Today is finally the day. Tonight, the 2024 NHL Entry Draft commences. The New Jersey Devils are slated to pick at 10th overall, then five times after that. Of course, pending any type of trades. Which, according to a report by Frank Seravalli on Wednesday, might just happen. Regardless, with the big event set to begin tonight, all the information you can possibly need is below.
The Important Information
When: Friday, June 28 at 7:00 pm ET and Saturday, June 29 at 11:30 am ET
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada at The Sphere
Schedule: Round 1 is on June 28, Rounds 2-7 are on June 29
How To Watch: Round 1 – ESPN, ESPN+, Rounds 2-7 – NHL Network, ESPN+
The Devils’ Assets
As mentioned above, the Devils enter the draft with six selections across the seven-round event. Those are listed below, pending any trades:
- Round 1: Pick #10
- Round 3: Pick #75 and Pick #91 (via Winnipeg)
- Round 5: Pick #139
- Round 5: Pick #152 (via Colorado via San Jose)
- Round 6: Pick #171
The team does not own a second-round pick (Timo Meier trade), fourth-round pick (Curtis Lazar trade), or seventh-round selection (Timo Meier trade). New Jersey acquired the third-round pick from Winnipeg via the Tyler Toffoli trade and got the Colorado fifth-round pick in the Meier trade.
Of course, the first selection will be made on Day 1 of the draft, Friday, while the remaining five picks will be made on Day 2 of the draft which includes rounds 2 through 7.
New Jersey will enter the draft with $15,273,603 in cap space according to CapFriendly.
The Potential Selections at 10th Overall
Since 2018, the Devils have made five first-round picks. Of those five, three have been defensemen. Specifically, the last two first-round picks the Devils made were each defensemen; Luke Hughes (fourth overall) in 2021 and Simon Nemec in 2022 (second overall).
Given this, it would appear likely the Devils may lean forward with their pick at 10th overall. New Jersey has at least three defensive positions anchored for years to come with Dougie Hamilton, Hughes, and Nemec. Addressing the forward position may seem wise.
Forward Options
Earlier in the week, we published a piece that specifically analyzed six top options at the forward position that the Devils may draft. Of the group, five-foot-10 Berkly Catton is the most intriguing, totaling 116 points and 54 goals in the WHL this past season. Tij Iginla, son of Jarome, is also another extremely intriguing prospect who the Devils should be thrilled to get if the opportunity so arises.
Elsewhere, if the team is looking for players with higher floors, look no further than two-way players in center Konsta Helenius and winger Michael Brandsegg-Nygård. Beckett Sennecke (terrific size) and Cole Eiserman (electric goal scorer) are both additional winger options, but do need quite a bit of development.
Other potential options that we did not analyze that may be at play for the Devils, but would certainly be considered reaches are wingers Trevor Connelly and Liam Greentree as well as center Michael Hage. Connelly is a dynamic-offensive forward who tallied 78 points in 52 USHL games while Greentree is a projected power forward with great size and strong production as an OHL captain last year. Hage, like Connelly, played in the USHL, totaling 75 points in 54 games.
Note, the article analyzing the six forwards referenced above can be found here.
Defensive Options
Never say never. The Devils can very well select another defenseman in the first round. If they so choose to go this route, the draft is loaded with them at the top. Like the forwards, we profiled a few defensemen that may make sense for New Jersey at 10th overall.
Sam Dickinson is by far the cream of the crop in terms of potential options. The 18-year-old is extremely advanced for his age, especially defensively while posting 70 points in 68 OHL games. Not to mention, he plays the left side; a need for New Jersey.
Both Zayne Parekh and Zeev Buium project as dynamic offensive defenseman. With Buium having a great chance of being a more two-way-centric player. Parekh broke goal-scoring records and posed unreal point outputs in the OHL. Buum was a point-per-game player in collegiate hockey. Lastly, there’s Carter Yakemchuk, who is an extremely raw prospect needing a lot of coaching, but is already a strong offensive-driver with terrific size.
A few other defenseman that may be an option for the Devils at 10th overall that we did not profile are Anton Silayev, Adam Jiříček, and Stian Solberg. It would be a miracle if Silayev, who profiles as a true defensive defenseman with already 63 KHL (top professional league in Russia) games under his belt, is still available at 10th overall. Jiříček, brother of Columbus’ David, profiles as a two-way defenseman and is only 17 years old playing in the top professional league in Czechia. Lastly, Solberg, a Norwegian like Brandsegg-Nygård, is another defensive defenseman who has professional experience in Norway, and next, in the SHL of Sweden. Each of those would likely be looked upon as a reaches.
Note, the article analyzing the four defensemen referenced above can be found here.
What Should The Devils Do?
Answering the question of what the Devils should do on draft night is a tough one. If they do indeed keep the pick, as a trade is always possible, the likelihood they end up with another close to blue-chip prospect or their system is relatively high. It just depends on how the board shakes out.
Here are our rankings of who the Devils should target at 10th overall, considering only the most realistic possibilities:
- Berkly Catton, C (WHL)
- Sam Dickinson, LD (OHL)
- Tij Iginla, W (OHL)
- Zeev Buium, D (NCAA)
- Zayne Parekh, D (OHL)
- Konsta Helenius, C (Liiga)
- Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, W (SHL)
- Beckett Sennecke, W (OHL)
- Cole Eiserman, W (USDP)
- Carter Yakemchuk, RD (WHL)
This list focuses mainly on the prospects we were able to analyze. Of course, if someone such as Anton Silayev (LD, KHL), who is projected to go within the top five, is available, they would triumph most of the above solely based off value. Conversely, Stian Solberg, also a player we did not profile, would likely be regarded as a reach based off the consensus, but would probably be a better fit than Yakemchuk.
Note, we also published an article tracking several different mock drafts and what the Devils assigned picks in those were. That can be found here.
Top-16 Rankings via Jacob Goren
Fellow Devils Army Blog writer, Jacob Goren, took a crack at ranking the 16-best prospects in the draft. For the different perspective on rankings, you can find that here.
Those rankings are as follows; full analysis of those rankings can be found in the link via the previous sentence.
- Macklin Celebrini (Center, NCAA)
- Ivan Demidov (Right Wing, MHL)
- Cayden Lindstrom (Center, WHL)
- Berkly Catton, (Center, WHL)
- Artyom Levshunov (Defenseman, NCAA)
- Zeev Buium (Defenseman, NCAA)
- Tij Iginla (Center, WHL)
- Anton Silayev (Defense, KHL)
- Cole Eiserman (Center, USNTDP)
- Teddy Stiga (Left Wing, USNTDP)
- Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (Right Wing, Allsvenskan)
- Sam Dickinson (Defense, OHL)
- Zayne Parekh (Defense, OHL)
- Michael Hage (Center, USHL)
- Alfons Freij (Defense, Swedish J20)
- Igor Chernyshov (Left Wing, KHL)
Our Draft Content
As mentioned above, we have already posted several draft-related articles. Those can all be found below:
- Forward Options at 10th Overall
- Defensive Options at 10th Overall
- What The Mocks Are Saying The Devils Will Do
- Potential Trade Of The 10th-Overall Pick
- Jacob Goren’s Top-16 Draft Prospect Rankings
It is an always exciting time of year. The draft quickly followed by the opening of free agency July 1. The NHL offseason is in full swing. To top this excitement off, the Devils are expected to compete in 2024-25, raising the importance of this offseason that much more.
We will have all the coverage of the draft and free agency on our social media pages. Make sure to follow along!