Devils Improved for Today and Tomorrow | ANALYSIS

The Devils made plays for the present and future at the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal.
They traded for a goaltender to help the club on the NHL level today, drafted another for down the road and added several pieces, including a high-end offensive defenseman with the No. 2-overall pick, to the fold.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the draft festivities…

VV
First, the present. The Devils acquired goaltender Vitek Vanecek from the Washington Capitals on the morning of Day 2 of the draft. The Czechian netminder has won 20 or more games in each of his two NHL seasons in D.C. and is a major addition to the position for the Devils.
The move helps stabilize an extremely volatile area for New Jersey, a position that saw seven different players try to fill during the 2021-22 season. Vanecek will also compete with Mackenzie Blackwood, and perhaps eventually Jonathan Bernier, for playing time in the crease. The competition should only make all those involved better.
"We feel really good about, again for another summer, adding depth to our goaltending and watching Mackenzie and Vitek challenge each other and push each other," general manager Tom Fitzgerald said. "You have to have depth. You saw teams in the playoffs lost depth and ended up losing a series."
And the added depth should help the team absorb any further injury depletion, such as that which took place last season.
Blackwood was hampered all season long last year due to a heel injury that required surgery. He fought through discomfort and pain in the early parts of the season, but had to be shutdown partway through the season (though he did return to play two of the team's final three games).
Bernier, who was signed to a two-year deal last summer to provide a veteran presence in the crease, started only eight games before a hip injury ended his season prematurely. His availability for the start of next season is still yet to be determined. If he isn't unable to play from the get-go, Vanecek's presence becomes all the more important.
"The future is unknown of how (Bernier is) going to recover," Fitzgerald said. "I hope he makes a 100-percent recovery. Then we'll have really good goaltending. We'll figure that out when the time comes."
The Devils turned to a combination of rookies (Nico Daws, Akira Schmid) and veterans (Scott Wedgewood, Jon Gillies, Andrew Hammond) to finish out last season. The franchise-record seven different goalies was less than ideal, and something the team hopes they can avoid moving forward.
"Our goal from the get-go was to add to the position because of the circumstance with injuries depleting our depth. I never want to go through that again," Fitzgerald said. "I didn't want to wait (for free agency). I just wanted to lock the position up, feel comfortable and actually get a good night's sleep."
Crease Robbery
As far as the future, the Devils selected Prince George goaltender Tyler Brennan with the 102nd-overall pick in the fourth round.
Brennan was considered by many to be the best goaltender in the entire draft. He has all the tools to be a solid NHL netminder. Physically, he stands at 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds. He takes up a lot of space. Mentally, he's shown himself to be a calm and steady presence that doesn't crack under pressure.
Brennan, as well as all goaltending prospects across the world, was hampered in his development by the COVID-19 pandemic. While not playing has affected all players, it's particularly been troublesome for netminders who absolutely need to play more than any other position to develop. That's partially the reason he fell to the fourth round and was still the first goaltender to be drafted.
Brennan will need time to develop and may even require more time than a typical goaltender would (which is usually substantial anyway). But with some patience, the Devils may come away with a steal in Brennan. Circumstances made him available for New Jersey and it may pay off down the road.

Dynamic Addition
The Devils went defense heavy in their draft selections, using four of their first five picks, and five overall, on blueliners, including perhaps the best defense prospect available in Slovakia's Simon Nemec.
"We're super excited to add a right-shot defense with puck-moving ability," Fitzgerald said. "He plays the game like he's in a rocking chair. The game comes to him."
Nemec was chosen by New Jersey with the second-overall pick. He's a dynamic talent, the rare offensive-minded right-handed defenseman that can run a power play: a highly-sought after commodity in the league. The talents of Nemec only add to a strong core of current - Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Graves, Damon Severson - and future - Luke Hughes, Shakir Mukhamadullin - defensive group. The Devils are setting up well for their future on the back end.
Nemec may be a little further along in his development than most other defensemen in the draft. He's played in the Slovakian pro league since he was 15 years old and has competed at the highest levels of international tournaments in the Olympics and World Championship against fully-grown men. While Slovakia's pro league might not be on the level of Sweden or Finland, it's still rare to find someone with as much pro experience upon their draft day. Nemec expressed his desire to come to North America next season and could see some NHL games at some point. Though he is probably still a year or so away from earning a spot and contributing at the NHL level.
"Elite hockey sense," Devils chief scout Mark Dennehy said of Nemec. "He played against men. He has great offensive instincts. He sees the ice incredibly well. He never seems to be in a rush."

Filling Out
The Devils used their second-round pick (46th overall) on United States NTDP defenseman Seamus Casey, who will attend the University of Michigan next season. Casey will join fellow Devils defensive prospects Hughes and Ethan Edwards, meaning New Jersey owns half of the Wolverines' blue line.
"That's a great program. They're going to have a great team," Fitzgerald said. "Hopefully, they can go as far as to win a national championship. Winning championships is what we want in players. We're super thrilled for him joining a couple other Devils. We wish them all the best."
Casey, an elite skater, had been projected by some to be a first-round caliber talent. He is 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds but has a solid base.
"I don't like the term small. There is small, but a lot of times these defensemen are short. He's thick," Dennehy said. "He's another young man with a seriousness of purpose. When you sit down and talk with him you know he's not going to be denied. We're really thrilled to get him and more thrilled he was where we got him."
The Devils drafted three more defensemen: Daniil Orlov (110th), Charles Leddy (126th) and Artem Barabosha (198th) and forwards Petr Hauser (141st) and Josh Filmon (166th).
"Orlov is a guy that we think has pretty good upside," Dennehy said. "Again, we talk about taking swings sometimes. There may be parts of his game that need to be refined. But he's a 6-foot-2 defenseman, mobile, can jump into plays and make plays.
"Charley has a little bit of sandpaper in his game. He was asked to play a little bit different role with the National Program this year. Him going to college gives us a little bit of a runway. Really nice kid, plays hard, plays the right way."
Filmon was projected by some scouts to go as high as the middle of the second round, but the Devils got him in the sixth. Part of that is that he is a late bloomer that added roughly 20 pounds of muscle over the course of the season.
"I can't tell you the number of guys that we looked at two years ago at 5-foot-7 and now they're 6-foot-2," Dennehy said. "Josh was that type of player. You can see he still has some filling out to do. To have that impact production-wise, to score the goals in the area he scored them, even not being as strong as he's going to be when he competes for an NHL spot, is really attractive."