The New Jersey Devils finished their 2018-19 season with a win on Saturday night. Now that it is over, it is time to look at future possibilities.
The season that the 2018-19 New Jersey Devils had was incredibly disappointing based on their expectations going into the season. There were lots of factors that contributed to their ultimate demise, but we don’t need to get into those here. You know why the Devils were bad this year but it is time to move onward and upward. This is no loser franchise, it is a franchise built on a foundation of winning and being great.
There is something great that could come out of this season. That would be if the Devils won a lottery that gave them a top-three pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. There are two players at the top of the draft that would change the foundation of the franchise for a long time. Much like Nico Hischier did back in 2017. Hischier has come in and made an immediate impact. He is an incredible center and he will only get better. The future starts and begins with Hischier. His offensive potential has yet to be reached at it’s max but it is coming.
He, of course, has quite the running mate in Taylor Hall. Perhaps the only player in the organization with more skill than him. These two lead the way to the future, but there is potential for a third to be added. With one of those top two picks, the Devils would be able to select one of Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko. These two, according to all scouts say are the two best junior players in the world and will almost certainly make an impact in the NHL in year one. The Devils would consider it a blessing in disguise if they had this bad of a season but it meant adding one of these two to the team.