Monday, June 24, 2019

2019 New Jersey Devils Draft Class Review

Hi everybody! Another draft has come and gone. We ended up picking 11 players, so let's take a look through each one. Please note, this will only be about the draft picks and not trading for PK F'ING SUBBAN. Okay, got that out of my system. Anyways, let's get started!
1st Round (1st overall): Jack Hughes
Jack. Hughes. Anything else need to be said? I'm not much for giving out grades for draft picks, but this pick alone is enough to warrant an "A" for the entire draft. Drafting Hughes is nothing but cause for celebration. Elite skating; elite vision; elite playmaking; elite stickhandling; elite potential. As much as I love Gomez and Nico, the Devils have never drafted as electrifying a talent as Jack Hughes. Nico and Jack as a one-two center punch for the next decade. Let's go.
2nd Round (61st overall): Nikita Okhotyuk
I'll get my theory out of the way in this section. I believe the team coveted a particular type of defenseman this draft: big, mobile, physical/mean, and strong defensive game with potential growth into a two-way game. That would be my guess why Ray traded down so much. There were a couple guys that he and Paul really wanted to target to fit that organizational need while also getting later round picks for home-run swings (I'll get to them in their sections).
So what to expect from Okhotyuk? Well his nickname is "The Russian Hunter" for two fun reasons: firstly, his last name roughly translates to "Hunter's son", but more relevantly is the fact that he hits and he hits some more. Playing with great speed, vision, discipline and hockey smarts, Okhotyuk is the first step to addressing this area of need in our organization without sacrificing skill or potential. It definitely helps that Okhotyuk was one of two Ottawa 67's we drafted in this class. Since he's in Ottawa, we'll be able to keep a very close eye on him. His game reminds me a bit of a more mobile Anton Volchenkov. One thing that impresses me about Okhotyuk is his agility and ability to shake off forecheckers. Offensively, Okhotyuk has some interesting potential because he flashed some higher end offensive potential over the course of the season. However, since he was buried on Ottawa's depth chart, the numbers never really developed. Now, with the impending departure of Ottawa 67's top d-man, Noel Hoefenmayer, Okhotyuk should get some more ice-time, so we'll see what happens with his offensive game.
Would I have preferred a higher-upside forward that was on the board at the time like a Nathan Legare or Maxim Cajkovic? Honestly, yes, but I completely understand both the organizational need and the potential skill here with this pick. You need defensemen, and you need defensemen that excel at the defensive game.
3rd Round (70th overall): Daniil Misyul
Let's get this out of the way really quickly: Holy hell, this was a slam-dunk pick. Daniil Misyul is a phenomenal skater who excels at transitioning out of the defensive zone. He likes to skate the puck up himself and gains the offensive zone with ease. Misyul is a great puck-handler and an accurate passer. His one-on-one defensive game is stellar too. I guess I would categorize him as a defensive defenseman, but there is really good potential here for offensive upside. He even earned ice-time in the playoffs with his KHL team, which is something extremely rare for a young defenseman. If there's anything I'd like to see him improve upon it's his shot speed (that'll come with his added strength and muscle) and his overall defensive zone awareness. He excels at one-on-one defense but could use some work with playing a more zone-oriented defensive game. This is something that can be taught. At this point, I'm really just nit-picking (but I have to for a fair analysis). And now, here's the question I'm sure many of you are asking: Yes, he hits, and hits hard. He plays a fearless game and loves to clear the crease. That's HIS puck and good luck beating him to it. It only helps that he's 6'3 and has great reach. I'm no medical professional, but I think we can diagnose Misyul with a case of gangly-itis. Misyul isn't very creative offensively, but his offensive game mostly revolves around transition attacks. He'll fit in perfectly with our system and I don't see how he doesn't have NHL top-4 upside. Fantastic pick.
3rd Round (80th overall): Graeme Clarke
For this pick, the Devils turn to the Ottawa 67's again, which brings up a fun/interesting theme throughout a lot of draft: teammates and connections.
Anyways, let's talk about Clarke. Clarke has one of the best shots in the draft. Not only is his shot fantastic, borderline elite, his hands are remarkable as well. I'm sure many of you have seen this goal by now, but it's not the first time he's done the "Michigan" move before!
Like Okhotyuk, Clarke found himself a little further down the line-up (in terms of minutes played) on a deep Ottawa 67's team. What I like about Clarke's game is not only his shot and stickhandling, but his ability to recognize space on the ice and gusto to exploit that open space. This is key for any goal-scorer in juniors to be able to make the jump to be a successful goal-scorer in the pros. There is plenty of room to improve in Clarke's game and to fully establish himself as an elite OHL forward. Most notably is his skating - specifically his explosiveness/acceleration and overall speed. Clarke strikes me as a potential middle-6 RW at the NHL level who excels on the powerplay...but the skating needs to improve. I like the potential for this pick.
