Bizarre draft pick looks much worse one year later for New Jersey Devils

There are so many instances of NHL Draft picks looking much worse one year after the selection happened. Think about this logically: NHL GMs are taking players based on how they played prior to becoming adults. There’s a good amount of projection and guess work there. 

Yet, we still have to judge the picks both in the short term and the long term. The Devils spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on scouting just for these five-to-ten draft picks they make every year. To completely waste one is devastating, even if it’s part of the overall process.

Sometimes, late-round picks just don’t work out. We all had really high hopes for Patrick Moynihan. Aarne Talvitie looked like he had a ton of talent. Nikita Popugaev, who the Devils technically still hold the rights to, was supposed to be this interesting mixture of stature and skill. All of them are either playing hockey overseas or out of the sport. 

So, when the Devils drafted a player last year in the sixth round who most analysts had never heard of, it was the rare eyebrow raiser that late in the draft. Usually, those picks can just kind of happen without anyone noticing. 

New Jersey Devils draft pick did not have the season we hoped

Sigge Holmgren was the Devils’ 178th-overall pick last year. What stands out about him is he literally didn’t play a game in the year before he was drafted. He suffered a shoulder injury that knocked him out for about a calendar year. He has the distinction of being the last draft pick of Tom Fitzgerald’s tenure with the Devils. 

It was a fine enough shot in the dark. Maybe the injury will give the Devils a diamond in the rough. If nobody is paying attention, then the Devils could have found someone worthwhile. 

Unfortunately, the early returns don’t look good. Holmgren had just seven points in 34 games last season for Sweden’s U20 league. He played for Brynas, which is the same team as Gustav Hillstrom, who the Devils took in the fourth round. Maybe there was a conversation there, or maybe the Devils just had scouting tape from more than a year ago.

Either way, there are no signs pointing to Holmgren ever making the leap to the NHL. If we had to predict today, we’d say he never signs an entry-level contract stays in Sweden. 

There’s a possibility that he needed another year to recover from major shoulder surgery, but that’s another concern. Not only did he miss a crucial year of development, but he’s going into profession hockey with a shoulder injury history already established.

At the end of the day, sixth-round picks are a dime a dozen, but every so often, you find a Jesper Bratt. And that’s usually because you can scout them on the ice prior to drafting them. 

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