2017 NHL Draft: Devils quiet on trade front, add 10 more picks on Day 2

June 24, 2017 - The Star Ledger - View Full Article

The Devils made one late trade, but they ended up making 10 picks on Day 2 of the 2017 NHL Draft. Watch video

Despite entering Day 2 of the NHL Draft with nine picks, the Devils were relatively quiet on the trade front.

They did make a late swap, sending the 185th pick to the San Jose Sharks for the 205th and 214th picks, giving the Devils 10 for the day and 11 for the whole Draft.

The Devils did make one acquisition one week before the Draft, when they sent second and fourth-round picks to the Sharks for 22-year-old defenseman Mirco Mueller and a fifth-round pick.

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After adding forward Fabian Zetterlund and defenseman Reilly Walsh in the third round, plus forward Nikita Popugaev in the fourth round, the Devils added players from every position in the later rounds.

They took 21-year-old goalie Gilles Senn in the fifth round before adding Marian Studenic with the 143rd overall pick -- the selection they got from the Sharks in the Mueller trade.

With the one sixth-round pick they had left, the Devils drafted center Aarne Talvitie with the 160th pick. Talvitie will play at Penn State next season.

They swapped the 185th pick to the Sharks before making their first seventh-round pick at 191st overall, where they selected defenseman Jocktan Chainey. Chainey was a teammate of first overall pick Nico Hischier with the Halifax Mooseheads.

The Devils took Russian defenseman Yegor Zaitsev with the 205th pick from the Sharks, and they ended their draft with defenseman Matthew Hellickson with the 214th pick.

Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com Devils on Facebook.



2017 NHL Draft: Devils stand pat, add 3 prospects in 3rd and 4th rounds

June 24, 2017 - The Star Ledger - View Full Article

The Devils made all three of their picks without trades in the third and fourth rounds of the 2017 NHL Draft. Watch video

The Devils entered the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft with two picks, and they ended up using both of them.

They pick forward Fabian Zetterlund with the 63rd overall pick to start the round, and they added defenseman Reilly Walsh with the 81st pick.

The Devils have been known for using their third-round picks to add other assets under GM Ray Shero -- they used a third-round pick (plus a second-round pick) to add forward Kyle Palmieri during the 2015 NHL Draft, and they flipped a third-round pick for forward Beau Bennett in 2016.

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Zetterlund was the second Swedish forward they picked on Saturday after they took center Jesper Boqvist in the second round. Zetterlund gives the Devils another player who could develop into an offensive asset in the coming seasons.

New Jersey broke the string of forwards taken when they opted for a defenseman at No. 81, taking Walsh, a high school skater committed to Harvard. He went for 30 goals and 39 assists in 30 high school games at Proctor Academy in New Hampshire, and he also posted 10 points in 24 games for the Chicago Steel in the USHL.

The Devils took another forward with their only fourth-round pick, going with LW Nikita Popugaev with the 98th selection of the Draft.

Here's what NHL Network analyst E.J. Hradek said about him:

"He scored 20 goals and got the attention of everybody, and scouts were drooling over this big fella. But only nine games in the final 45 games. I guess the question is, are you getting Malkin, or are you getting a different kind of player? They're hoping they're getting the guy who scored 20 goals in the first 26 games. At that size, he's a man. Maybe looked a little bit lanky, but he's got the hands and a nose for the net."

Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com Devils on Facebook.