By the way, I'll elaborate on all the connections/teammates stuff at the end of this post.
3rd Round (82nd overall): Michael Vukojevic
I'll be honest, this was the first kind of "meh" pick in my mind, and I don't think that's fair to Vukojevic. I had a couple very rough viewings of Vukojevic at the beginning of the season and had a tough time warming up to him. Again, this isn't fair to Vukojevic because that was at the beginning of the season and a consistent theme for almost all picks from rounds 2-7 this draft was consistent improvement throughout the season, especially in the second half. Since the draft, I've looked back on game footage, especially from the second half of the season and the playoffs. I've liked what I've seen and there's definitely something there.
Michael Vukojevic is another big, mobile, defensively-oriented defenseman who plays a mean and physical game. He's already big and strong, and has even more room to grow. One of the things that concerned me about his defensive game from earlier on in the season was that it predominantly involved using his physicality and strength to essentially beat up on the smaller competition...and that won't fly at the pro level against much bigger players...but Vukojevic is strong. He is really strong and as mentioned earlier, he'll have more room to grow and get stronger, so perhaps that could translate to the pros. Vukojevic doesn't have much in terms of offensive upside, but he makes a good pass out of the defensive zone. I'd like to see him improve his agility and lateral movement. I'm not sure what to say about his NHL potential because while normally a player with his skillset would immediately strike me as a likely 3rd pairing d-man, there's something about Vukojevic's intelligence, decision-making, and vision that say there might be something more here. His offensive skills are very...uh...not there at this point, but he make crisp zone exit passes and is able to think the game well. Perhaps in our team identity of a speed-based attack, he'll get some assists via goals in transition. I like his passing though and who knows what else is there. He'll be a prospect I'll keep a very close eye on this upcoming season.
4th Round (96th overall): Tyce Thompson
This pick, like Vukojevic, confused me a little bit. In viewings of Thompson, I didn't quite see any high-end offensive upside, but I think I understand the risk/gamble involved with taking Thompson (maybe not as high as the 4th round, but maybe Ray/Paul were worried he'd be off the board by the 5th or so). Providence College is losing 3 of their top scoring forwards from this season due to pro contract signings. This'll open up more ice-time for Thompson to compete and perhaps show some offensive flair. It should be said that I do think he has a good shot. What Thompson does do well is his play along the boards and grinding down opponents. He'll have to add muscle to be more effective at that game and if he wants to play that kind of game at the pro level. With all due respect to Tyce, I'm not too thrilled with this pick, but I have to trust Castron here. It's easy to say that Castron is the person I trust most in the organization when players like Hughes, Bratt, and Smith are picked...it's a little more difficult to do so with these kinds of picks. Let's hope Tyce is a diamond in the rough and he/Castron prove me wrong for worrying.
4th Round (118th overall): Case McCarthy
Another slam-dunk pick. Honestly here until the end of the draft was just slam dunk after slam dunk pick for the Devils. Case McCarthy is a great skating, physical two-way defenseman. He hits, he shuts down opponents, he doesn't lose one-on-one battles, and did I mention plays a near air-tight defensive game? Funny enough, I had Case McCarthy at #45 on my final top-62 list, so this is phenomenal value in my book. In terms of other rankings, he was a bit all over the place, and I know I had him higher than most places. However, he was one of the most impressive defensemen on that USNTDP team after York. Despite his great skating, McCarthy doesn't really like to skate the puck up the ice himself. Rather he opts to make a crisp outlet pass. I think the reason why McCarthy was ranked pretty low by outlets is that his decision-making is pretty simple and he doesn't have much offensive upside. That being said, he strikes me as a guy who can log 20+ of tough defensive assignments in the Show. Fantastic pick here.
5th Round (127th overall): Cole Brady
Let's be real: goalies are really difficult to project. Last year we picked a 6'5" string-bean of a goaltender in the 5th round and this year is no different. What I can tell you about Cole Brady is that he's a big boy and he moves in the crease really well. He plays calm and poised, and he isn't afraid to handle the puck. He plays a very solid positional game and doesn't get beat down low too often, which is a testament to his agility and positioning. He might drop down into the butterfly position a little too soon sometimes, but he's tall enough where that isn't too big of a problem at this level. He's in the NAHL right now and is a commit for Arizona State University in the 2020-2021 season. We'll see if he sticks in the NAHL or plays in the USHL this upcoming season before going off to the NCAA. Brady has the tools to be a good goalie, but goalies are weird to project. The good thing is that we can be patient with him and give him as much time as possible for him to develop.
