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r/devils•
njdevils2626

r/Hockey Mock Draft Scouting

As our representative GM for the r/Hockey mock draft, I was wondering who you guys wanted to draft that would be realistically available at 29? I'm looking at Malcolm Subban if he is available but I have a feeling he may get taken in Tampa. If he is taken, the prospect I am the most familiar with is Michael Mattheson (who we are projected to take in some mocks). He grew up around the corner from my house. A bunch of my friends all went to high school with him and I've been watching him play since he was like 10, the kid is going to be a stud on the blue line for years. What are your guys thoughts?

Posted Jun 19, 2012, 6:28 PM UTC

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NS24New York Islanders•

I wouldn't go D. With Larsson ready to step in next year, Merrill about 2 years away, Gelinas scoring 16 goals in the A last year and Reece Scarlet a potential PPQB, I think the organization's deeper needs are on the wing and (obviously) in net since you never know if a guy is going to work out in goal.

Subban will probably be gone, so I think if Vasilevski is available, you take him, but he probably won't be. So... wing it is.

Nicolas Kerdiles. Has ok size (6'1) but more importantly for Lou, he's an American boy.

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iathpa#4 - Scott Stevens•

We have a fair amount of young talent on the blue line. We need more depth at forward. Perhaps a center who can win a face-off, we got owned in the category most of the playoffs. Elias is not a spring chick either and we don't know the fate of Parise yet.

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lCt#11 - Baby Gionta•

How about this guy? This way we can actually roll 4 true centers and get Patty back on the wing. Plus his playing style seems to fit in well and honestly I think our face off winning percentages are something that really hurt us all season.

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njdevils2626OP#26 - Patrik Eliáš "C"•

I was also hoping somebody could point out a forward to me, I would look more at the wing since our centers for the near future could be Zajac, Henrique, Josefson, and Carter. I think a major weakness for us is our depth at the wings, we are seriously lacking in high-scoring potential beyond Kovy and Parise (who may leave), while Elias is only getting older. So far at goalie I am looking at Subban, Vasilevski, and Dansk who all have the potential to be great starters. On the wing I'm looking at Kerdiles, Samuelsson, Laughton, and Zemgus Girgensons

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xplosivo#44 - Stéphane Richer•

I'd tend to think at least one of those goalies will still be left at 29, I think they're all sort of late first round early second round types, and there's not too many teams late in the order that need goalies, maybe Florida? Tampa at 19? They have plenty of other holes to fill and I'd think they'd just go top prospect on the board at that point, which I don't think will be a goalie. I've only seen a few mocks where all three are taken in the first, and Subban was still available at 29 in those. I just wonder who the Devils rank the highest.. I still have the World Junior final in my mind, where Vasilevski was DOMINANT, can't remember the save totals, but it was something ridiculous, even though they lost in OT.

Btw: Kerdiles is listed as a Center not wing.

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njdevils2626OP#26 - Patrik Eliáš "C"•

Personally I think Vasilevski has the highest potential of the three of them and is going to be a star, the question with him is will he be a star here or in Russia. I think at least one of them will be available still, but I think I might take a forward intead of reaching for Dansk. Also, Vasilevski didn't play the world junior final, he got pulled in their semifinal win over Canada, but he was dominant in the rest of the tournament and I believe still finished with top goalie honours

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xplosivo#44 - Stéphane Richer•

Oh shit, you're right. Well whoever that dude was, he was fucking unreal. I just remember Sweden peppering him for like 70 minutes; just looked it up, 58 shots! Jesus. You're right though, Russian goalies in particular are an odd sort, maybe Kovy could befriend him. I don't know, I've been looking at stuff and am starting to be more concerned about forwards rather than goalies. We have a few goalies that have shown at least SOME potential, whereas we have no one I've ever even heard 1 thing about at forward. Hockey's Future, no one there at forward rings a bell at all. Maybe I just haven't been paying enough attention, but their numbers according to HF don't really bode well either.

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njdevils2626OP#26 - Patrik Eliáš "C"•

we have some goalies in the system and a ton of defenceman (though I wouldn't be surprised to see us go that route, Lou stands by the mantra that you can never have too many top-quality defencemen). Our forward prospects, however, are unfortunately thin at best. Personally, I don't even expect this pick to be used by us, but if we do we could use some serious forward help unless there is a top-flight goalie available

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