Devils stand pat in lottery

    The NHL lottery proved to be as dull of an event as you could have expected as the three teams with the best odds of picking in the top three all managed to stay there and give the "anti-tanking" folks reason to groan.

Short of drawing of one of the top three selections, the New Jersey Devils did as well as could be hoped as they remained in the fourth spot in the draft, despite the most likely scenarios dropping the Devils to either the fifth or sixth position.

New Jersey could use help at almost any position, but the draft seems deep at the top with defensemen and the Devils may be most in need of a younger puck-moving blueliner.

Many rank four defensemen in the top five prospects, so the Devils would be guaranteed one of those players should they go that direction.

Michigan's Owen Power is expected to go first overall with Sweden's Simon Edvinsson, Canada's Brandt Clarke, and Luke Hughes, who has a Michigan commitment.

Clarke is the brother of Graeme Clarke, who New Jersey selected in the third round in the 2019 draft, and spent last season with the then-Binghamton Devils.

Hughes is the younger sibling of Devils center and former top overall pick Jack Hughes.

Should the Devils decide to go center, the best two centers are both Michigan Wolverines in Matthew Beniers and Kent Johnson, but I'd think they would have to fall in love with a center to choose one at four.

Beniers will likely be unavailable as he may the most likely player in the draft to walk into the league and make an impact right away.

I could see the Devils taking a winger though with the best left winger reported to be Sweden's William Eklund, who played on the same line with 2020 first-round pick Alexander Holtz in the Swedish Elite League last season.

The top-rated right-winger in Canada's Dylan Guenther, who is listed as an "elite-level" goal scorer and might make a lot of sense to plug beside Jack Hughes in the long-term with Hughes's passing ability.

I never claim to know hockey prospects as I do football and basketball for their drafts, so I'm not targeting a particular guy at this time, but I would imagine the Devils are going to be in a tough corner if Luke Hughes is on the board.

It's not a pick to make Jack Hughes happy, Luke is highly touted and isn't misplaced as one of the upper five or six players in the draft, but depending on how the draft falls ahead of them New Jersey could have to make a choice between the fourth-best defenseman against the best forward in the draft.

I don't think it'll come to that choice, but if it does it could be a very difficult decision. 

I'll try to look at some videos of the players that could be available for the Devils and offer a thought on who might be the best fit for New Jersey.