As someone who has reviewed the site for the last 15 - 20 years, I am motivated to post on here and pose a question to people like Stephen Toddives, Jason MacIsaac and other smart Devils fans. With the Devils having these three 1st round picks, I see many on here and other sites/twitter proposing all of these trades for players such as Dunn, Gadreau, Nylander etc. for one or both of the Arizona/Vancouver picks. The Devils have been rebuilidng for the previous 5 years and part of the reason the rebuild is still going in my opinion is the use of 2nd and 3rd round picks for young or established players (Palmieri, Bennett, Muller, Johannson, Grabner, Maroon, Subban, Gusev) instead of just focusing on drafting smart, focusing on player devlopment and building a team. Yes, the Palmieri deal worked and we can explain the moves for Grabner, Subban and Gusev because of the playoff chase and Hall's career timeline.
But now that Hall is gone, the timeline of this team's rebuild has to be centered around Hischier and Hughes' timeline. This team's prospect base is decent and has good depth but lacks elite prospects. And yes, I recognize that the early elevation of Hischier and Hughes to the NHL impacts that perception. Also, the player development has been an issue but the hope is that without Hynes and his philosophy/style removed from the organization, the development of these young players will be enhanced. But the use of these 2nd and 3rd round picks these last number of years in trades (along with not having their own 2nd rounder this year and their own 2nd rounder next year) has hurt the Devils and explains why they are still rebuilding. Of course, the rebuild would have been helped if the McLeod selection (0r if they had selected McAvoy) or the Zacha selection (regardless if it was Lou or Shero who made that pick - no need to relitigate that again) worked. We are now at this point with these three 1st round selections and many are advocating for using one or two of them in trades.
In my previous career as a baseball scout/consultant for two MLB teams, I have always been a strong proponent of building a team regardless of the sport through a robust prospect base with strong player development - develop many young players to create the base and then use duplicative players in trades to fill other needs. I do not see the Senators or Kings using high draft picks to acquire young players in their rebuild. And the Rangers cannot be used as an example because of numerous high picks they were able to acquire through the trade of veterans which allowed them to use some of these draft picks to acquire players such as Fox and Trouba at a good discount because these players had leverage and wanted to play for them.
The Devils have two things at their disposal: these draft picks and cap space. With the flat cap the next couple of years and cap space at a premium, I believe that the cap space alone should be used to acquire prospects and additional draft picks along with signing a veteran players like Brenden Dillon to help the young core. This team is several years away from being able to legitimately compete in the East against teams like the Tampa, Flyers, Hurricanes (and where the Rangers are going). Thus, I believe the focus should be on using these three 1st round picks in a strong draft and possibly getting lucky and selecting players of the talent like Barzal, McAvoy, Thomas or other players who have been selected in past drafts in that range. I cannot see how it makes sense for the Devils to trade for a player like Gadreau at his age, his contract expiring in 2 years (would you sign him to a long term extension then?) and lack of playoff production. So after this very long first entry, the question is:
How should the Devils proceed this offseason with these three 1st rounds picks and their cap space when the timeline of Hischier and Hughes is so early?
