At the conclusion of the first round, Devils President and GM Lou Lamoriello stepped up to the microphone at Wells Fargo Center and thanked the Flyers for their hospitality amidst boos. I can only imagine what the reaction might’ve been towards Glen Sather. But the Rangers didn’t have a first round pick and don’t pick till number 59 Saturday barring a trade. So, you had to grin with Lamoriello deferring the Devils pick which turned out to be a familiar name in John Quenneville.

The second cousin of current Blackhawks coach Joel, Quenneville is a left-handed center who patterns his game after Anze Kopitar. Devil fans can only hope he’s remotely like the Kings star pivot. Fittingly, it was a bit of a surprise that he was taken with the 30th pick. However, that hasn’t stopped Lamoriello before. Interestingly, older brother Peter is a Blue Jackets prospect selected much later 195th overall last year. The bloodlines are strong. In 61 games for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL), Quenneville posted 25 goals and 33 assists totaling 58 points with 71 penalty minutes. A huge improvement from the 8-11-19 he put up in ’12-13.

He represented Canada at the U18 World Championship helping them win bronze. Quenneville had a strong WHL playoffs pacing the Wheat Kings with 13 points (5-8-13) including nine in a first round sweep. Listed at 6-0, 180, the Edmonton native probably won’t be heard from for a while. But stashing away a center in a thin system is smart. There’s not much in terms of highlights but I stumbled across a nice goal he scored at the U18.