Introduction
This past weekend was the 2021 NHL draft and the New Jersey Devils made seven selections. They had at least one in every round except the second. So, from the player they picked at fourth overall, to the player they picked at 203rd overall, let’s take a looks at each.
Luke Hughes
Selected: Round One, Pick Four
Age: September 9th 2003 (17 Years)
Average Ranking: Pick Five
The brother of the Devils’ franchise center Jack and Vancouver’s star defenseman Quinn, Luke Hughes is a dynamic offensive-leaning defenseman. He’s a left-shot, so an area that’s a bit clogged right now. However, Luke should quickly shoot his way up the depth charts.
Similarly to his brothers, Luke is a fantastic skater and has great edgework. He also sees the game at a fast pace, which is a large part of his extremely high hockey IQ. Hughes is committed to the University of Michigan and is expected to play there this upcoming season. He said in an interview that he thinks he could spend up to two years there, so we shall see.
Chase Stillman
Selected: Round One, Pick 29
Age: March 19th 2003 (18 Years)
Average Ranking: Pick 63
The Devils pick another player with family ties in hockey. Chase Stillman is the son of former NHLer Cory Stillman. While on most draft boards this pick would be considered a pretty big reach, clearly the Devils were very high on him. Given this “reach” designation, it seems the pick upset a lot of fans. However, it may not be as bad of a pick as you think.
Similar to his father, Chase is a hard-hitting forward who has the smarts to put up points. Stillman isn’t a great skater in a technical sense, but he uses his long strides to quickly get himself up the ice and create chances on the counter-attack. A hard-hitting forward with long strides that can skate fast in a straight line reminds you of someone, it’s because it should. That definition is basically Miles Wood. The main difference between the two is that Stillman is a lot smarter on the ice and sees it a lot better.
Will Chase be as good as his father, probably not. However, I do see him playing the important role of a third-line, checking-forward on a contending team. Similar to what Blake Coleman and Yanni Gourde brought for the Tampa Bay Lightning the past two years when they won the Stanley Cup. Were there better players available? Sure, but the Devils have plenty of skilled forwards in their prospect system and already on the roster, so I personally don’t mind this pick.
Samu Salminen
Selected: Round Three, Pick 68
Age: April 9th 2003 (18 Years)
Average Ranking: Pick 57
Samu Salminen is a skilled center with a great shot. He scored seven goals in seven games for Finland at the under-18 tournament this past spring. Along with that, he put up 26 points in 17 games in Finland’s junior league. The best part of Salminen’s game though is his pure hockey smarts. He has the ability to see a play just before it’s about to happen which allows him to get on pucks in both zones. He’s a natural goal scorer as shown by the goal-per-game performance at the under-18 tournament.
Samu is committed to University of Denver, however he’s planning on spending another year in Finland before heading over to the states. I could see him as a decent power play, middle-six scoring option down the road.
Jakub Malek
Selected: Round Four, Pick 100
Age: April 11th 2002 (19 Years)
Average Ranking: Unranked
Jakub Malek is an over-ager who went undrafted last year. He played most of the season in the Czech-2 League, which is the third best league in the Czech Republic. He put up solid numbers over there, especially in the playoffs. However, he was not on many, if any, rankings this season. So, there is not a ton of information on him. It seems unlikely he will make an impact at the NHL-level.
Topias Vilen
Selected: Round Five, Pick 129
Age: April 1st 2003 (18 Years)
Average Ranking: Pick 82
Topias Vilen played his first full season in Finland’s top professional league this past season at the age of 17. In 35 games he put up eight points, which is decent for a defenseman in his draft year playing full time against grown men.
Topias is a solid shut-down, defensive defenseman. He’s good at reading plays in his own end and moving the play up ice the other way with his fairly good skating ability. He could be a nice piece on a Devils bottom-pair in a few years.
Viktor Hurtig
Selected: Round Six, Pick 164
Age: April 28th 2002 (19 Years)
Average Ranking: 196
Viktor Hurtig was another somewhat off the board pick. Hurtig was an over-ager this past season, being passed on in last year’s draft. This past season, Viktor put up eight points in Sweden’s top junior league and even got some time in the country’s minor league. He’s a big right shot defenseman (six-foot-six) that has an active stick at both ends of the ice.
Hurtig is another prospect that there is not a ton of information on. But, it seems like he has some decent upside to be a fringe-NHLer someday.
Zakhar Bardakov
Selected: Round Seven, Pick 203
Age: February 24th 2001 (20 Years)
Average Ranking: 170
Zakhar Bardakov was the Devils’ final pick in the draft and third over-ager selected. This past year the skilled Russian power forward put up 11 points including eight goals in 44 KHL games. The KHL is widely regarded as the second-best hockey league in the world and extremely hard to score in. So the fact that Bardakov scored at the rate that he did is somewhat impressive.
He led the MHL, which is Russia’s junior hockey league, in penalty minutes two seasons in a row before coming over to the KHL, which could have led to him being passed on two years in a row. If he picks up his scoring in the next few seasons I could see him becoming a decent option for the Devils bottom-six a few years from now. Obviously though, like every player and prospect in sports, nothing is guaranteed.