Devils 2007 Draft Review

With all the frantic free agent activity, I was little late in getting this up, but here it is nonetheless, the last article of the 06-07 season.

http://hockeysfuture.com/articles/9804

Enjoy!

Jared (Calgary Devil)

Nice work. Let's hope these guys progress and become Devils in a few.

Good read, Jared.

My one quibble: "The Devils went a little off the board with their second selection in the third round..."

A little? I'd say that's quite the understatement there.

Good read, Jared.

My one quibble: "The Devils went a little off the board with their second selection in the third round..."

A little? I'd say that's quite the understatement there.

Yeah, what was Conte thinking? They must either know something that we nor any other organization knows, or they just F'd up again. Like with the Foster, Ward and Kadeykin reaches that never panned out.

Great stuff as always Jared. I'm really excited the most by Matt Halischuk, I really think he will be a special player for us in the future.

Thanks for the report Jared! I hope Palmieri pans out, though I afriad McPherson might turn out to be a nothing like other picks already mentioned. Conte seems to be VERY hit or miss when it comes to the left field picks

Smashing job, Jared! I also liked your latest Subway commercial.

:-)

Good read as always Jared.

I like what I see in Palmieri. I think he has the best chance out of all the forwards we took of getting top-6 minutes. He's big and has great puck skills, apparently, but let's hope he doesn't end up like the last power forward that was supposed to be the next big thing *cough* Barry *cough* Tallackson.

Hoeffel, like you mentioned, will probably be a Pandolfo-type with more offensive upside. A player who can play defense (perhaps on Pelley's wing in the future?) who can pop in 15 goals and add 20 assists would render me more than pleased with Hoeffel.

I think Halischuk could be special as well. Wasn't Lou quoted somewhere saying he's the most NHL-ready prospect that we drafted this year? Interesting he slipped to the 3rd round. Must be his size, cause it certainly wasn't his skill seeing as he led Kitchener in scoring. Seems to me like Patrick Davis volume 2, as far as potential goes, in that he'll either blow up and see considerable NHL time or amount to nothing, which is basically the case with Davis' future.

The McPherson pick puzzles basically everyone. I would've rather seen us take a guy like Alex Grant or Ben Blood, if it was a big defensemen they were looking at. Oh well, let's hope he hops on with a decent college program for '08-'09. The most we can do is wait and hope with this kid.

I was dying for us to take Torquato in the 5th, and what kills me even more is he was taken with the pick right after ours:banghead:. Lou and Conte were obviously looking for size though, and that Finnish kid has plenty of it. Let's hope he can be the next big late-round gem out of Europe a la Zetterberg and Alfredsson (extremely wishful thinking).

No comment on that Molle kid cause I know jack about him lol.

Yeah, what was Conte thinking? They must either know something that we nor any other organization knows, or they just F'd up again. Like with the Foster, Ward and Kadeykin reaches that never panned out.

with the other two i dont have a leg to stand on...however with foster, the devils had a wealth of forward talent at the time and before he had his chronic injuries was slated top 5-10....if his body didnt fall apart he probally would have been legit trade bait to say the least, but unfortunatly he couldnt stay healthy, his talent/drive was never an issue

Out of all the picks the Devils made, Palmieri is the one to me who has the most upside and long term potential as anyone. Erie probably will be a lot better team this year, and in turn, Palmieri should get even better with better support around him.