New Jersey Devils NHL Draft Pick Evaluations

The second goalie in this draft that the Devils picked was Veeti Louhivaara from JYP U-20 in Liiga (Finland's NHL), who went 13-6-0 in 21 games. He does have an amazing build, being 6'4 207 pounds. His glove side is phenomenal, and he does a good job of tracking the puck.

One of his drawbacks is his lateral movement is not agile enough to cover the net on a bang-bang play. The more experience he gets over the next few years in Liiga and the more he improves his game, the more he will have no problem becoming a reliable backup to a fringe starter that the New Jersey Devils can have in their arsenal. He has the potential to be a steal in the late rounds and has overall really good techniques

Last but not least is another D+2 forward, Matyas Melovsky, out of the QMJHL. He is a playmaker and can be a goal-scorer. Melovsky is a faceoff winner, and that is good because the Devils do need forwards who are seasoned in the faceoff circle and always active in the offensive zone. He has a strong shot and has very good vision, but one thing that has hindered him from being more well-rounded is not playing against players his age.

Melovsky needs to be in the position to become a goal scorer, play-making forward on a middle-six line at a higher level where he can hit and shot block. It is translating his overly dominant scoring game to a higher level.