Josh Filmon Coming Into His Own | PROSPECT WATCH

Josh Filmon's selection at the 2022 NHL Draft raised eyebrows for a couple of different reasons.
The Devils took the Swift Current Broncos wing in the sixth-round (166th overall) in Montreal. At that point in the draft, players start getting nervous they are going to hear their names at all.
NHL clubs tend to pick Europeans or North Americans headed to college from about the fifth round onwards because they can park them on their reserve list longer than the normal two-year period for Canadian kids, who, like Filmon, suit up in that country's three major junior leagues.
During a recent telephone conversation, Filmon acknowledged he was disappointed to slip down the board as far as he did. He was respectful and measured in his comments but everyone, from TSN guru Bob McKenzie to the dime-a-dozen mock drafts, had Filmon solidly in the third round.
"(As it turned out) I was just really happy to go where I ended up," said Filmon, adding that he's felt increasingly more comfortable having now participated in the Devils rookie camp immediately after the draft and then the prospect tournament last month in Buffalo.
Like fathers often do, Gregg Filmon was more circumspect.

"It really doesn't matter where you're picked," said Gregg Filmon, after acknowledging his son was disappointed, annoyed even, to slip to the sixth round.
"But, whether it is first-, or second-round, it's (about) forcing (others) to say 'OK, this guy is too good to ignore.'"
The Devils scouting department did not ignore Filmon, with Western Canada Devils scouts a constant presence at Filmon's games. They were happy to get him.
"They may have sent me a heart emoji," joked Devils chief of amateur scouting Mark Dennehy after Filmon's selection, "I can't confirm or deny."
The good feeling in Montreal has been validated in the early going of this young season. Filmon has scored in four consecutive games. The Broncos, coming off a season where they missed the playoffs, have not found their groove yet since Filmon and a few of their other top players returned from NHL training camps.
"Right now, we're (not happy) with our wins/losses, it's been rough," said Filmon of his team's 2-6 start, "we are just trying to figure out the stages of going from a young team, to be a more experienced team."
Coming off a 45-point season (23-G, 22-A), Filmon earned the attention of NHL clubs even if his team missed the playoffs last season. Later, Filmon and the rest of Team Canada had an uneven performance in difficult circumstances at the World U18 Championship played in Germany.
A season ago, Filmon was, and still is, amid a physical transformation.
Still just 18, he's not exactly a late bloomer. But he is following a trend that the men in his family - his older brother, father and uncle - tended to grow a bit later than most athletes.
"My dad and brother started to put their man muscles on about this time," he quipped.
Sniffing around Filmon's family tree is interesting for what it may portend for Josh.
"Josh is the first hockey player in our family," remarked Gregg Filmon, a fact that may seem impossible to many who think that Canadians are born with skates on.
Indeed. father and uncle, David Filmon, were basketball players at the University of Manitoba. Rather good ones too as both were conference all-stars with Gregg Filmon also winning the conference rookie of the year honor.
"All the boys in our family are excellent athletes," Gregg further explained, pointing out that both his eldest son Adam and Josh were both good baseball players. Gregg and Leanna Filmon also have a daughter, Emma, and a younger son, Brady.
Interestingly, both Filmon's dad and uncle reached heights of 6'3" and 6'6", respectively.
Josh Filmon has already grown a couple of inches and put on more than 20 pounds since arriving in Swift Current. Right now he's 6'3' and about 165 pounds. To be an effective pro, the muscle gains will need to keep coming but Filmon is heading in the right direction.
So is his confidence.
Though he's not happy with the team's poor start he knows in the back of his mind that he's much bigger and stronger.
"(You need it) to play in the more physically demanding roles expected (of me) to play 22 or so minutes a game," he said.
Gregg Filmon says that Josh having to learn to play when he was much smaller has helped now that he's caught and surpassed many players who previously out-sized him.
"He's always had to first figure out how to be smart," he said.
Filmon's peer group around Winnipeg is an impressive one. He was one of a handful of 2004- and late-2003-born players from the home of the Jets taken in Montreal (the Winnipeg Ice are currently the No. 1 ranked team in Canada).
Part of that group is goaltender Tyler Brennan, whom the Devils scooped up 64 picks before Filmon.
Fellow Winnipeggers Conor Geekie (11th overall, Arizona), Denton Mateychuk (12th overall, Columbus) and Owen Pickering ( 21st overall Pittsburgh) were taken in the first round and another youth hockey friend, Adam Ingram (82nd overall, Nashville), was scooped up in the third.
It's not a huge mental leap to assume that having grown up amongst that group, being surrounded at home during the off-season, training together and just hanging out, helps Filmon.
"I've known Owen Pickering since about Grade 5," said Josh, of his Swift Current teammate, "and the other guys now too…we all train together and it's nice to have them around (Winnipeg in the summer).
A rising tide floats all boats.