Conte's record is impressive, the Devils have 5 finals appearances and 3 Cups since Conte was promoted to head scout in Aug 1993.
If a pick was a "bust" it's not because scouts sucked it more likely had to do with the fact that the Devils' defense was stacked for almost two decades with Niedermayer, Stevens, and Daneyko having a lock on 3 roster spots. Meanwhile Marty was in net for 99% of every game played from 1994 - last month so any goalie picked was useless.
As for forwards I'd say they did an amazing job in their selections and the development was just fine, I'd say far better than average.
A recap of Conte's picks since 1994:
1994 (one of the best drafts for njd)
pick / player
25 Sharifjanov - sucked but part of Mogilny package so huge
51 Elias - heroic
71 Souray - awesome
233 Sullivan - amazing (traded for Gilmour & Ellett) bad deal???
1995
18 Sykora - golden
lot of suck
79 McCauley - nice (included in Gilmour deal)
1996
10 Lance Ward - ****
bags of suck
47 Dagenais part 1 suck
49 White - awesome
91 Boumedienne - a lot of ppl thought he'd be pretty good
199 Mitchell - gr8
1997
24 JF Damphousse - idk why they bothered to pick goalies
38 Gron - suck
more suck
131 - Bicek - almost
159 - Goc - wrong goc brother, good in europe tho
215 - Scott Clemmensen - not bad
1998 (amazing draft!!!)
26 - Mike Van Ryn - sneaky loophole ****ed but good pick
27 - Gomez - hate him now but amazing pick!
37 - Berglund - wasnt horrible
82 - Gionta - huge!
105 - Dagenais - 2nd attempt, wasn't a terrible hockey player
1999 (draft wasn't great but a lot of teams ****ed up)
1 Stefan - LOL
2-3 Sedins - no brainers right
4 Brendl - LOLLLL
Devils drafted
27 Ahonen - actually really good in the KHL but we didnt need another goalie until what we now know as 2014 so why the **** bother
and
42 Mike Commodore - not a bust
rest of the picks were useless
2000 (not bad)
22 Hale - over 300 games, not really a bust for a late first but not a win either
39 Laine - so fast!!!!
56 Suglobov - almost
62 Martin - amazing pick i'd say
76 Rupp - pretty epic pick not exactly an amazing player but key role player
135 Murderer - woops!
194 Engelland - let him go but who knew that 15 seasons later he'd be as good as Peter Harrold?!
2001 (woops but rly only 20 solid NHLers came out of this entire draft, devils just went to the finals)
28 Foster - got injured, risk didnt pay off
a lot of who is that?
229 Aaron Voros - guy was actually talented but let us recall there was absolutely no room for skilled forwards to break into our lineup unless they were multidimensional
2002 (there were really only 10 rly good NHLers in this draft, if that, was ****ing awful draft and the devils didnt have a 1st, how do you blame Conte?)
51 Kadeykin - poop
53 Tallackson - the mighty
crap
117 Janssen - ok
218 Pikkarainen!
2003
17 Parise - traded up for this gem after we won the mother ****ing Stanley Cup! Zach clearly cursed us though in spite of his skills
42 Vrana - talented but no go for NJD, one dimensional
rest were nothing
2004
20 Zajac - struck gold again imo
didnt pick again until the 5th round so who cares
2005
23 Bergfors - the guy had talent, 83 pts in 173 is not a terrible bust at 23 and got us Kovy
28 Frazee - was actually playing really well up until taking a skate to the throat
84 Fraser - not bad
155 Fayne - some of you think he's a top 4 dman, maybe not that great but a solid 155th pick for sure
2006
30 Corrente - picking last what do u rly expect?
58 R.I.P.
77 Sharkov - lol owell
2007
no first
79 Palmieri - not terrible
117 Halischuk - good value
2008
24 Tedenby - too soon to call a bust nothing special right now
52 Burlon - not going to break through given the chips around him on d
54 Cormier - helped land Kovy, good value
82 Henrique - what else could you want in a draft???
2009
20 Josefson - only 23, not a bust yet but obv nothing special or so it seems
54 Gelinas - already happy with this draft now
73 Urbom - got this guy back from the Caps and he's still young, could be the next Fayne
2010
no first
38 Merrill - guy is already in the NHL, could you srsly ask more from your scouting dept???
84 the Wedge - could be good
174 Clermont - another solid goalie pick
2011
4 Larsson - you'd be stupid not to have taken him, the team sucking isn't conte's fault
99 Boucher - huge
159 Scarlett - i doubt he'll break through given all the talent on defense but a good pick most will agree
2012
29 Matteau - too soon to tell
60 Severson - everyone likes this pick
2013
Cory Schneider thank you very much, doesn't even matter who else was picked