Three players stand out as New Jersey Devils prime targets in NHL Draft

Guys who could be Available, and what they bring.

Anton Silyev

Standing at a whopping 6'7, 210 pounds, which is absolutely insane at an age, let alone a draft-eligible one. The left-shot defender played 62 games in the KHL, a very hard league to crack for a young player, and had three goals and 11 points. While the numbers don't jump out at you like other players in junior, he could be a draft day steal not just for the size, but playing against men is way harder, and playing defense against men is insanely hard and can take a long time to get where you need to in the defensive zone.

Players his size also usually struggle to move quickly and take time to grow into their bodies, but he has a great stride and skating speed already, with good positioning and solid defensive IQ for his age. The numbers don't jump off the page like the others, but with his current skills, he has it in him to be an elite shutdown guy and could be the type of player that helps win championships. Now imagine this guy added to prime Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec. This team could have the best defensive core in the league in a few seasons.

Sam Dickinson

Another defender showing the offensive talent with 18 goals and 70 points in 68 games. The guy skates incredibly well and will push the play like a lot of the modern-style defensemen. When he retrieves the puck in the defensive zone, he is already thinking about transitioning it fast and getting out of the zone, which can lead to dangerous plays so while he is interesting, he is a higher-risk reward player and one that could be a little frustrating in the same way devils fans were driven nuts by guys like Damon Severson's bad defensive zone passes for years. He would have been a more intriguing pick later in the first round, but with what is going to be available at this point, there are far better options with less big bust potential.

Berkley Catton

He is a points-producing machine, with 68 games, 54 goals, and 116 points in the WHL, which in his draft year is higher than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who went first overall, and Leon Draisaitl, who went 3rd overall and is a top-five forward in the league right now. While no one can predict what he will develop into, and he is a very different player than those two, the raw numbers and skills speak for themselves. He is small at 5'10 or 5"11, depending on where it is listed, and around 165-170 pounds, which is an issue, especially for this Devils team right now, but he brings a really high compete level that fans will love, showed himself as a decent faceoff guy already going 53% as a younger player in the WHL and had seven shorthanded goals. He could end up being a sneaky good pick for someone since even if he can't put up crazy NHL numbers, if he can play with energy, wins draws, and kills penalties, he would not be a bust like some of the players who are drafted 100% for points, like Alexander Holtz, which makes him intriguing in a few ways.

Carter Yakemchuk

Keeping the defensive trend of the draft going, Yakemchuk played 66 games in the WHL, scored 33 goals, and is yet another defender who scored over a point per game with 70. Standing at 6'3 already and over 200 pounds already he has the NHL size on top of the skill like a lot of the defenders this season and is the ever coveted right shot. The thing that sets him apart for me is his physicality as well; he just loves to hit and loves to be engaged along the boards, which is something that isn't seen as much in young players or players with his level of offense. When it comes to the offense as well, he doesn't line up the big slap shot. He likes the accuracy wrist shot more as Hughes does on this team, and he does try to dangle players at the blue line and on the rush quite a lot more than other defenders. That being said, he does pull it off a lot, but one should expect some growing pains with this when he hits the NHL level and the skill level increases.

Cole Eiserman

Cole Eiserman had 58 goals in 57 games. Not a lot more needs to be added after that, but finishing with 89 points and the record for most NTDP goals, beating Cole Caufield by 1 and Phil Kessel by 23, speaks for itself. He is going to be drafted to score goals, and he will do it. He was a little on the smaller side but is now listed at 6' 200 pounds, so he shouldn't get pushed around, at least when he fills out, and there is always the chance he can add another inch in height, which, while not needed, would help out. A lot of teams passed on Caufield because of his height and regretted it despite the goal-scoring prowess, and this guy outscored him and is bigger, so if he is available after 10, someone is going to be very happy. He also does for-check quite hard compared to some of the past "only here to score goals" guys in the draft and is only two weeks away from being a 2025 draft player which should be kept in mind. He is in prime development time and is a fair bit younger than most of these guys and the mix of that with his numbers makes him a very good option.

With seven players projected gone, Silayev- Eiserman- Yakemchuk are the three to target, so whichever is left on the boardwould be the option. On the off chance they are all available, this is probably the order they should be selected, though there are very good arguments for either three, and none would be disappointing at all.

The main reason I would not choose the other two is while Catton is good at a lot of things, this team specifically might not be the best fit with his size; going Nico-Jack-Catton would give us a mighty under 6-foot average center brigade, and the playoffs would not be kind to that when this team gets there. With Dickinson, he has massive potential, but he has a very high potential for being a straight bust as well, and if we revisit this in six or seven years, it wouldn't surprise me to see him scoring 45 points as a second-pairing guy or playing on the second pair in one of the European leagues.