granted exceptional status in juniors, but he still had a good season in the OHL. In 63 games, he scored 32 times and had 94 points. That’s obviously good even if not up to some of the previous first-overall picks’ standards.
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He has a high-end hockey IQ, a phenomenal work ethic, and really looks like he understands the game at a natural level which is probably the most important attribute to look for in a player. It usually leads to a long NHL career, especially at center. His shot is not elite, but it is strong. While he won’t be a guy going for 50 goals in the NHL, it should be safe to see him as a 25+ guy and with his two-way play, it should translate will be such a strong asset to the team.
While it is not a perfect comparison, Devils fans should be looking at Nico Hischier with this pick and drawing some comparisons. The former first-overall pick played 57 games and had 38 goals and 83 points in his draft year when the Devils won the lottery. It was also considered a weaker draft at the time. Hischier’s 1.5 points per game is comparable to Wright’s 1.49. While Nico doesn’t get much respect around the league as can be seen with NHL’s 2017 redraft, he is a good player, and Devils fans might even argue that he is a great player.
This team would clearly be made better immediately by having another similar guy and if the argument is just that they already have a guy like him then I would ask why is having two guys who play a 200-foot game and can put up 60+ points bad? His position does not matter and we have seen a lot of prospects move from center to wing with ease and even if he does not this team would have the best center depth in the league within three seasons.
The closer it gets to the draft the more the Devils need to hold tight onto this pick and let Montreal make the hard choice or decide they can’t and make them offer up something big for it. They are showing desperation now and my feeling is they want Slafkovsky more but are worried about a backlash in the home arena, so it could go either way. If the Devils do step up and Wright is on the table, they need to run up and make the pick and should not deal it for anything that would really be offered.