The New Jersey Devils should aggressively trade their 12th overall pick instead of using it to select a player in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Tuesday night's draft lottery brought a few surprises. The Toronto Maple Leafs moved up to first overall. The San Jose Sharks moved up eight spots to number two.
However, the devils were undeterred.
They are now locked in at 12 after missing their 2.5% chance of reaching number 2.
At least he didn't fall.
Now, new Devils general manager Sunny Mehta knows how much he values his first-round draft pick. He won't get a chance in Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg. However, he should give himself a chance at a top-six forward to break out the line-up of Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt.
When the Devils fired Tom Fitzgerald, it became clear that New Jersey needed a change.
Fitzgerald's tenure as Devils GM was mixed. A major factor contributing to his departure to New Jersey was his patience to a fault.
At the 2026 NHL trade deadline, he stood down. Not a single trade was made after making the surprise decision to bring in Nick Bjugstad in an unexpected push for the playoffs.
Still, at the deadline, players like Nicolas Roy were getting a first-round pick, and the Devils have Cody Glass — who they could have reacquired more futures to flip for a more pressing need.
Suffice it to say that Fitzgerald displayed too much patience and it ultimately cost the organization.
Mehta needs to separate. One of the reasons he was brought to New Jersey was to contribute to his success with the Florida Panthers. He helped facilitate the trade that brought them to Matthew Tkachuk. He assisted in removing Gustav Forsling from remission. And that was part of the decision to flip Spencer Knight for Seth Jones.
Now, the Devils need that kind of offensive action to improve their top six. After all, Mehta himself had said this. Change is needed.
When he was introduced as the Devils GM, Mehta said, "I see a lot of similarities because when I got to Florida, they've been through some tough times recently." "But they had some very talented players. There are some things we need to maintain and some things we need to change."
Despite recent results, the devil's window is now open. They have the top talent to win, but it's an incomplete puzzle.
Mehta has a lot of decisions to make this summer, one of them being what to do with his first-round pick. Whoever they pick at the age of 12 will not be of any help for the next two-three seasons. The devils have no time to wait any longer.
The Devils' biggest need will be scoring. Package the pickup and take it to help now.
Settling to select a player in that situation, rather than making a trade to improve on him now, would be a sign of the same complacency.
