Devils Draft Pair Heavy Forwards in the Third Round

After trading back from 75 with the Washington Capitals and then again with San Jose, the Devils selected forward Kasper Pikkarainen with the 85th pick. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has been busy this morning, trading John Marino and moving back twice in the third round. For his troubles, he added the 146th pick this year and a 2025 6th-rounder from San Jose.

Then with their other third round selection, the 91st overall pick, the Devils selected Swedish forward Herman Traff.

Pikkarainen is a 6-foot-3, 198 lbs Finnish forward who played for TPS at both the professional and junior levels. He went pointless in five Liiga games but registered 28 points in 32 games at the U-20 level.

Here’s what Cory Pronman had to say about Pikkarainen via The Athletic, “He’s an athletic winger with a big frame who can skate quite well. He gets around easily with an efficient stride. He displays strong individual skills and can beat defenders one-on-one. At the junior level in Finland, he showed strong vision and instincts, although I didn’t see that as much versus better players. If he makes more plays I can see a potential bottom-six player, because he can score goals and has the aesthetic looks of an NHL forward.”

Kasper is the son of former Devil, Ilkka Pikkarainen, and brings size on the wings that the Devils sorely need. He finished 24th in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings, up three spots from their mid-season rankings.

Their second, third round pick, Herman Traff played games with HV71 at both the professional and junior levels, similar to Pikkarainen. He went scoreless in 10 SHL games but had 21 points in 26 games at the U-20 level.

Traff was Cory Pronman’s 97th-ranked player and had this to say about him, “He stands in at 6-foot-3 and skates very well for a bigger forward. Traff can make highly skilled plays on the move and could project to play at an NHL pace. He makes some plays at the Swedish junior level, but I think in the NHL his pure sense and offensive instincts would be subpar. He’s got an NHL north-south game with a good shot, although he can play on the perimeter a bit too much and he is inconsistent.”

Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils continue to add size, selecting two 6-foot-3 forwards with their third round picks.

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