With the 157th overall pick in the draft and the Devils final pick for this year's draft, the Devils have taken Brett Seney out of Merrimack College of the NCAA's Hockey East. Seney is a 19-year-old, so he was passed over at last season's draft, but after a pretty good freshman campaign at Merrimack, he did enough for the Devils to take a shot on him in the 6th round. Jeff Cox over at SB Nation College Hockey did a profile of Seney here. Here's a key part of that profile:
Seney is undersized, but there were very few players with better speed in Hockey East this past season. There were a couple goals he scored during the first half where he picked off an errant pass in the neutral zone, circled back into the zone and just completely blew past the defense en route to an easy goal.
His quickness and ability to make plays with the puck really showed in transition as a majority of his goals and assists came on the rush. He also made several highlight reel assists by waiting to draw the defense and goaltender to him before slipping a pass to a linemate hitting the backdoor.
As far as his numbers go, here they are from Elite Prospects. Seney is not at all large, as EP has him at 5'9" and 159 pounds. Needless to say, Merrimack's coaches would do well to help Seney get to the gym and gain strength.
Seney was playing in the OJHL heading into last year's draft, so that may have led to teams uncertainty on his potential. Seney made the jump to the NCAA, though and played pretty well as a freshman, particularly to start the season when he had 23 points in 23 games. He slowed down toward the end and had some injuries, but he still had a decent freshman season with 26 points in 34 games. He is a little bit of a lesser known pick than some prospects who were left out there, but he appears to be a speedy offensive player with some skills on the puck, so he at least fits the mold of someone you'd want to see the Devils take. While he's a bit older - he was passed over in the 2014 draft - it appears there's something to look out for at Merrimack. That he's in college means the Devils can let him develop at his own pace. Should he build from his freshman year onward, there's reason to believe he might be some kind of a diamond in the rough of the sixth round. All we can do is wait as Seney flies against Hockey East opponents.
And he does fly. Thanks to PA Devil for finding this highlight video in the comments:
So what do you think of the Devils pick of Brett Seney in the 6th round? Do you like it? Would you like to have seen the Devils take someone else with this pick? Comment with your thoughts below.