With their final fourth round pick 2025, the Devils turned back to forwards with their third center of the day.
The Devils definitely went into this Draft with a goal in mind: stack the center pipeline. Standing at 6’2” and 176 pounds, Gustav Hillstrom is the first right-handed center to be taken by the New Jersey Devils in the 2025 NHL Draft. Coming off a very solid season for the Brynäs IF J20 team, Hillström hopes to make the professional club in the Swedish Hockey League in the 2025-26 season. Below, you will see his statistics from Elite Prospects.
Elite Prospects
In his highlight package from HSD prospects, Hillström shows off some nice hands and passing, and he also finds some soft spaces to score easy goals in. He has an eye for a net when he needs to, and hopefully he can take this sort of style to the SHL, hunting for rebounds and loose pucks. As he fills out, I would like to see him zero in on this net-area play.
We also have a shift-by-shift video from one of his SHL appearances this season via Prospect Shifts.
I like the way Hillström battles for the puck here against older opponents, and his legs seem to be pretty good. As he progresses, I would like to see him develop more as a forechecker, using those legs to finish some checks, becoming harder to play against. If he hopes to have an NHL career, he will need to get a little more physical when he is within range to be disruptive. But his big strides, size, and desire to hound the puck on the forecheck gives me reason to hope that he can translate his solid juniors production into more points at the SHL level next season.
Another thing I notice about Hillström is he does not hold onto the puck for too long. Perhaps some of this is wanting to make a good impression at the professional level, but he really endeavors to keep the play moving as well as he can. I think that he can translate well to the North American game because of these characteristics, and you can see the play develop leading to his goal at 8:30. A pass bounces past him, but he chases it into the corner and creates a turnover. After going to help by the wall, he goes to the net and kicks a pass from his back skate to himself, depositing the puck right into the net after beating his man from the wall.
So, I like what I see on his shift-by-shift video. Fourth round is good value for a guy like him, who should be in the SHL before long, and he can help the Devils with their center depth down the road. He might not turn into a top six player, but the approach, skating, and size are there for him to be an impact player on the third or fourth line in the future. As long as he puts on a little bit of weight and amps up the physicality a bit, he might fit in just fine.
Now that you know what I think about the pick, please feel free to give your reaction to the pick in the comments. Please also vote in our flash poll (ends at 7:00 PM tomorrow), that will lead to a later post describing what you, the People Who Matter, thought of the pick. Thank you for reading.