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Last summer the New Jersey Devils failed to re-sign Zach Parise, and when he left they failed to replace either him, his production or his leadership qualities.
This year the Devils will have the opportunity to replace Parise at the draft with the 9th overall pick, should the Devils have interest in Hunter Shinkaruk, who will likely still be available.
Shinkaruk is one of the better goal scorers in this year's draft class and has been compared to former Devils captain, Zach Parise, by multiple people, including WHL play-by-play man and scout Cody Nickolet.
Shinkaruk, 18, is similar to Parise in both style and stature. Shinkaruk is a 5'11, 175lb winger who, despite his small stature, will compete and battle for every inch of the ice. His motor never stops running and he has a knack for scoring goals.
In Shinkaruk's last two WHL seasons, the skilled winger has 86 goals and 177 points in 130 regular season games. Shinkaruk has also performed well in the playoffs tallying 17 points in 16 playoff games over the last two years.
While there's no guarantee the Devils will select him with the 9th overall pick next month, it certainly would make a lot of sense given his goal scoring ability, style of play and the Devils lack of upper echelon forward prospects.
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In case you missed it,
David Clarkson is expecting a big contract offer from the Devils and
Martin Brodeur has advanced to the finals in the NHL14 cover vote.
I also recently touched on
the possibility of the Devils moving up in the draft and what the cost might be.
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I posted a scouting report on draft eligible defenseman, Chris Bigras, at TheHockeyGuys. You can
view the report here.
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