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.
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.