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Devils NHL Draft Primer: Pick Order, Trade Rumors, Expectations
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- Devils NHL Draft Primer: Pick Order, Trade Rumors, Expectations
The 2026 NHL Entry Draft sits just a day away, and the New Jersey Devils enter it with a decent arsenal of draft capital.
The first round starts Friday at 7 P.M. ET in Buffalo, with rounds two through seven following the next day in the usual decentralized setup at 11 A.M.
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After a season that fell short of expectations, New Jersey holds a handful of selections and a front office that has already shown it isn't afraid to shake things up. Here's the full picture on what they are bringing to the war room.
Devils Draft Picks
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1st Round – 12th overall
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2nd Round – 35th overall (from New York Rangers)
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2nd Round – 44th overall
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4th Round – 108th overall (from Winnipeg Jets)
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5th Round – 140th overall
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6th Round – 172nd overall
That gives them six picks in total, headlined by a first-rounder inside the top 15 and an extra second-rounder that landed via recent maneuvering.
Devils History At The Draft
Tom Fitzgerald's time as general manager featured plenty of movement. The 2022 draft delivered Simon Nemec second overall and Seamus Casey in the second round, pieces that looked like foundational building blocks at the time. A year later came the bigger swing: the Timo Meier acquisition, which cost the Devils a conditional first-round pick and other assets in exchange for top-six skill.
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In hindsight, the returns are mixed, but it fit the pattern of aggressive asset deployment to push a young core forward.
The 2024 draft brought Anton Silayev at 10th overall, a big, mobile Russian defenseman who immediately slotted at the top of a pipeline already featuring Luke Hughes and Casey.
Last summer's class, led by Conrad Fondrk, added depth up front.
Fitzgerald —sometimes buying, sometimes selling, and sometimes doing nothing at all.
That era ended in April when Sunny Mehta took over as general manager. Mehta's first major move came just two days ago: Nemec and Maxim Tsyplakov headed to Calgary in exchange for two conditional first-round picks (top-10 protected, one each from Vegas in 2027 and Colorado in 2028), the 35th overall pick this weekend, and 21-year-old defenseman Etienne Morin.
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The Devils' defensive pipeline remains the stronger group in their cupboard of prospects.
What they've lacked in recent years is consistent forward depth and play-driving skill beyond Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. With Mehta now steering the ship, however, will New Jersey even pick in the first round?
Trade Speculation: Packaging the 12th Pick-Plus for a Splash?
With the 12th overall selection plus the fresh assets from the Nemec deal, the Devils have legitimate trade ammunition heading into draft weekend. Mehta has already shown a willingness to be decisive, and the organization has $13,152,500 in cap space. That combination raises the very real possibility of packaging the 12th pick with their newly acquired capital in a bigger deal for an established top-six player—preferablly one to play with Jack and Jesper Bratt.
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A big splash move accelerates the timeline around the Hughes-Hischier-Bratt core, which Mehta believes can win, and soon.
The Devils missed the playoffs in 2026 despite flashes of potential, and adding immediate help should be more appealing than waiting for another high draft pick to develop. The Devils don't have the time to wait as the core continues to age and as we inch another year towards Jack heading to unrestricted free agency.
Mehta's background suggests he'll be calculated rather than impulsive, but the pieces are there for something meaningful if the right offer materializes before or on the draft floor.
Expect some noise around the 12th pick—whether they keep it to add a skilled winger or use it as the centerpiece in a larger package remains one of the more intriguing storylines heading into Friday.
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