Personally I am very happy with the Devils draft thus far. Zacha was a great pick at #6 and he has top line skill. Obviously it is extremely unlikely that he makes the team next year but he will hopefully be ready the following year. Mackenzie Blackwood is the top goaltender in the draft according to some scouts and even though they have a great goaltender in Schneider it is always a wise decision to add depth to the organization that is lacking in goaltender prospects. I know very little about 3rd round pick C Blake Speers and 4th round D Colton White but maybe someone can give their opinion or provide a scouting report on either player.
1st round 6th overall C Pavel Zacha Czech
2nd round 42nd overall G Mackenzie Blackwood Canada
3rd round 67th overall C Blake Speers Canada
4th round 97th overall D Colton White Canada
As far as the Palmieri trade for the 41st pick and a 3rd I wasn't thrilled with it. He is young as has some more room to grow but I just think the Devils have several similar players like Palmieri. He should get more playing time here but he is entering the final year of his contract.
So far, so good. And I think the big Czech MIGHT break camp with the team...
And the Goalie pick is a great value there, and they need goalie depth.
Zacha has a good chance to make the team out of camp, he's played against Men in the Czech league starting at 16, he's also not a small guy dude is pretty beast physically and can most likely handle the NHL physicality. The AHL is a possibility too since he played in Europe up until last year when he played in the OHL but is still able to play in the AHL. It'll be interesting what happens but the kid was more than thrilled to be drafted by the Devils and Elias could be a good person to help him adjust.
Besides that nothing special the Spears kid could be a good pick, he's still putting on weight (says he's put on 20lbs since his rookie season) and has a strong low center of gravity so if he can put another 10-15 lbs on he'll be fine size wise.