The Devils entered the draft in desperate need of some help up front and, while they only had five draft picks, they did get some.
New Jersey used three of their five picks - including two of their top-3 - on forwards while they also used a pick on a goaltender and a defenseman to balance out the system.
Some thoughts on each choice:
6th overall: C Pavel Zacha (Sarnia, OHL) Though my personal preference was admittedly Mathew Barzal - especially if New Jersey moved down and added more assets in the process - I am fine with this pick.
Zacha instantly becomes the best prospect in the Devils system and he has the potential to be a star.
At 6'3' 210 pounds he is already a beast of a player and there is still room for more growth. He possesses man-strength and it shows when you see him on the ice. Everything he does is powerful.
He is an excellent skater who generates great power in his stride. He has one of the hardest shots in the OHL and is an underrated playmaker. He is also flat out mean. He hits hard and plays with an edge in his game that not many Devils do.
While his production was a little underwhelming he didn't have much to work with on a highly mediocre Sarnia team. He also dealt with a suspension, an injury, and missed some time while representing Czech Republic at the World Juniors. You don't want to make excuses but he really was in and out of the lineup a lot so it was tough to get in a rhythm.
Zacha possesses an NHL-ready frame and his skills aren't far behind. While I think he would benefit from another year in the OHL - Sarnia should be good next season - it's possible he could make the Devils out of camp.
42nd overall: G Mackenzie Blackwood (Barrie, OHL) I speculated the Devils would draft a goaltender this weekend so it wasn't entirely surprising to see them grab Blackwood. The Devils needed another goaltender in the system and they feel they landed a good one.
I've scouted Blackwood a ton over the last couple years given he plays in my own backyard and I have no problem with this pick.
At 6'4' he takes up a lot of the net and there is still potential for more growth. He is extremely athletic for his size, moves very well side-to-side and his lateral movement is excellent. He is also very good at handling the puck.
Blackwood is a workhorse as he appeared in 51 of 68 games for the Barrie Colts despite having a capable backup in Daniel Gibl.
At one point Blackwood started every game for the span of about a month and a half and that included several weekends where the Colts played three games in three nights.
He posted a .906SV% in the regular season and elevated his game in the playoffs stopping pucks at a .922 rate.
Admittedly a .906SV% doesn't look all that great but the OHL is a higher scoring league than the NHL so the save percentages are much lower as a result. Only seven of 20 starters posted a better regular season save percentage than Blackwood and all seven were older (in most cases by a couple years).
I understand some don't love the pick as New Jersey's pressing need is up front, however, the Devils still used 60% of their picks on forwards and in trading down to select Blackwood they added a 3rd round pick in what should be another good draft next year.
67th overall: C/W Blake Speers (Soo Greyhounds, OHL) I thought Blake Speers provided good value for where the Devils landed him.
He is a very good skater who possesses good puck skills and sees the ice very well. He's a good passer and he has a nice release on his shot so he can score some goals, too.
Speers averaged 1.18 points per game - including .68PPG at evens - playing middle-6 minutes on an exceptional Soo Greyhounds team.
To put that in perspective his even-strength and overall production was better than that of Lawson Crouse, Zachary Senyshyn, Mitch Stephens and even Pavel Zacha.
I had the opportunity to track three consecutive Soo playoff games against Erie and Speers fared very well.
In those three games he was a 62% possession player despite just 35% offensive zone starts. That's impressive considering he was playing against a very, very deep and talented Otters team.
Some of Soo's big boys will be moving on next year so Speers should have plenty of opportunity to build off what was a very good season.
97th overall: D Colton White (Soo Greyhounds, OHL) After grabbing Speers in the 3rd round the Devils elected to go with one of his teammates in the 4th.
Colton White is a smooth-skating defenseman who makes a good first pass and can move the puck up ice in a hurry. Defensively he has a good stick and did see some time on the penalty kill in my viewings.
His numbers - 22 points in 67 games - won't 'wow' you but he was buried behind highly touted prospects Darnell Nurse and Anthony DeAngelo, among others.
His estimated points/60 minutes of even-strength play was .99, according to CHLStats.com. To put that in perspective Erie defenseman Travis Dermott, who was selected 34th overall, had an estimated points/60 of 1.01.
Next season White will have the opportunity to play relatively big minutes for the Greyhounds and we should see a spike in production as a result.
157th overall: LW Brett Seney (Merrimack, NCAA) Seney is an undersized winger who possesses good skating ability and high-end puck skills.
He is coming off a very good season where he scored 11 goals and tallied 26 points in 34 games as a Freshman at Merrimack.
Seney is a project-type pick but the potential reward greatly outweighs the risk given where he was selected in the draft.
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