5th Round (129th overall): Arseni Gritsyuk
Forgive me if you've heard this before, but here's another fantastic pick. Gritsyuk is an undersized winger that plays with intensity and intelligence. The MHL is a bit of a tough league to evaluate and it's a difficult league to score points in, but Gritsyuk had a phenomenal U18 championship tournament for Team Russia. Gritsyuk thinks the game so well and is able to be elusive and sneaky with his skating (particularly his edges). Gritsyuk likes to catch opponents off-balance and attack, usually going wide. Areas of improvement for Grtisyuk are all areas I would deem "coachable" - he'll need to learn to be a better supporting player be it using his line-mates more or for his defensemen looking for an outlet pass. Gritsyuk is also an elusive player when it comes to his own stickhandling skills. Like any young player with his skillset, Gritsyuk will stickhandle himself into trouble and give up the puck by attempting to over-stickhandle his way out of situations. This really isn't a concern for me because he'll need to figure out what he can and can't do over the course of his development. I've always come away impressed from watching his ability to stick to the puck and have the puck find him. He's not a play-driver though; he thrives as a secondary-offense kind of player. To be honest, I could really see the Devils management wanting him to come over to North America for next season as a part of the CHL Import Draft. Not that the MHL isn't a good league or that it isn't difficult for a Russian-born player to come across the world to play junior hockey; I just feel that the areas for improvement in his game are mostly to do with structured play. While I don't think he's quite ready for professional hockey (like the VHL), I think the CHL provides a bit more of a structured environment for him to develop in. Funny enough, as cliche as it sounds, I think his game is pretty well suited for the North-American ice and style of play. If I had to describe him in one word, it would be intense...which is funny because "grit" is literally in his name.
6th Round (158th overall): Patrick Moynihan
Love love love this pick here. Patrick Moynihan at 158 is a steal. Moynihan reminds me a lot of a Joey Anderson type player in that he won't bring that elite offensive game, but will instead fit on, gel with, and significantly improve any line he's on. He's incredibly supportive and is a hard-working no-nonsense kind of player. While not a speedster, he can keep up with play and doesn't get lost in the play. What you're getting is a versatile two-way forward who was referred to by many of his teammates as the most underrated player on the US U-18 team.
7th Round (189th overall): Nikola Pasic
So funny enough, I hadn't realized that Pasic was still on the board at this point. I had thought he would be gone by the 4th round...goes to show how highly I think of this pick. So hey, why not another late round home-run pick? Pasic has fantastic vision and an absolute boatload of skill. Overall he skates rather well - I'd just like to see him improve his acceleration in that regard. Like Todd Cordell said Pasic led his U20 team in points-per-game. One big reason why Pasic fell to where he did was because of inconsistency in his play. Watching him it's very similar to Bratt in the sense of you have player that clearly has immense skill and thinks the game very well, but it's as if he's struggling to figure out what kind of player he wants to be. He'll try to stickhandle through crowds or he'll shoot the puck a whole lot to an almost-predictable level...but really when it comes down to it, I think some clear direction for him would do him wonders in his development. Give him the Bratt treatment. There's a ton of skill and also a great room for improvement. What a pick to end the draft on.
So in case you can't tell, I'm very very pleased with how this draft turned out. There was a great balance of addressing organizational need while not sacrificing skill or the organizational vision of speed, skating, skill, and smarts. I know this sounds cliche, but after the Hughes pick, it's so difficult to just have one "favorite pick" of this draft. If I absolutely had to pick one it would probably be Misyul, but there's so much to like with this draft class, and I'm looking forward to it paying dividends in the future. Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this!
Let's get to some connections, shall we? The obvious ones would be Case McCarthy and Patrick Moynihan playing with Jack Hughes on the USNTDP U18 team as well as Nikita Okhotyuk and Graeme Clarke playing with Mitchell Hoelscher (our 6th round pick last year) for the Ottawa 67's. However, did you know that Graeme Clarke played with Jack Hughes in the 2016-2017 season? Jack Hughes and Michael Vukojevic played 9 games together in the 2016-2017 OJHL Playoffs for the Georgetown Raiders. Jack Hughes and Michael Vukojevic played on the same team way back 2010-2011 for the Toronto Bulldogs at the Brick Invitational Tournament along with Philip Tomasino and Anaheim 6th round pick, Mathew Hill. One more for you: Case McCarthy played on the same team as Michael Vukojevic back in 2015-2016 for the Mississauga Rebels Bantam AAA team. I'm sure there are more connections, but these are just a few, and it goes to show just how much the high-level hockey players in Ontario play together. Anyways, this took a bit of a strange turn at the end, but once again, thank you all for reading this! I would love your thoughts on how we did this draft!
P.S. One more quick thought while I'm at it. We all know the importance of drafting and development, but we got to see first-hand just how important it is (along with maintaining a healthy amount of cap space) when Jeremy Davies was one of the key pieces traded to get PK F'ING SUBBAN.

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