Devils Draft Booms and Busts since 2000

[njdevils1982]

Paul Martin was a much better player than Adam Henrique, though. Devils fans will continually underrate him because of the things he couldn't do well, but man I wish they had someone like that on their backline right now.

ill fully admit im guilty of this

 

[Nubmer6]

Before me being cognizant of the draft

I didn't know that was a requirement

 

[RSeen]

Matteau is the worst for me, we had to give up a first round pick anyway and we weren't going to be lower than 29 again. They decide not give up the pick and the guy completely sucked anyway with his 5 total points and was essentially the same thing if we gave up the pick. He didn't even turn into a future pick because he was eventually traded for Smith-Pelly who ended up eventually getting bought out.

His stupid name is the cherry on top of that shit sandwich that was that pick in 2012.

In hindsight (and at the time), not giving up the 29th pick was a horrible decision. Your highly likely not to get a player from that pick.

 

[Billdo]

In hindsight (and at the time), not giving up the 29th pick was a horrible decision. Your highly likely not to get a player from that pick.

And you're not likely going to have a "worse" pick to throw away. There has never been nor will there ever be a real reason for keeping that pick. It was asinine then, it's asinine now, and that IMO was when a lot of people started to turn on Lou.

 

[RSeen]

And you're not likely going to have a "worse" pick to throw away. There has never been nor will there ever be a real reason for keeping that pick. It was asinine then, it's asinine now, and that IMO was when a lot of people started to turn on Lou.

Yeah it was pretty ridiculous.

I suppose I understand the logic if he believed we would still be a contender picking in the 20s... with a year or two of development, that 29th pick would have more short-term value theoretically.

Issue is it was a poor gamble and we ended up giving up a high pick. Parise also wasn't resigned which increased the risk.

 

[The 29th Pick]

And you're not likely going to have a "worse" pick to throw away. There has never been nor will there ever be a real reason for keeping that pick. It was asinine then, it's asinine now, and that IMO was when a lot of people started to turn on Lou.

it was reason enough to change usernames in this forum !

 

[Triumph]

Yeah it was pretty ridiculous.

I suppose I understand the logic if he believed we would still be a contender picking in the 20s... with a year or two of development, that 29th pick would have more short-term value theoretically.

Issue is it was a poor gamble and we ended up giving up a high pick. Parise also wasn't resigned which increased the risk.

That's the gamble. It's not a great one, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be. It is medium risk, low reward, but that was the margin Lou was operating on in those days.

 

[None Shall Pass]

3. 2016 - #12 Overall(Really 11th overall) - Micheal McLeod

What do you mean "Really 11th overall"? He was drafted 12th.

 

[NJDevs26]

It's a tacit belief that we draft the same player at 11 before we trade down to go to 12. If the Devils wanted Logan Brown they wouldn't have let Ottawa trade in front of them. Anyone else they could have gotten at 11 they had available at 12.

 

[Davegarri]

Matteau may be one of the worst pro hockey players I have ever seen. I watched him at one of the open practices his rookie year and honestly have no idea how the dude was drafted, let alone in the first round. He was so f***ing bad.

They had him working one on one with the skills development coach the entire practice so I could focus on him the entire time. Dude looked like a beer league player out there.

 

[Triumph]

It's a tacit belief that we draft the same player at 11 before we trade down to go to 12. If the Devils wanted Logan Brown they wouldn't have let Ottawa trade in front of them. Anyone else they could have gotten at 11 they had available at 12.

Right, but it's asinine because the Devils didn't draft 11th, they drafted 12th, and they got a 3rd round pick for moving down. They might've rated Brown and McLeod equally and would've picked whichever one was left; we can't know.

 

[Triumph]

Matteau may be one of the worst pro hockey players I have ever seen. I watched him at one of the open practices his rookie year and honestly have no idea how the dude was drafted, let alone in the first round. He was so f***ing bad.

They had him working one on one with the skills development coach the entire practice so I could focus on him the entire time. Dude looked like a beer league player out there.

I thought Matteau's NHL career was done but he had a decent run with Columbus before everything got shut down. He probably won't stick but with expansion coming in 18 months and teams sometimes still willing to stick grinders on their 4th line, I could see him on an NHL roster for a while (especially if the minor leagues are shuttered for longer than the NHL).

 

[None Shall Pass]

It's a tacit belief that we draft the same player at 11 before we trade down to go to 12. If the Devils wanted Logan Brown they wouldn't have let Ottawa trade in front of them. Anyone else they could have gotten at 11 they had available at 12.

Got it. So by that logic, we got great value in getting Larsson at 8th overall, Jack Hughes at 3rd overall, and Nico at 5th overall.