The 2011 NHL Entry Draft is approaching. On Friday, June 24, the first round of the draft will be completed. It'll be aired live on VERSUS and TSN at 7 PM EST. The New Jersey Devils will host a draft party at the AmeriHealth Pavilion and Mulberry Street for those who've registered on the Devils' website. On Saturday, June 25, the rest of the draft will take place: rounds two through seven. This will start at 11 AM EST and will be aired on the NHL Network.
The New Jersey Devils won the NHL Draft lottery and will select fourth overall. Per the NHL's released order of the draft, they will be selecting eighth in subsequent rounds with two exceptions. The first is in the second round, as the Devils traded this pick to Nashville in the Jason Arnott deal last summer. The second is their original third round pick, which was forfeited due to the NHL making up a punishment for the Ilya Kovalchuk contract. The Devils will currently get Dallas' third round pick, 75th overall, as the conditional pick in the Jamie Langenbrunner trade. This will only change if Dallas signs Langenbrunner before the draft; then the pick would be upgraded to Dallas' second round pick at 44th overall. In summary, the Devils are currently picking 4th, 75th, 99th, 129th, 159th, and 189th overall.
Over the last month or so, Tom, Kevin, and myself have done a myriad of prospect profiles. Not just to identify who the Devils will take with their first round pick, but players they could be selecting later on in the draft. Potential third rounders or longshots to be seventh rounders. Some of these players may not get selected at all by New Jersey. Some won't be selected at all. All the same, I believe it was an informative enough exercise to learn about who's out there throughout the entire draft. Hopefully you found it the same way.
Beyond the jump, I've included links to each and every one of the profiles we have done since May 22. I hope you find some value in them individually as well as an easy reference in this very post.
Profiles are presented in alphabetical order with position and their 2010-11 team. Here's a fun game for the draft: see where these players actually go. Keep in mind, players may go earlier or later than we expected when writing these; hence, the inclusion of "potential."
Potential First Round Profiles
Sean Couturier - Center, Drummondville (QMJHL)
Jonathan Huberdeau - Center/Left Wing, Saint John (QMJHL)
Gabriel Landeskog - Left Wing, Kitchener (OHL)
Adam Larsson - Defenseman, Skellefteå AIK (SEL)
Ryan Murphy - Defenseman, Kitchener (OHL)
Ryan Strome - Center, Niagara (OHL)
Potential Mid-Draft (Rounds 2-5) Profiles
Rasmus Bengtsson - Defenseman, Rögle BK (Allsvenskan)
Reid Boucher - Center, USNTDP (USHL)
Gabriel Bourret - Defenseman, Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
Jeremy Boyce-Rotevall, Left Wing, Timrå IK (SEL)
Magnus Hellberg - Goaltender, Almtuna (Allsvenskan)
Zac Larraza - Left Wing, USNTDP (USHL)
Matt Killian - Defenseman, Delbarton (U.S. High School)
Michael Paliotta - Defenseman, USNTDP (USHL)
Brennan Serville - Defenseman, Stouville (OJHL)
Dillon Simpson - Defenseman, North Dakota (WCHA)
Colin Sullentrop - Defenseman, Oshawa (OHL)
Johan Sundström - Right Wing, Frölunda (SEL)
Troy Vance - Defenseman, Victoriaville (QMJHL)
Austin Wuthrich - Right Wing, USNTDP (USHL)
Zachary Yuen - Defenseman, Tri-City (WHL)
Potential Late-Round (Rounds 6 & 7) Profiles
Gustav Björklund - Forward, Västerås IK (Allsvenskan)
Nick Bligh - Center, Dexter School (U.S. High School)
David Broll - Left Wing, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
Sam Jardine - Defenseman, Camrose (AJHL)
Peter McMullen - Left Wing, Delbarson (U.S. High School)
Cody McNaughton - Right Wing, Guelph (OHL)
Jonathan Parker - Right Wing, Prince Albert (WHL)
Ryan Renz - Defenseman, Vernon (BCHL)
One Last Link
2011 NHL Mock Draft Database - Need a mock draft? How about at least 40 of them, regularly updated and with links to the mocks themselves? This link will give you what you need should you need mocks.