Devils Add Forward, European Flavored Draft Class in 2026 | FEATURE

The Devils entered the 2026 NHL Draft with five picks in their possession. Thanks to some crafty maneuvering, they exited with seven new additions to the organization with a flux of forwards and Europeans.

In all, the Devils added five forwards, one defenseman and one goaltender with five of those players hailing from overseas.

“I think it went pretty well. I think it went probably as well as we could've hoped for,” said Devils Chief Amateur Scout Mark Dennehy of the club’s first draft with new general manager Sunny Mehta at the helm. “Everybody talks about wanting to get the highest-ceiling player. Well, what is that, right? And how do you go about that? And so, as I mentioned, (Mehta is) very inclusive. He's very collaborative. He would take the scouts' input. He takes the analytics input. At times, we would use even information from our psychologist, from our strength and conditioning. It's all about trying to find the player with the highest ceiling.

“And this is really, I think, where it may have differed a little bit today. There was a lot more moving parts. So, as the draft's going on, we've identified who we're looking for, and if that player wasn't available due to whatever the situations were, we had a contingency plan to whether it's trade back or there was another player that we would've automatically picked. And we went through those mock drafts a number of times so that we were ready for whatever the draft held.”

The Devils added forwards Alexander Command (first round, 12^th overall), Matias Vanhanen (second, 37^th), Lavr Gashilov (fourth, 119^th), Luke Wilfley (sixth, 172^nd) and Quinn McKenzie (seventh, 222^nd), defenseman Nikita Shcherbakov (second, 44^th) and goalie Daniil Rusakovich (fifth, 149^th).

Command was the club’s first-round pick. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Swede plays with a high motor and physical edge. His compete level is unmatched and most of his success can be chalked up to sheer will and determination. He even helped Sweden win a gold medal at the World Under-18 Junior Championship last year while playing on the first line.

“What we know about this young man is, he's got a lot of attributes. He can skate. He's got a good head, both with and without the puck,” Dennehy said. “Supports his defensemen in the D zone or on the breakout, but is also gifted enough to find his wingers and put them in positions to score. Possesses a really heavy shot. Good on face-offs. He's also a true center.”

“And then there's some of the intangibles. Highly intense, highly competitive individual. Has been on championship teams, i.e., the U18 championship with Sweden. I use the term 200-foot player, and you hear that a lot. That is not a negative term. He is one of the best players all over the ice. At least he's been that way at the U18 level, and we only see him, because of his drive, because of his determination, because of what he's already shown us. We only see him getting better.”

The Devils then traded their 35^th overall pick to Chicago in exchange for the Blackhawks’ 37^th and 119^th picks. So, New Jersey added another selection by moving back only two slots. They used the 37^th selection on Vanhanen, a Finnish forward that blew up with Everett of the Western Hockey League, posting 87 points (21g-66a) in 62 games in 2025-26.

Vanhanen was passed over in the 2025 Draft, but made the jump to North America last year to prove his mettle after playing previously in the Finnish Liiga.

“I think that's really what Matias showed was as good as he was last year, he really elevated his game, and it was almost like he got better every month of his season,” Dennehy said. “I just remember talking with our Western scouts, and they were amazed at how quickly he was able to acclimate to the WHL game. Usually, new players, especially Europeans, there's an acclimation period, whether it's cultural, whether it's style of play, and he hit the ground running and never looked back. So, I would say his growth as a player, he's really taken off, and we do think the sky's the limit for him.”

The Devils didn’t set out prior to the weekend to be so heavy on forwards. They followed their board and the draft just fell that way.

“You don't always get to determine what each class looks like, and it does look differently,” he said. “But I know one of the things that we weigh heavily is the ability to process the game, and probably even more so offensively. So, are you someone that, with the puck, can make your teammates better or can do things or see things that others can't? And I think when you look at this forward class, especially at the top, they've shown the ability to do that.

“We're excited about where this group is. But this is just the beginning for this class, and I'm interested to see where it goes.”

Speaking of the way a class plays out, New Jersey also chose five European skaters, two of which hail from Russia.

“In terms of geography, it's really one of the least important factors to us in a sense,” Dennehy said. “We're looking for the best players. And it doesn't matter where they're coming from. I think a lot of what happens in every draft class is based on who gets picked before you pick. The players that we picked were the best players that were available. They were players that we would've coveted probably at earlier rounds.

“They just happened to be available when we got them.”