Maybe you're right and I'm projecting. I've said about a zillion times here that, if it were me at #20 with Schneider going off the board one pick earlier, I would have traded down and drafted RD Brock Faber -- whom I had ranked as a first round pick. But hindsight is certainly 20/20 in this particular case.
Prospect Info: 2022 Post-Deadline Devils-Centric Mock Draft 2.0 (thru NJ 2nd round)
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Buck Dancer
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I think, just like yourself, that there was several options that would've been just as good as Shak at other areas of need... like Brock Faber, Justin Barron, Helge Grans, etc.
I get that Fitz likes/wants big mobile dman who can counter a hard forecheck by skating themselves out of trouble but time will tell if the one time forward converted dman will live up to expectations.
Helge Grans would have been a complete disaster, he's not even in the same league as Faber, Mukhamadullin or Barron.
Faber was my highest ranked of these players, but it's also important to add the only draft writers or bureaus on the planet who ranked Faber as a 1st rounder were myself and Cam Robinson.
Barron was all over the place in draft rankings. Coming into his draft-eligible season, he was a consensus top 15 pick. But injuries and inconsistency dropped him among many scouts and draft analysts. I still liked him more than Mukhamadullin, but now I'd say Barron and Mukhamadullin are very close.
If I had to rank them now, it would be:
1 Faber
2 Barron
3 Mukhamadullin
85,218 Grans
Here's a mini-mock for 4/3:
1 ARI Wright
2 SEA Slafkovsky
3 MTL Cooley
4 PHI Jiricek
5 NJ Nemec
6 OTT Geekie
7 CLB Gauthier
8 BUF Lambert
9 DET Kemell
10 SJ Kasper
11 ANH Chesley
12 CLB Savoie
I feel Philadelphia (see: their undying love for Ristolainen) would prefer Jiricek to Nemec, leaving Nemec as the Devils first-round pick. This is fine, Nemec is an elite puck-mover and weapon in transition who also excels in his own zone. I'm sticking with Geekie to Ottawa, because... well, they're Ottawa. My big riser is Kasper -- two-way centers with elite speed and a physical game are very attractive to NHL scouts. My big faller is Savoie -- many NHL front offices get weird feelings about taking a 5'8 center in the top 10, and his lack of elite skating could send him into the early teens despite the ridiculous offensive upside.
1 ARI Wright
2 SEA Slafkovsky
3 MTL Cooley
4 PHI Jiricek
5 NJ Nemec
6 OTT Geekie
7 CLB Gauthier
8 BUF Lambert
9 DET Kemell
10 SJ Kasper
11 ANH Chesley
12 CLB Savoie
I feel Philadelphia (see: their undying love for Ristolainen) would prefer Jiricek to Nemec, leaving Nemec as the Devils first-round pick. This is fine, Nemec is an elite puck-mover and weapon in transition who also excels in his own zone. I'm sticking with Geekie to Ottawa, because... well, they're Ottawa. My big riser is Kasper -- two-way centers with elite speed and a physical game are very attractive to NHL scouts. My big faller is Savoie -- many NHL front offices get weird feelings about taking a 5'8 center in the top 10, and his lack of elite skating could send him into the early teens despite the ridiculous offensive upside.
I think Mukhamadullin would look a bit better I’d he had played against kids his own age like the other two. He’s been in thr KHL since he was 17. That’s got to be tough. Plus it’s a low scoring league and is anyone watching OLED big screen 4K 120hz native feeds of KHL games?
Mukhamadullin has universally been considered the best U21 defenseman in the KHL for two years running. He's fine. I honestly think if his last name were Muklindholmberg instead of Mukhamadullin, most of the draft community who criticized the pick would be lauding it. Even now we have people saying "the Devils should have drafted Grans" even though Grans is not putting up great numbers and struggling in his own zone in the AHL.
There is a lot of revision when it comes to people criticizing drafts years after they occur. This year, I've read a multitude of posts, Tweets and even columns saying the Devils screwed up last year by drafting Stillman over -- specifically -- Olen Zellweger, who is putting up eye-popping numbers as a RD in the WHL. This is absurd in that no one was saying Zellweger should have been the Devils pick at #29 -- in fact Zellweger's consensus ranking was probably a bit behind Stillman's. People were saying the Devils should have taken Stankoven or Raty or Heimosalmi or Morrow.. but Zellweger? Not a peep.
With Mukhamadullin, it's largely the same. Personally -- and I said this a lot, even on draft day -- I would've taken Brock Faber. But no one else had Faber ranked as highly as I did. The two names everyone was mentioning for the Devils #20 pick were overwhelmingly Helge Grans or William Wallinder -- neither of who go as high as Mukhamadullin in a re-draft.
So, it's easy for someone who knows more about how to criticize than how to draft to go back and say: Devils should have taken Zellweger and Niemela instead of Mukhamadullin and Stillman! But just picking the best players drafted after the players you drafted is not a criticism, it's pretty much complete bulls**t.
The fact is, if most of the people still trying to find fault with the Mukhamadullin and Stillman picks had their way, the Devils would probably have Wallinder as the #8 Devils LD prospect behind names like Misyul and Edwards and be crying about Heimosalmi (I liked him, too) having an absurdly disappointing draft +1 season in Finland.
Isn’t Zellweger about 5’9”? While a righty he sounds redundant of Smith. Watching Smith get bounced around I’m not sure NJ needs more of that. Watching NJ’s forwards largely avoid the front of the net they do seem to need more interior players though.
