New Jersey Devils: Draft Lottery Marks New Chapter in Rangers Rivalry

This was a ground-breaking night for the New Jersey Devils, who found themselves winning the 2019 NHL Draft Lottery. This marks the second drawing in three years where New Jersey overcame steep odds to capture the first overall pick at the NHL Entry Draft.

This is also the second time the Devil’s first-overall pick will be followed by a longtime division rival. When the New Jersey Devils selected Nico Hischier first overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, the second-overall pick was followed by the Philadelphia Flyers, who chose Nolan Patrick.

This time around, New Jersey’s draft selection will be followed by their cornerstone rival—the New York Rangers. The first and second overall picks of this year’s draft are (respectively) more than likely going to be center Jack Hughes and right wing Kaapo Kakko.

Hughes and Kakko are projected to be franchise-changing players that will expedite the rebuilds both teams are currently orchestrating. The last game between the Devils and Rangers in 2018-19, showed that mutual distaste and iconic snarl still exists whenever they play each other.

While recent clashes between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers don’t contain the ferocity of their encounters during late-90s and mid-late 00s, the Hudson-River Rivalry is still alive and well, despite both teams being in the midst of rebuilding. The Hughes/Kakko element that’s about to be infused in the New Jersey Devils/New York Rangers rivalry will be reinvigorating.

After the New Jersey Devils won the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery, I wrote a near-identical piece on how the outcome would redefine the Devils/Flyers rivalry. The matchups between both teams have that added subplot of comparing the progress of Hischier and Patrick, along with noting how both players perform against each other.

New Jersey and Philadelphia remained hostile opponents since drafting first and second overall in 2017, but Hischier is so far running away with the head-to-head competition against Patrick. Not only does Hischier have 99 points in 151 NHL games compared to Patrick’s 61 points in 145 contests, but he’s tallied three goals and seven points in as many games against the Flyers over his first two seasons. Patrick on the other hand, has scored just one goal in eight career contests versus New Jersey.

While the sequential drafting of Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick has given a greater competitive edge to the Devils/Flyers rivalry, the impact Hughes and Kakko will have on the New Jersey Devils rivalry with the Rangers will be different. While the team’s storied playoff chronicles will be an eternal cornerstone of the Devils/Rangers rivalry, another major facet was centered around head-to-head clashes between one of each team’s top players.

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In the 90s and early 00s, this particular element existed between Scott Stevens and Mark Messier. From the mid-00s to early 2010s, it occurred among Martin Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist. There was an equivalent runoff between former captains Scott Stevens and Eric Lindros with New Jersey and Philadelphia, but such a matchup hasn’t since existed between both teams.

In recent years, this trend has also lacked from the Devils/Rangers rivalry, which is something the addition of Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko will revive. This kind of tension doesn’t quite exist yet between Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick because of their respective playing roles and progress since breaking into the NHL. Hischier has also been valued more and utilized to a greater extent in New Jersey, eventually slotting into the team’s No. 1 center slot and establishing chemistry with Taylor Hall. Patrick on the other hand, has had limited opportunities to truly flourish on the Flyers, since he falls behind the likes of Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, James Van Riemsdyk and (arguably) Travis Konecny. This isn’t to say Nolan Patrick won’t be a good hockey player, but is currently off to a slower start than Hischier.

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Regardless of who winds up where, Hughes and Kakko will be valued immensely by the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, both of whom will provide ample opportunities for either player to flourish, while filling glaring needs on each of their rosters.

Granted New Jersey’s rivalry between Philadelphia is storied in its own way, the Devil’s clashes with the Rangers are unparalleled. When both teams prepare to face each other—especially as their rebuilds progress—the stakes of each game will now be higher, not only for the opportunity to maintain or recapture the rivalry’s competitive upper-hand, but because the question of who drafted the better player in 2019 will become a newfound topic of debate among both fan bases.

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