Craig Button Draft

There is little, if not any doubt, that Connor Bedard will go first overall to the Chicago Blackhawks at the upcoming NHL Draft and Adam Fantilli seems like a safe bet to go 2nd to Anaheim. Bedard is an easy pick for the Blackhawks and in years past, although there were debates about who the Devils would pick with their 2017 and 2019 first-overall picks, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes have been slam dunks. But when the Devils were picking both Hischier and Hughes they were in a very different life cycle for the franchise than they find themselves in heading into next week.

The club is in a new phase of evolution where the work of drafts past is coming to fruition on the ice, where player from all draft rounds are finding their rhythm and becoming difference-makers. The Devils enter the 023 NHL Draft without a 1st Round pick, their own 2nd Round pick, Calgary's 3rd Round pick (acquired via Seattle and Columbus in the Damon Severson trade) and their own picks in the fourth through the seventh round. There is always the possibility of a trade to acquire a 1st Round pick, and it's something general manager Tom Fitzgerald has not ruled out, but as it stands right now, the Devils first pick in 2023 will happen in the 2nd Round.

TSN Analyst and Scout Craig Button shared his thoughts on the Devils heading into next and the thoughtful guidance Fitzgerald has had as General Manager of the club. The Devils are where they are because of the hard work Fitzgerald and his team have done around the drafts in recent years, but also because they have a vision they stick to. As Button explains, they understand their opportunities, and strike, regardless of where their draft picks lay this year.

"Certainly, the Devils are going to look at opportunities, at least, where they can select a player that they really like and if it means trying to get into the 1st Round or trying to move up," Button said, "is there an opportunity to try to get a player you're really liked that can fit into your timeline? Obviously, not immediately, I don't think, but somewhere down the road.

"So, good managers and Tommy certainly qualifies," Button continued, "are always looking at opportunities for how do you improve your team today? How do you improve your team tomorrow? And how do you improve your team in a few years down the road, and I think that this year's draft where the Devils find themselves presents that opportunity down the road."

Whatever opportunity presents itself; Button has the utmost confidence in the way Fitzgerald will approach the two-day event next week. What he is impressed by, though not surprised by, is how effective Fitzgerald is at understanding the timeline he set out in building this team, making the moves necessary, and managing the assets he's accumulated over the years.

"They drafted Ty Smith, they traded him for John Marino like that," Button says snapping his fingers, "That doesn't mean you didn't make a good, solid pick in Ty Smith but you recognize, wait a second, we need this player now. And I think those types of moves become really significant for becoming a really good team in this league as a Stanley Cup contender. And I don't think there's any question that the Devils are well on the path, on solid footing as a Stanley Cup contender."

Button also pointed to the Timo Meier trade as an example, giving up a first-round player, Shakir Mukhamadullin as part of the deal to acquire Meier, calling it 'significant' and 'if you don't draft Mukhamadullin, you don't get an opportunity to get players like Timo Meier.'

A prime example of understanding a club's ecology through the drafting process is about deciding what 'Best Player Available' means to your club. Certainly, there are can't-miss prospects like Bedard, but beyond that, as you get down the draft board, 'best player available' may mean different things to different teams. A prime example was the 2023 Draft where the Devils selected Simon Nemec with the second overall pick.

"They had Jack, they had Nico, they didn't need another center," Button shared, "So when you're looking at where their team is and how they were trying to build out their team, again, that goes to Tom (Fitzgerald) and the management group saying, we get Simon, he's is a really good player. He's effectively smart, he knows how to manage the game.

"You look at Simon and you know, it's coming off of drafting Luke Hughes, you have some really good players on your team already, you have signed Dougie Hamilton long-term, right," he continued, "So, it's not just okay, how do we evaluate the talent? It's how do we see him fitting into our lineup. When you have Dougie Hamilton on your team, now you have John Marino, like, can you imagine Simon Nemec coming in and having the ability to become a third-pair defenseman? And at the end of that, if you can say the job Fitzgerald and his draft group did, like that just eases the burden. Everything you're doing is how does it fit? What does it mean? Who do we have the support (the player)? So I think for Simon, and the same with Luke. Those are nice scenarios to have. But you don't just put yourself there, the management puts you there and that's just another compliment to Tom Fitzgerald and his group."

Button believes that a lot of what makes Fitzgerald a great general manager is the NHL career that Fitzgerald had. He played over 1000 games in the league and was a part of several different types of teams, he has first-hand experience he can rely on.

"You take all these experiences in and then you say, Okay, I saw how it worked," Button explained, "And then, you know, yeah, you're a first-time General Manager, but you've had all these opportunities to understand, you know what a good team looks like, you know what it smells like, you know what it feels like. And conversely, you know when a team isn't functioning, and those are the benefits of experience, and Tommy has them and he has them, both the good and some that, you know, weren't ideal."

Looking back on drafts of years past the key, Button says, has been the patience Fitzgerald and his entire team have had to wait for players to come into their own. All the patience has allowed players to marinate and become the best versions of themselves, and understand their roles and it has all culminated into a well-rounded roster of an array of team-drafted talent and a mix of players brought in to surround them.

What the Devils will do at the 2023 Draft remains unknown, but what is for sure is the drafting of the past, and the managing of top assets have all been a part of arriving at the moment of a season like the one just passed, one where the club says: We have arrived.

"This year was no mirage," Button emphasized, "This is a really good team that I think is going to continue to be built along the lines of the previous Stanley Cup winners and contenders."