The New Jersey Devils went back to Europe on the second day of the NHL Draft yet again. All of their picks so far have come from Finland (Salminen, Vilén) or the Czech Republic (Málek). Now, they can claim Sweden. The Devils selected right-handed defenseman Viktor Hurtig of Västerås IK’s under-20 team.
According to his Elite Prospects profile, the first thing you will probably notice is his size. He is big. Huge, even. Large, if you will. Hurtig is listed at 6’6” and 190 pounds. The second thing you will probably notice is that he is an overage draft pick; he turned 19 back on April 28. This is the sixth round of the NHL Draft so an overage pick is hardly out of the ordinary. The third thing you will likely notice is that he was busy last season. Hurtig came up through Avesta BK before moving on to Västerås IK with their U-18 team in 2018-19. Since then, he’s been a part of the Västerås set up. Last season, he played 11 games with the U-20 team; four games