The New Jersey Devils came into the 2025 NHL Draft with a total of six draft picks. They were missing their first-round pick after the Jacob Markstrom trade, sending the 18th pick to the Calgary Flames. Because of this, the Devils got the night off on Friday night while the rest of the league dealt with the brutal start of the decentralized draft.
Luckily, the Devils got a chance to make it worthwhile on Saturday with two picks in the second round to start off their day. Their first pick came at 50 overall, and they chose Conrad Fondrk out of the U.S. National Team Development Program. He's coming off a down year, which has a lot to do with why he dropped to the second round.
He had just 27 points for the U.S. NTDP under 17 year old team this season. That's not what the Devils want to see from their first pick of the day, but the talent he has is obvious. His shot can be very good, and his passing is even better with the right partner. The Devils have a long development curve ahead of them with his kid.
Which is a slight issue because Fondrk is coming off a broken fibula. He still hasn't begun skating after the devastating injury, which cut his season short last year. He's still heading to Boston University, where he will join fellow Devils prospect Mikhail Yegorov. However, we might not see him when puck drops for the Terriers' season.
BU is coming off a National Championship Game loss, but this is an incredibly talented team. We mentioned Yegorov, but they could have a returning Cole Eisermann, a 2024 Islanders draft pick. Other returning players include Cole Hutson, Aidan Celebrini, and a few draft picks who went in the 2025 NHL Draft with Fondrk, including first-round pick Sascha Boumedienne, who went 28th to the Winnipeg Jets.
This was a pick that was right about where everyone expected it to go. The rankings had him anywhere between 45 and 60, although there were some outliers that had him lower.
The #NJDevils select Conrad Fondrk from the USNTDP at 50th overall. Here are his rankings, and he's only 6-foot-0, 190 lbs. Not a beeg and mean player. Solid pick at 50 pic.twitter.com/LjEtsLJBH3
— Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_NJD) June 28, 2025
Conrad Fondrk is a perfectly fine way to start the NHL Draft for the New Jersey Devils
And truly, his best quality is his skating, but there is some question of that with his injury recovery. His skating allows him to play a quality two-way game.
This pick reminds us of the Lenni Hameenaho pick the Devils made in 2023, the last time they didn't have a first-round pick. He was a player with a high floor and was likely to make the roster one day, but we're not looking at the Devils' next 40-goal scorer. That's Fondrk. He will be a quality player, and he will most likely end up in the bottom six as a contributor.