@StevenToddIves Sorry- meant to quote your reply to my original comment here.
It seems most draft pundits are underselling Helenius in that case (maybe because he isn’t the sexiest pick?). I have not seen many mocks with him in the top 10. You and
@Guadana do raise a very valid point though that centers are coveted. Here’s how I see it- if Helenius does go top 9, there’s a decent possibility that one of the LD fall (more likely Buium than Dickinson). There’s going to be a great prospect available to us at 10OA. It’s not a bad draft spot to be at all.
Like I said, there are many players I'd be thrilled with at #10 -- Buium, Dickinson, Helenius, Brandsegg-Nygard, Chernyshov, Iginla. One or more of them will certainly be there at #10.
I think we can all be pretty certain NJ is not taking a RD, so we can probably scratch Parekh and Yakemchuk off the list, which is a-ok by me since they both have several concerns for me as a prospect analyst.
So the best hope is that both those RDs go off the board in the top 9, which is quite possible.
I'd also rather not take Eiserman, Sennecke or Catton. Eiserman has enormous upside but a ton of questions, Sennecke has great upside but too many questions for #10 overall, and Catton does not fill any of the Devils' biggest needs at forward, which are more speed and interior play, and of course more center depth.
Here's a new mini-mock, just for the heck of it, with Helenius going in the top 9 for the sake of argument:
1 SJ C Celebrini
2 CHI W Demidov
3 ANH C Lindstrom
4 CLB RD Levshunov
5 MTL C Helenius
6 ARI LD Silayev
7 OTT RD Yakemchuk
8 SEA LD Dickinson
9 CGY LW Iginla
10 NJ LD Buium
11 BUF RD Parekh
12 PHI LW Eiserman
13 MIN LW Catton
14 SJ RD Jiricek
15 DET RW Brandsegg-Nygard
16 STL RW Sennecke
17 WSH RW Chernyshov
18 NYI C Hage
19 VEG RW Greentree
20 CHI RD Emery
21 LAK C Boisvert
22 NSH RD Elick
23 TOR RW Hemming
24 MTL RW Ritchie
In this particular scenario, both RD (Parekh, Yakemchuk) go top 9, which is entirely possible and -- as per your question -- Helenius also goes top 9. To me, this scenario would give NJ a shot at one of Buium/Dickinson
unless Calgary went with need over emotion and passed on Iginla for a LD.
Were that the scenario? I'd say the Devils pick would logically be a choice between Brandsegg-Nygard and Iginla.
However, my favorite thing about this mock is the possibility of Eiserman playing for Tortorella. My word -- can you imagine? A match made in hell.