|
Devils With #2 Overall Pick And Farm System Stocked |
|
|
|
It was a great Tuesday night for the New Jersey Devils organization.
First, the Devils lucky again and leap frogged past other lowly teams such as the Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Arizona Coyotes, and Seattle Kraken to find themselves with the 2nd overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Secondly, the Devils AHL affiliate team, Utica Comets overcame a 2-0 early deficit and beat the Rochester Americans 6-3 in front of a raucous crowd at Adirondack Bank Center in Utica for Game 1 semi-finals round, which made the night sweeter for Devils fans.
Who will the Devils pick? That is a good question as Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald will look to see if draftee front runners Shane Wright, Logan Cooley, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Simon Nemec would be good choice for the club. Supposedly, this year’s draft is widely considered not to have any generational talent. But then again, the pundits said the same thing that about the 2017 NHL Draft and look how the top five turned out like Cale Makar at the fourth spot for Colorado Avalanche?
Will Fitzy draft based on need or best available? Does he find a trading partner and leverage the value of the 2nd overall pick? Over night, the Devils have more options and it will be intriguing what Fitzgerald does. If it were up to me as an arm chair Devils GM, keep that talent pipeline flowing no matter what and keep stocking Utica with top tier talent. Devils fans will hopefully reap the rewards in the future for many years to come.
Or at least, that is what we are hoping for.
The Devils Future
******
Sam Woo is co-host and executive producer of the Let's Go Devils Podcast which can be heard live every Sunday at 9pm ET and Wednesday at 8:30pm ET. You can follow Sam on Twitter: @PrimetimeSamWoo