New Jersey Devils: 5 NHL Draft Prospects Third-Round Targets
The New Jersey Devils are preparing for the NHL Draft in a much different way this offseason. With no first-round pick, their scouting has been mostly about players who they hope will fall to them in the second and third rounds.
Some of that research might be a little rushed since the Devils just learned they had a third-round pick. Tom Fitzgerald was able to get this third-rounder from the Columbus Blue Jackets for the rights to unrestricted free agent Damon Severson. They might get more picks, with the rights to Yegor Sharangovich, Ryan Graves, Mackenzie Blackwood, and others still on the table. However, we will function as life is right now.
The Devils have the 80th-overall pick. As of right now, it will be their second pick in the draft. For the most part, once players get past the first 45 picks, anyone can go anywhere. Some of these players might seem too high, and others might seem too low. These players can go around 80th overall in a perfect world.
Kalan Lind – LW – Red Deer Rebels
There are some analysts who really like Kalan Lind, a player who could go in the second round, and there are analysts who think he’s a solid third-round pick. It all comes down to how much people believe in intangibles. Kalan Lind makes sure he plays in the dirty areas, and he does play the type of game that gets under the skin of others.
This is something teams might prioritize after what Matthew Tkachuk did with the Florida Panthers. Lind is nowhere near as skilled as Tkachuk, but he did break the point-per-game threshold for the first time in the WHL. He was so good for his team, both offensively and defensively.
Honestly, if Lind makes it past the second round, the Devils should trade up for him. Maybe they should just take him in the second round. We already wrote our second-round piece, so we didn’t want to miss out on Lind. He is really perfect for what the Devils might be looking for. He needs to add size, but he already has the snarl that’s still partially missing from this lineup.
Carey Terrance – C – Erie Otters
This one is just like other New Jersey Devils targets. The Devils look for speed and skating and hope the rest plays itself out. It’s worked out really well, especially in the later rounds. Casey Terrance can skate with the best of centers.
We went over this in the second-round piece, but the Devils need to add centers to the prospect pool. Their top 25 prospects at around midseason had zero centers. That’s nearly impossible, especially for the second best prospect pool in the league. However, Tom Fitzgerald has Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier on the roster, along with Dawson Mercer who can play center when needed.
Terrance gives the Devils a really skilled center. He loves the dirty areas, playing between the dots in the offensive zone. Going to the net will lead to more goals and more opportunities. This led to a 30-goal season for the Erie Otters this season.
Terrance has a lot of traits that make Jack Hughes great. He can steal the puck based on his defensive instincts, and he can take it the other way. He has better size than Hughes, but he’s like the poorest man’s Hughes at this point, especially since he is currently missing that playmaking ability that originally made the Devils star great. Terrance has the tools, but he’s missing the execution on a few fronts. That’s why he’s available in the third round (theoretically).
Juraj Pekarcik – LW – HK Nitra
Juraj Pekarcik’s rankings are all over the place. Some have him as high as the beginning of the second round, and others have him as low as the fourth round. We like this as a player who might fall through the cracks. This is exactly how the Devils like to operate in the draft’s middle rounds. They don’t care about rankings. If they think the player is the best fit for them, the pick is happening.
Pekarcik can absolutely be that pick in the third round. Again, teams might look at other players since there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on him. If there is this much indecision amongst the analysts, we have to believe there’s a similar discussion happening with the scouts.
This player rose quickly on boards. He was great in the U18s, and that bronze medal game against Team Canada was one for the ages. Dalibor Dvorsky was given more credit, but Pekarcik was a driving force on the offensive end.
Pekarcik is 6’2, which is something that always gets scouts salivating. However, his stickhandling makes him really stick out. It’s his past that might give teams pause, allowing the Devils to snag him in the third round. Again, it’s possible the Devils just jump the gun and take him in the second round.
Trey Augustine – G – USNTDP
During the second-round piece, we talked about Jacob Fowler. Trey Augustine and Fowler are currently fighting for the spot as the third, fourth, or maybe fifth goalie taken in the draft. So, it is very possible that Augustine goes before Fowler. Either way, the Devils would be happy to take either in the second or third round.
The Devils take a goalie every season. It is just something they do. Since Mackenzie Blackwood was selected in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft, another goalie was taken every season, and with Tyler Brennan signing with the team last season, every player will have appeared with the team except for Jakub Malek, who was the 2021 choice. The Devils have a good track record with its goalies, so we think they will look at Fowler and Augustine.
Both of these goalies are very good, but Augustine has some special traits. There’s one thing not special about Augustine, and it’s why we think he will fall. It’s his height. At 6’1, he’d be one of the smaller goalies in the league. Sure, 6’1 is very tall for the normal human, but it’s not tall at all for goalies.
Still, Augustine is so good at everything else it takes to be a good goalie, he can overcome his height. He is agile, and that helps him cover most of the net. This will make sure he occupies the same space that taller goalies do.
Caden Price – D – Kelowna Rockets
Caden Price was once considered a possibility in the first round, but now he’s seen his value drop. It’s not often that analysts talk about that, but it seems that a player once ranked in the 40s is now falling in the 80s. This sounds like the right time for Fitzgerald to jump on a defenseman.
The Devils have a ton of defensemen in the rankings. Besides just Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, who are at the top of the rankings, they have Seamus Casey, Topias Vilen, Reilly Walsh, Case McCarthy, Daniil Orlov, Charlie Leddy, Ethan Edwards, and more. There are defensemen for days, and this is after losing both Shakir Mukhamadullin and Nikita Okhotyuk in the Timo Meier trade.
It doesn’t matter in this case. Price is someone who could be really good, and that’s all that matters to the Devils. He is also very young, with an August birthday. That gives him a little more room to grow than other prospects at this point in the process.
Next. 5 Under-the-Radar Free Agent Targets. dark
Price has great offensive abilities on the blue line. While the Devils don’t need that, with Hughes, Nemec, Dougie Hamilton, and others who play well as an offensive defenseman, this would be the best player available almost guaranteed. Price might be falling quite a bit, but if a team doesn’t stop that fall, the Devils would.