Every NHL team is given one selection in each of the draft's seven rounds and make their picks in reverse order based on final standings for every round. Only the first round of the draft will be held Friday, while rounds two through seven will occur Saturday.
The Devils hold all of their original picks except in the third round. That was a conditional pick in the March 2014 trade that sent Andrei Loktionov to Carolina and brought Tuomo Ruutu to the Garden State.
Fortunately, the Devils acquired two other third-round picks to make up for it. The first is from San Jose as compensation for naming Peter DeBoer as their new head coach in May 2015 while still under contract with New Jersey, and the second was acquired from Colorado in March 2016 in exchange for Eric Gelinas. The Devils also have a second pick in the fifth round as part of the package that brought 22-year-old Swiss defenseman Mirco Mueller, a former first-round draft pick, to New Jersey. Mueller was acquired in exchange for a second-round selection previously acquired from Boston in exchange for Lee Stempniak in 2016 and a fourth-round selection previously acquired from Nashville in exchange for Vern Fiddler earlier this spring.
Finally, the Devils have an extra sixth-round selection also acquired from Nashville in exchange for PA Parenteau at the trade deadline. Barring any wheeling and dealing, the Devils will pick first, 36th, 63rd, 67th, 98th, 129th, 143rd, 160th, 185th and 191st.
The first round of the draft will air on NBCSN at 7 p.m. tonight, with the final six rounds kicking off Saturday at 10 a.m.
