2020 NHL Draft: Devils Picked Center Artem Shlaine at 130th Overall in the 5th Round

At 130th overall, the New Jersey Devils selected center Artem Shlaine. The 6’1”, 174 pound Russian-American is a freshman playing for the University of Connecticut Huskies.

Who is Artem Shlaine?

Shlaine is a left-handed center who is an alum of the vaunted Shattuck St. Mary’s prep hockey program. He also saw some action with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL and recorded three points in six games with the team. For Shattuck, he led the team last year with 78 points (26 goals, 52 assists) in 46 games.

What Others Say About Artem Shlaine

From EliteProspects:

And rankings were as follows:

EliteProspects: #112

Future Considerations: #224

McKeen’s Hockey: #174

NHL Central Scouting (NA Skaters): #93

Also here’s a report from Steve Kournianos about what may end up looking like an astute pick at 130.

An interview

Here’s Shlaine introducing himself to the Huskies faithful (there aren’t many clips of him in action):

My Initial Reaction to the Pick

Another center. Either the Devils are looking to convert centers to wing as an organizational philosophy or he was the best player available in this slot. The rankings do not seem to agree and it is difficult to find clips of him anywhere online. The puck skills report from EliteProspects profile is promising but he looks like a longshot to make the team anytime soon and the Devils will need to track how he develops in the NCAA with UConn. We’re at the point in the draft where almost anyone is a crapshoot but it seems there were plenty of other available players at other positions that ranked higher on draft boards. I hope he proves everyone wrong.

The Devils also apparently had to think long and hard about this because they used their allocated draft timeout just before making this selection. I wonder if they may have been contemplating some sort of trade at the time, but in the end, the selection was made and Shlaine is a Devil. If he is as smart as Kournianos believes he is, Shlaine could prove to be a value selection at 130.

Your Take

As we update this post with more information later today, please have your say about this prospect in the comments. Are you satisfied with this selection? What are your expectations for this prospect? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!

Poll