The New Jersey Devils select Alexander Command with the 12th-overall pick at the 2026 NHL Draft. The center out of Orebro Jr. of the Swedish league stands at 6’1 and around 185 lbs.
Command is a two-way player who can do some things on both sides of the ice, but his ceiling is pretty low and his floor isn’t a guarantee to make the NHL. Command might be a decent player, but he has a lot of development still needed to go, and he’s pretty far away from being NHL ready.
It’s a very confusing pick since the Devils had some real talent available to them. Ethan Belchetz and Nikita Klepov were both really good options for the Devils at forward. We didn’t love Oscar Hemming, but he was a much better pick than this. They could have even taken a defenseman, even though they’ve taken too many of them in the past.
The Devils do need a center in the prospect pool. They are desperately low on centers. Their best prospect center is probably Matyas Melovsky, and he’s a former sixth-round pick who is struggling in AHL action. Right now, they don’t have a center in the system who projects as an NHL player. Command is at least a likely NHL player, but how long does he need to develop before he gets there?
The New Jersey Devils reach for a center with the 12th-overall pick
Sunny Mehta is known for his analytics acumen. Different models have different feelings about Command, but one imparticular is extremely high on him. He played decently enough as a U20 player in Sweden. However, the ceiling scares a lot of scouts.
With the 12th overall pick in the #2026NHLDraft, the New Jersey Devils have taken Alexander Command!
— Tape2Tape Prospects (@T2TProspects) June 27, 2026
Unsurprisingly, analytically driven GM Sunny Mehta's first pick as GM of the Devils has excellent advanced metrics! #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/kfgAgjoXnh
NHL Central Scouting had Command ranked 12th among international skaters. So, if you remove every player from Canada and the United States, the Devils selected a player at the correct spot. Unfortunately, that's not how this works.
The Devils also could have traded the pick, but they decided to keep it. There's just a lot of questionable decision making here. Maybe this is why Mehta was so adament that he was ready to make a trade here. If he was this high on a player who was likely going to be available at 20, he might have tried and failed to move this pick for a player or to trade back for more assets.
From this point forward, we are huge Command fans. Let's hope our analysis is incorrect and Command grows into a great player.
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