Devils Draft Night

Photo by Dave Reginek/Getty Images

The New Jersey Devils have the top choice in the draft for the second time in three years and once again have a difficult decision to make with the pick.

While the 2017 choice between Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick would see the player that is passed over (Patrick) go to one of the Devils rivals (Philadelphia), this choice is even more important to get right as the player that isn't selected will not only again go to a rival, it's a rival that is just miles away, shares the same market and if the choice is wrong, will haunt the franchise and its fans for years.
While Ray Shero and the Devils appear to have made the right decision thus far with Hischier over Patrick by a small edge, this one is even more important as the player passed over will become a New York Ranger.

Jack Hughes is the likely choice as a center and holding the all-time record for points for a member of the United States development team.
Kaapo Kakko of Finland is the bigger player and plays at right wing, which is the position that it is harder to find an elite player.
Kakko is considered to be more likely to make a difference immediately with experience from Finland's top league, while Hughes is considered to be a franchise type of player, although he may take longer to do so.



I don't claim to have the type of knowledge of the NHL draft prospects that I do of the other three sports, but I do know franchises and for as much as the Devils would claim this doesn't matter, they know that it does- If the Devils would pass over an American star like Jack Hughes and he proves to be a franchise-level star for the team across the river and beats them for a dozen years, Kaapo Kakko could be an excellent player, but unless he's Alex Ovechkin, the Devils would pay a huge price for that call.
Take Hughes and Kakko turns out to be the better player, considering all the factors available at the time, the fanbase would understand.
If you take Kakko and the above scenario happens even in the best case, they'll never forgive you for allowing their backyard rival to thrive with Hughes.
Hughes has to be the choice here for hockey reasons and others as well.

I'll be back tonight with some words on the likely choice of Jack Hughes or even the possible, but still surprising choice of Kaapo Kakko.

Sorry so short, but still have the boxing challenge before tonight's Golden Boy card on DAZN to finish up.

It's Nico-Devils draft Hischier as top pick

The New Jersey Devils caught a lucky bounce in the NHL draft lottery and with questions all the way up to the actual announcement of the selection about who it would be,Devils fans played the game of Nolan vs Nico for weeks.

In the end,the choice was Nico Hischier from Switzerland,who made history as the first ever top overall pick from that country and as the first ever Devil to be the first pick of the draft,although if you trace the franchise back to Kansas City and Denver as I do (and the Devils rarely do),the Colorado Rockies did use the first overall choice on defenseman Rob Ramage in 1979.



The selection of Nico Hischier made sense to me mainly because Hischier seems to have the potential to be the type of creative scorer that the Devils haven't had in years (Ilya Kovalchuk) and haven't drafted in even longer (Zach Parise).
Hischier's skating and puck carrying is reported to be his strengths and his upside is reported to be as a first line center,although he could play left wing in the future as well.
Hischier is also not a defensive liability as many scorers are as he is supposed to be pretty solid in getting back into his own end of the ice.

Hischier was my choice and the Devils over Nolan Patrick for two reasons-Hischier has a much better chance of being an offensive,number one center than Patrick,who projects to be a nice player,but not the type of player that you can build around and the injuries to Patrick throughout his junior career makes you wonder a bit about the health of Patrick.
Nagging injuries when you are young tend to happen more and more as you age and that was a concern of mine with Patrick.
It'll be interesting to contrast the career of Nico Hischier with that of Nolan Patrick,who was picked by the rival Philadelphia Flyers with the second pick and it'll also say a lot for general manager Ray Shero down the road for if Patrick turns out to be the better player and does so for the rival Flyers,it'll won't reflect well on Shero.

I'm excited about this pick.
Nico Hischier isn't the type of franchise lifter that the last two drafts provided in Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews,but he certainly might be a top caliber player and an exciting player to watch as the Devils continue to try to rebuild.
The Devils might not be very good next season,but assuming that Hischier makes the team,which I think he will,along with 2016 number one pick Michael McLeod and the young players that were on last years team that they might be more fun to watch,if not improved in the standings....

