If it wasn’t obvious after GM Tom Fitzgerald made another coaching change and traded Kevin Bahl plus our first-rounder next year for a goalie, it’s even more obvious now after our last two moves that Fitz wants to remake our roster at all levels of the organization. It’s been rumored all offseason that defenseman John Marino’s been on the block, particularly given the fact we’ve been heavily linked to another RHD (Brett Pesce) in free agency, plus his NTC was due to kick in on July 1. Sure enough, on draft weekend Marino was dealt to Utah along with a fifth rounder for two second round picks – and that wasn’t even the relocated franchise’s biggest move of the hour minutes after their blockbuster trade for Mikhail Sergachev from the Lightning was announced.

Good for them, but as to what it means for the Devils it remains to be seen. Marino was one of the biggest surprise breakouts on our 2022-23 record-setting team after coming over from the Penguins for one-time first rounder Ty Smith and a third-round pick. Despite the fact he was traded after two seasons and had a disappointing follow-up to his first season in New Jersey this year, you have to consider the deal a mild success at least. We probably got slightly more in value in the trade back for him as opposed to what we gave up to get him, and we did deal him days before his NTC was due to kick in avoiding a potential albatross if he didn’t bounce back this year.

Some may term that kind of deal as heartless in the vein of the Rangers letting Barclay Goodrow go to the Sharks (one of the teams on his NTC list) on waivers, maybe it is but after last season quite honestly, I’m not attached to the great majority of this roster even including people I know are going to be here regardless. Full disclosure, I didn’t have an issue with what the Rangers did either and I dislike them as much as the next Devils fan. In Goodrow’s case, if you want a full NMC, take a little less money when you sign your initial contract to begin with and get the NMC. A partial NTC isn’t exactly the same thing. In Marino’s case, if you didn’t want to be traded, don’t be one of the biggest disappointments on a team full of them.

How we wind up replacing Marino and Bahl is another matter, we’ve been rumored as a likely destination for Pesce all offseason, ideally at least a short-term upgrade on Marino but we’ll see what kind of contract he does sign if he signs. Recent rumors have also tied us to veteran Brenden Dillon. Hopefully I won’t be rolling my eyes at the contract for either, if we do sign them both. Of course, as we’ve seen multiple times, the cap is only an issue if you want it to be or are incompetent. Teams like the Rangers always seem to figure a way out of their cap headaches (the recent rumors of trading Jacob Trouba of all people could provide yet another example).

As far as the actual draft itself, picks are now coming thick and fast – towards the end of the third-round as I’m writing this – so I’m not going to do that much analysis of the later-round picks. It does seem interesting that Fitz picked two big forwards with his third-rounders, clearly adding more size at all levels of the organization. Can’t say I disagree with that, sure you need smaller skill players and I wouldn’t want to go too far off BPA even at this point in the draft but we already have smaller skill forwards and finesse D in abundance. We need to have a little more balance in our lineup, both up front and the blueline.

Truth be told I wasn’t even that attached to all the pre-draft stuff for #10 overall anyway. First of all, I hate potentially getting attached to prospects who might wind up somewhere else (especially if it’s a somewhere else that’s a rival or direct competitor). Second of all, there was too much media hysteria around our having pick #10 on the table for me to completely dismiss the possibility of our trading it, especially after Fitz just traded next year’s first for a short-term goalie. Not to mention even the doggone scouts and talent evaluators who know a heck of a lot more than me get this stuff wrong the majority of the time anyway.

All that said, I like the way the Devils went with their first-rounder, drafting KHL defenseman Anton Silayev. Hard to resist a 17-year old who’s already 6’7 with reportedly an unusual amount of quickness for a big man. Not to mention one with already a significant amount of experience playing big minutes against professionals, and one being coached by the legendary Igor Larionov. Few people (if any) are more qualified in the world to help a young Russian acclimate to hopefully becoming a top professional NHL player. That, along with the tools make this a very exciting pick, or at least as excited as I get for a guy who’s at least two years away from being heard from again by Devils fans.

Can’t say I was initially all that hopped up for our next pick, the first one acquired from Utah in the Marino trade. After already trading a 2025 1st for our present starting goalie, Fitz used a mid-second round pick this year on a goalie prospect (Mikhail Yegorov). To be fair, a lot of the best goalies in the NHL are also Russian but this kid is actually playing in North America – committed to Boston University – and was supposedly the top rated NA goalie prospect this year. Again, he’s got size and you can’t teach 6’5 size, particularly for goalies.

That video’s a little longish and I haven’t even watched it yet to be fair but I will, as it’s a long-form interview with someone I now can have some attachment to after being drafted by the Devils organization. I’ve alluded to the fact Fitz is clearly targeting size in this draft and our two third-round picks continued this trend. Our first, at pick #85 was Kasper Pikkarainen. Another lifetime ago, his dad Illka was drafted by the Devils and even played 31 games for us in 2009. Our next pick at #91 is an even bigger boy, Swedish winger Herman Traff.

Sometimes GM’s can get caught up drafting for need. In this case Fitz is clearly caught up drafting a type. I can’t even say I blame him given the pathetic lack of size on our NHL roster. We’ve been exposed as being too one-dimensional since Carolina’s easy disposal of us in the 2023 postseason. Alleged FA signings Pesce and Dillon also fit into the ‘we need bigger’ mandate. Hopefully Fitz won’t jump the shark and completely eschew skill, the way he did when he desperately gave goon d-man Kurtis MacDermid a three-year deal.

Either way, Monday likely won’t be boring for Devils fans at least as the summer of Fitz heats up.