The New Jersey Devils made three selections in the first round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, choosing Swedish winger Alexander Holtz at No. 7 overall, Canadian center Dawson Mercer at No. 18 overall, and Russian defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin at No. 20 overall.
Holtz, 18, has spent the last three seasons with Djurgardens IF of the Swedish Hockey League and J20 SuperElit, scoring seven goals in three games with the junior club and recording nine goals and seven assists in 35 games with the senior squad in 2019-20.
The 6-foot right winger has also played for Team Sweden in several junior tournaments, winning a bronze medal in the 2020 World Junior Championships and helping the Swedes take gold on home ice in the 2019 World U-18 Championships.
In his scouting report for Rotoworld Hockey, Ryan Wagman said that “Holtz has an NHL frame, and projects to offer a bit of everything at a high end level, even if his shot is currently his best weapon.”
The No. 18 pick, which was acquired in the Dec. 2019 deal that sent Taylor Hall to Arizona, was used on Mercer, who split the 2019-20 season between Chicoutimi and Drummondville in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The 18-year-old scored 60 points (24 goals, 36 assists) in 42 games and was a nominee for the Mike Bossy Award, given to the top pro prospect in the QMJHL (which was won by No. 1 overall pick Alexis Lafreniere).
Mercer is also an accomplished player on international competition ice, playing on Canada’s gold medal-winning squad at the 2020 World Juniors.
Mukhamadullin, who was taken with the No. 20 pick acquired in the February deal that sent Blake Coleman to Tampa Bay, is an 18-year-old left-handed blueliner from Salavat Yulaev Ufa in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.
Ranked as the No. 17 European skater in the Draft by NHL Central Scouting, Mukhamadullin has racked up six points in 14 KHL games so far in the 2020-21 season, and has been a mainstay on the Russian Junior National Team in U16, U17, U18, and U20 tournaments over the last four years.
In their 2020 NHL Draft Guide, EliteProspects.com said that “There will always be a market for 6-foot-4 defensemen who can skate well, and Mukhamadullin certainly qualifies. The pGPS (prospect Graduation Probabilities System) system that Jeremy Davis developed tags him with an 84 percent chance of making the show; it's the seventh-highest figure in this class. Mukhamadullin has a cannon for a one-timer, and he's not shy about using it.”
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