SKNJD9
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Buck Dancer
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Philly has to pass us or else we can kiss Jiricek goodbye. They can also do us the same favour we did them when we took Zacha, leaving the door wide open for Provorov.
I’ll take one or the other right now lol
Captain3rdLine
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Nah Nemec is more likely to go ahead of Jiricek especially with his injury IMO. Jiricek may not go top 5. Or he could. Only guys who are top 5 locks IMO are Wright, Slafkovsky, and probably Cooley.
Flyers are winning right now and the devils haven’t looked great so we may be on our way to a top 5 pick.
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Buck Dancer
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I don’t see Philly passing up a big bruising physical dman with a bomb of a shot, that’s the exact type of player they target and they need help on defence.
Captain3rdLine
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They very well could if there’s player they think are better. And they may want a forward. They have other needs.
Devil made me do it
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What the Devils should do is trade the pick along with Zacha or worse case scenario, Holtz to Florida for Spencer Knight.
The value of defensive prospects in this year's draft is terrible. Get a dependable young goalie instead. Florida may be tempted just as Vancouver was when they traded Schneider.
You can't win in this league without a goalie and the Devils have no goalies.
The value of defensive prospects in this year's draft is terrible. Get a dependable young goalie instead. Florida may be tempted just as Vancouver was when they traded Schneider.
You can't win in this league without a goalie and the Devils have no goalies.
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If you get first overall take wright, if you don’t get first overall use the pick in a package to grab a top six ready now player.
Billdo
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If the Devils give up a top 5 pick and Holtz for Knight, Fitz should be fired.
SKNJD9
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good lord that is awful
Buck Dancer
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Why is Spencer Knight viewed as the next saviour? The kid is 20 and hasn’t proved anything, yet some are ready to give up the farm for him?
If Jack is injured long term, we’re more then likely picking in the top #5, which means one of Wright, Slafkovsky, Jiricek or Nemec will be a New Jersey Devils and I’m perfectly fine with that.
Nemec is having an amazing playoff in Slovakia which boosts his value, but @Buck Dancer is correct that Philadelphia's current management seems to covet players more in the Jiricek mold.
I do not see Jiricek's injury dropping him out of the top 5 or 6. We're talking a 6'3 defenseman with speed, shut-down capability, extreme physicality, puck skills and a shot like an atom bomb. I've seen him ranked as high as #2 (Eliteprospects) and he's just a tremendous prospect.
I agree you cannot win in the NHL without a goalie, but disagree strongly with everything else.
1) The value of defensemen in this draft is actually the opposite of terrible, especially at RD which is the Devils greatest organizational need. Either of Jiricek/Nemec would immediately become the most talented RD drafted by New Jersey in their entire 40-year history. Jiricek and Nemec are absolutely phenomenal prospects.
2) Packaging in your best goal-scoring prospect AND a likely top 5 pick for a goalie coming off a very inconsistent season is a gross overpayment. Throwing in Zacha with that is just absurd. Prudent trading is not just adding in high-end assets until the other team says yes.
Why would the Devils trade a chance to take a player at a position they are desperate for -- with two high end RDs available in Jiricek and Nemec -- for a position they might not even need like a top 6 W?
Next year, the Devils have a ton of cap room and a very good chance to sign a multitude of UFA wingers. Even if the Devils failed in this pursuit, they could start 2022-23 with a top 6 of Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Mercer, Sharangovich & Holtz which is still potentially among the best top 6's in the conference.
The Devils have a chance to build an already-strong core. It would represent a hideous mistake to give this up for a complimentary piece.
Wright is almost-certainly the #1 overall pick. The only two teams I can see either taking Slafkovsky #1 or trading down are the Devils and perhaps Seattle. Any other team, and I think we can pencil in Wright at #1 overall.
Spencer Knight might be the best goaltending prospect in the NHL, but goaltending prospects are very volatile. So you're absolutely correct that any trade for him could not include a top 7 pick or Alex Holtz (much less both -- ugh). I would however be willing to make a deal for him around our secondary prospects like Mukhamadullin or Stillman or Bahl, but personally I don't see any reason for Florida to trade him quite yet.
Devil made me do it
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Not with a core piece, and not with a top 7 pick which will immediately become a core piece. Personally, I make a run at Husso as a UFA and pair him with Blackwood next year. That combination would at least give NJ league-average goaltending. I might also kick the tires on Askarov with Nashville, if they were interested in Ty Smith or our secondary prospects like Mukhamadullin, Bahl and Stillman.
OmNomNom
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Buck Dancer
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But none of those kids will help us out next year. We need to find a solution that will be able to keep us in games as soon as next year. Knight, Wallsted, Askarov, etc aren't the answer short term and giving up a key asset for a position that is extremely hard to gauge is not a wise move for us to make.
I would definitely give up our pick for someone like Demko but he's the only valid option IMO. Vancouver would never do it unless Miller told them to buzz off, Pettersson asked to be traded, Boeser wants to pull the trigger on his QO, etc, etc, etc... so needless to say that it won't happen.
Blackwood has nowhere to go if we don't want to move him and he's playing for a contract, so even if he hates our organization, he's not going to screw himself out of a deal at the end of the season. Let's bring in someone else who can play 30 to 40 games and have them fight for the starters role is how I'd go about it and that was Fitz's plan for the 2021 and the 2022 season.
There's no way we get screwed, again, by having our backup retire before even playing a game for us or have our backup get a season ending injury two weeks after starting our season. If we do have the same bad luck, we'll draft Bedard/Michkov and call it a day lol