Devils trade with Sharks-acquire Mirco Mueller

The New Jersey Devils were expected to have a chance to add a player through a trade before the expansion draft for the new Las Vegas Golden Knights,but as the deadline neared,the Devils looked to be possibly skipping on the opportunity.

However,in the final hour before the roster freeze,Devils general manager Ray Shero swung a deal with the San Jose Sharks to acquire defenseman Mirco Mueller and hopefully add a solid player to a defensive corps that could use one.
Shero sent the Sharks a second rounder (Boston's originally from the Lee Stempaniak trade) and a fourth rounder (Nashville's from the Vernon Fiddler deal) in return for Mueller and a fifth round pick.

The 22 year old Mueller was a first round pick in the 2013 draft (18th) and has spent most of the last two seasons in the AHL with the Sharks farm team in San Jose (the Sharks AHL team also plays in San Jose).
Mueller played 39 games for the Sharks in 2014-15,but in the combined two seasons since has seen action in only 15 games combined for the teal and black.
Mueller scored one goal with one assist last season in a four game mini appearance with the Sharks.
The Swiss product is a sizable blueliner at 6'3 and 205 pounds and EliteProspects liked him going into the draft as a skater and puck mover,although it did wonder about his physicality.
The issue with Mueller seems to be this-Why such much time away from the big league club?
Was it that the Sharks (who have a pretty good defensive group) just didn't want to use a young player at the seventh defenseman slot (which sits much of the time) or was there something about Mueller's play that had moved him out of the plans for the Sharks?
That I cannot answer,but considering the age of Mueller,I'm ok with this-mainly because the Devils didn't trade for Mueller in order to not protect him in next week's expansion draft and it shoves a player off the protected list that would have been protected without the trade-most likely Ben Lovejoy or Jon Merrill,either of which I would trade for an autographed photo of Kirk Muller.

It'll be interesting to see if this tips the Devils hand on the first overall pick six days from now.
The two players that the Devils are considering are both centers in Canadian Nolan Patrick and Switzerland's Nico Hischier and I plan on a post comparing the two of them one day next week,but considering even minor points,could this trade for a countryman mean the Devils are leaning Hischier or is it strictly a hockey trade and just a coincidence?

Back later tonight with thoughts on the rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev...

Devils win the draft lottery!

As I attempted to grab a nap after the conclusion of the NFL Draft and the thrilling Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko bout,the NHL held their draft lottery.

The NHL does their lottery a bit differently than the NBA,so it seems to be easier to climb in the draft or fall than in the basketball lottery.
Had the draft order been determined by record,the Devils would have drafted in the fifth position and when you crunch the numbers,the Devils highest chance by percentage (33 percent) was to drop one spot to sixth.

The Devils had won the lottery once before when the rules were different and the winner could not rise more than four spots at the time.
That victory moved the Devils from eighth to fourth and resulted in the selection of Adam Larsson.
In this one,it was going to take luck and the Devils had just that-as they won the lottery and will
select first in the June draft.
The Devils have never owned the first pick in the draft,although the previous incarnation as the Colorado Rockies,they did have the top selection once in 1979 and selected Rob Ramage,who had a long career with several team,but just missed being a Devil as he was traded to St.Louis in the off-season before the first season in New Jersey.

New Jersey is expected to take one of two players ranked highest by the various scouting services.
I don't claim to know nearly as much about hockey prospects as football or basketball,so on these things I tend to gather the opinions of others and then apply that to the Devils needs.
The two prospects that stand ahead of the rest is Canadian center Nolan Patrick,who's game has been compared to Jonathan Toews and Swiss center Nico Hischier,who has brought Pavel Datsyuk to mind.
Patrick is reported to be the safer and more solid choice,while Hischier is the flashier with more upside,so either player could be the choice.

It's too bad that this draft couldn't have been similar to the last two with the type of prospects that could have transformed an organization like Connor McDavid or Austen Matthews,but either Patrick or Hischier will be a foundation piece of an organization still in the middle of a remodeling stint.
These things take time,but being lucky enough to gain the top pick in the draft is an major step forward in that process and should the right player be selected,it could speed the redevelopment of a franchise that is still in need of top line talent...