Devils Done At The Worlds + Prospect Updates & Draft Notes (Devils)

The medal round begins Saturday at the World Hockey Championships, and the Devils won't have any of their players participating.

Tuomo Ruutu, Jacob Josefson, Artur Gavrus and their respective teams were all eliminated from medal contention with losses on Thursday.

Ruutu scored for Team Finland, but it wasn't enough as they fell to Czech Republic 5-3. Ruutu had a relatively quiet tournament, registering just one goal, one assist and 16 shots on goal in eight contests.

Josefson fared much better, as he had a pair of goals and four points in eight games for Team Sweden.

Lastly, unsigned prospect Artur Gavrus had two goals, five points plus 20 shots in eight games, and was undoubtedly one of Belarus' best players on a nightly basis.

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After winning 12 of 15 games leading up to the WHL final, John Quenneville's Brandon Wheat Kings were swept by the Kelowna Rockets.

Quenneville was held pointless in the series, but still finished near the top of the league in playoff scoring (tied for 9th) with 19 points in 19 games.

Over the last two regular seasons Quenneville had recorded 105 points in 118 games (.89 points per game) but has stepped up in the post season, combining for 32 points in 28 games (1.14 PPG).

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The Devils haven't drafted and developed as many players as one would hope for over the last handful of years, and one reason for that is a lack of draft picks.

In the last five years the Devils have drafted just 29 players (5.8 per draft). That's not ideal, and is pretty rare considering they missed the playoffs three times in those five years.

They only have six picks in this year's draft, but three of them are in the top-41 of the draft, and four are in the top-67.

This is as good of a time as any for Ray Shero and co. to grab some high-end talent and restock the cupboards.

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