Rumor: Devils Interested in 21 Year Old Croatian F Borna Rendulic?

*This is a rumor. I can't verify the legitimacy of the news outlet as I am not familiar with the Finnish media. I still thought this was something interesting to pass on and monitor.*

Source - Roughly Translated

"Croatian plans for the future are still open. The proposals have come, but the agreement HPK with ends after this season.

- After all, this had some discussions with some NHL teams. I still do not know about it any more, because these things are usually made only in the summer when the NHL teams are looking for players to know Rendulić.

Rendulić, however, reveals a possible future club. The security issue, but not yet, so this is speculation edeleen level.

- Let's see what my agent gets done. I talked to the New Jersey Devils scout for about two years now, and he in turn has spoken to Devils GM for. They would like me to get there, but it depends on a range of issues yet, says Rendulić."

The right handed, Croatian F currently listed by EliteProspects at 6'3, 203 lbs. is set to turn 22 on March 25, thus making him an undrafted free agent. With Croatia not known as a hockey hot bed, he has spent the bulk of his youth and professional career in Finland working his way up the system to the highest level from the 2007-08 season till present day. He has also represented Croatia at numerous IIHF events every year. His EliteProspects page includes his full stats from recent years.

He currently plays in the top flight of Finnish hockey for HPK out of Hämeenlinna, Finland. His 9 goals and 12 assists in 37 games have him tied for 2nd in scoring on the team, impressive for his age. In his 77 career Liiga games he has 17 goals and 16 assists with a 8.9 SH%.

As you can see from his QuantHockey charts below, he has scored at an above average rate for his age in his 2 full time seasons in the league. He has also improved his overall point production from average to above average for his year 21 season. With his size and skill, it's certainly not a surprise he is recieving interest from NHL organizations.

To compare him to a recent Devils signing out of Finland, here are his graphs compared to Harri Pesonen who spent similar time in the league at age 20 and 21 like Rendulic. Though I can't speak to how much ice time either was getting at their age for full disclosure. It is worth noting that Rendulic's .568 points per game at age 21 compares to Pesonen's .583 at age 23. Rendulic's .243 goals per game at age 21 compares better than Pesonen's .204 at age 22. Perhaps Rendulic's game is more advanced than Pesonen's was when he was that age.

Some videos that show his humorous side and highlights:

 

With a prospect pool that is thin at quality forwards, it should be interesting to see if NJ offers him a contract later this year. Perhaps this is all for nothing, but I intend on monitoring the rumor mill.