Had a conversation tonight with a friend about how poorly the Devils have drafted post-lockout. I thought they were exaggerating, but I took a closer look and...they werent kidding. Here are their first round picks over the last nine years [Note: Some stats for current players are a bit behind] 2006: Matt Corrente (30th) – 34 NHL Games Played 2007: NO FIRST ROUND PICK – Traded along with Vladimir Malakhov for Alex Korolyuk [Never played for Devils] and Jim Fahey [Played 13 games for the Devils] 2008: Mattias Tedenby (24th) – 120 NHL Games Played: 10 goals, 20 assists, 30 points. Now playing in the AHL. 2009: Jacob Josefson (20th) – 118 NHL Games Played: 7 goals, 18 assists, 25 points. Currently with the team. 2010: NO FIRST ROUND PICK – Traded along with Niclas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier, and a 2nd rounder for Ilya Kovalchuk, Anssi Samela, and a 2nd rounder. 2011: Adam Larsson (4th) 128 NHL Games Played: 3 goals, 24 assists, 27 points. Currently on IR, was with Devils after splitting last year between NHL and AHL. 2012: Stefan Matteau (29th) Currently with Devils AHL Affiliate. Posted 13 goals, 13 assists, and 26 points in 67 games in the AHL last year. 2013: NO FIRST ROUND PICK – Traded for Corey Schneider 2014: John Quenneville (30th) – Jury still out. Thats nine years of first round picks, and all the Devils have to show for it today is a career AHLer (Tedenby), a bottom-six forward (Josefson), a struggling depth defenseman (Larsson), two suspect prospects (Matteau and Quennville) and of course Schneider. Thats not nothing, but it helps you understand why the Devils have started to finally descend from their two-decade-long stretch of competitive dominance. Its not fair to compare them to the New York Islanders who, by virtue of having drafted much higher during that span, have landed Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey, John Tavares, Calvin De Haan, Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, and Griffin Reinhart - all of whom are on their active roster today - along with promising prospects Ryan Pulock, Michael Dal Colle, and Joshua Ho-Sang. Not including the departed Nino Neiderreiter. Instead, I will use the Rangers as a point of comparison, as both were drafting in similar stages of the first round. 2006: Bob Sanguinetti (21st) - 45 NHL games played 2007 - Alexei Cherepanov (17th) - A very promising prospect before his untimely death. 2008 - Michael Del Zotto (20th) - 317 NHL games played, 126 points. Traded for Kevin Klein. 2009 - Chris Kreider (19th) - 89 NHL games played: 19 goals, 21 assists, 40 points. Currently with the team. 2010 - Dylan McIlrath (10th) - Currently in AHL. Posted 6 goals, 11 assists, and 17 points in 62 AHL games last year. 2011 - J.T. Miller (15th) - Has split current season between NHL and AHL for the Rangers. 2012 - Brady Skjei (28th) - Still playing at the University of Minnesota 2013 - NO FIRST ROUND PICK - Traded with Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, and Tim Erixon, for Rick Nash, Steven Delisle, and a 3rd. 2014 - NO FIRST ROUND PICK - Traded with Ryan Callahan, and 2015 First Round Pick for Martin St. Louis Clearly, the Rangers did not hit homeruns with all of these picks. Sanguinetti was a total bust, Skjei looks to be going that way as well, and McIlrath may be as well, and like the Devils theyve traded away several picks for current players. But there are some key differences. Firstly is the fact that the Rangers have retained both players they traded for, but also the Rangers did make a few solid hits with their first rounders. Del Zotto was a decent defender who was flipped for Klein - an even better defenseman (not to mention that the Rangers also added Stepan in the second round of that draft). And Kreider and JT Miller have also been useful additions. You dont need to add top-flight players through the draft every year, and the difference between the Rangers and the Devils shows the difference between adding decent first rounders every few years, and whiffing nine years in a row. Either way, I thought this was indicative of the problem the Devils are currently facing. [Also Im procrastinating my last paper of the year right now. Happy Holidays all]
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 06:21:58 +0000
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