Okay, so a lot of Devils fans were tweaked that Shero did not come away from the first round with a Keller or Jost or Nylander or Sergachev, but that's the price of not tanking. It would be nice to get a top line scoring superstar to pair with Zacha, sure, but the more I look at the Devils draft the more I like it.
1 (12) C Michael McLeod
Ray Shero deserves some credit here. After the four players the Devils coveted went off consecutively in picks 7-10, he pulled a fast one to get a free third round pick, convincing Ottawa that either NJ or Carolina wanted Logan Brown, who the Senators really, really wanted. So, Devils ran away with the #80 pick and moved down to #12.
McLeod has taken some slack for his inability to ever compete for the Art Ross Trophy, but hey -- all the best scorers went where they should have... in the top 10. And what does McLeod bring? Foremost, he is the best skater in the entire draft. Anyone who does not realize what that kind of speed can do was not watching the past Stanley Cup Playoffs. With all the talk of Crosby and Malkin, the main force in the Penguins' championship run was that no defense could skate with the trio of Bonino-Kessel-Hagelin.
Folks, McLeod is that kind of fast. Every time he hits the open ice with the puck it's like he swallowed a twin-carbine engine and got hit in the butt by a lightning bolt. He's like the Delorean in Back To The Future, for crying out loud. In addition to that, he plays two ways, he's a character guy, he's an unbelievable penalty killer, he's a demon in the face off circle. All of these qualities are qualities the Devils have lacked for several seasons. NJ has been a slow team, a small team, awful in the face off circle.
Let's get behind McLeod -- he's a player. There's a lot of Dylan Larkin in his game, he adds several needed elements to the Devils, and he should be a major part of NJ's future success.
2 (41) RW Nathan Bastian
I must admit, I was really hoping for a high-upside offensive F like Abramov or Bitten with this pick, and instead we took McLeod's linemate from Mississauga/best friend. But again, the more I think about the pick the more I like it.
Since Kovalchuk split back to the land of Nabokov and borscht, how many 6'4 power forwards who can skate and shoot have the Devils had? The number you're thinking of is exactly the same as the amount of one night trysts you've had with Madonna. (Not me, you. Those numbers are different.) Bastian has a sky high hockey IQ, and although he will never be confused with Datsyuk with his on-ice vision, he is a very adept passer. He plays two-ways and has an excellent shot. He bangs in the corners, wins board battles, and wins net-mouth scrums to bang rebounds home.
Again, Bastian is the type of player the Devils have lacked and sorely need. Will he ever score 50 goals? No, but he has the upside of a very formidable, two-way, physical second-line power F. A gamer.
3 (73) RW Joey Anderson
This pick did not have to grow on me -- I loved it right away. Anderson was overlooked due to the fact that his line mates on the US-NTDP were first-round studs Clayton Keller and Kieffer Bellows, but Anderson was no small part of that line's success.
Anderson is an outstanding skater with a non-stop motor. Despite modest size of 5'11-190, he plays a power F game, hustling like a demon, afraid of nothing, a beast in the crease and the corners. He does all the little things it takes to win, is smart as hell, very well coached and conditioned. He's basically a teenage version of Ryan Callahan. Like McLeod and Bastian he has a very high floor, meaning that even if his scoring does not develop enough to translate to a scoring line role, he will be invaluable in the NHL as a checker with speed and guts.
3 (76) TRADED FOR RW BEAU BENNETT
I know, I know -- what kind of idiotic hockey team would trade an early round pick for a talented but injury prone former first round pick who was labeled a bust in their early 20's?
Oh, we're talking about Beau Bennett? I thought we were talking about Kyle Palmieri.
Now, I'm not saying Bennett will be as good as Palmieri, but I will say he's certainly worth a third-round pick in a draft where you have three of them. Bennett can skate, is extremely creative with the puck and has a sneaky-good shot. Sure, there's a lot of IFS here; IF he's healthy, IF he clicks with the Devils' system on the second line. But let's just say those IFS work out this year... we could have 50+ point RWs on both the first and second lines for the cost of three non-first round picks. That's a chance Devils fans should be willing to take.
3 (80) C/LW Brandon Gignac
Another pick I loved right away. One of the best draft writers in the biz is Steve Kournianos (The Draft Analyst), and he loves this kid. Signac oozes skill, can skate like the wind and plays a responsible two-way game. Sense a pattern here? He is terrific in the face-off circle and has a high compete level. Sense a pattern here?
If the 61 points in 67 games does not impress you, keep in mind he was playing on the second line behind 2015 Islanders 1st round pick Anthony Beauvillier. Gignac got most of the secondary assignments and still managed a point per game in the QMJHL. He's just a tremendous passer and stickhandler, and many scouts think he has even greater offensive upside if moved to the wing. I think he's similar in many ways to Blake Speers, whom the Devils grabbed in the third round in 2015, a real upside pick.
4 (102) LW Mikhail Maltsev
Another pick I loved right away. What do you say to a 6'3-200+ LW with top notch skating, dazzling puck skills and a penchant for hard-nosed, two-way play? You say you'll take him on your team.
Maltsev was one of those kids who would have gone much higher if not for an injury prone draft year. In that sense, he is reminiscent of Christian Dvorak or a guy Devils fans might recall in Petr Sykora. The skill set is there, the smarts and motor are there. We're talking yet another forward with top-6 potential.
LATE PICKS
A few fans bummed out when the Devils announced a 4th-round selection of Saginaw goaltender Evan Cormier. Though projecting 18 year old goalies is even harder than trying to remember what I did last night, he's got NHL size and athleticism and a wicked glove hand. His positioning looks a bit wonky and he flails a bit in traffic, but those are coachable deficiencies.
Tough not to rave about 5th round LHD Yegor Rykov. Ideal size at 6'1-205, skates well, calm with the puck, very good in his own zone. He looked terrific at the world tourney and there's no reason to think he cannot be a rock solid second-pairing defenseman at the NHL level -- a tremendous bargain for a 5th round pick.
Jesper Bratt was a big-time dice roll, real boom/bust type. His skill with the puck is electrifying, his play without the puck is just atrocious. He's small at 5'9-170, but he can make plays at high speed and has a very hard, accurate shot for such a small kid. Like fellow Swede Mattias Tedenby, he's going to need to make it on a scoring line if he will make the NHL at all, hence the "bust" in boom/bust. But the boom? He can be a real Tyler Ennis-type undersized scoring threat. Certainly worth a 6th round gamble.
I can't even find film on Devils' 7th rounder Jeremy Davies. Admittedly, I really really wanted David Quenneville here, but I'm not going to complain about an offensive-minded LHD who led all USHL rearguards in scoring this season for Bloomington. Let's hope he develops into a Brian Campbell-type at Northeastern over the next few years.
CONCLUSION
Look, does the Devils draft rank with Toronto or Winnipeg? No, but they drafted first and second overall. NJ drafted 11th and just missed out on the four scorers they coveted. No use shouting to the heavens about that.
Instead, enjoy a very promising group of new Devils prospects. It can be argued that the Devils had a better draft than Columbus, who drafted third. Better than Carolina and Boston, who each had a pair of first-rounders.
The Devils still need a top-end young scoring winger to pair with Zacha for the foreseeable future. Maybe the Devils will trade for one in the future, or draft one next year. Maybe an idiot GM like Benning in Vancouver or the math geeks in Florida offer NJ Virtanen or Crouse for something expendable. But the fact remains that a team with little organizational depth at forward last week now has substantial organizational depth at forward, and that's something to smile about.
It is clear to me that Shero and Castron and co. have a vision and they are executing that vision with patience and precision. It is extremely conceivable that names like McLeod, Bastian and Anderson will be part of that vision for many improved seasons to come in the future.
