3. 2007
The Class: 2nd round, 57th overall: Mike Hoeffel. 3rd round, 79th overall: Nick Palmieri. 3rd round, 87th overall: Corbin McPherson. 4th round, 117th overall: Matt Halischuk. 6th round, 177th overall: Villi Sopanen. 7th round, 207th overall: Ryan Molle.
Combined games with New Jersey: 99 (Halischuk and Palmieri)
Notable Players taken after Devils picks: Wayne Simmonds (61st overall). Alec Martinez (95th overall). Jamie Benn (129th overall).
Notable Players taken with Devils original picks: David Perron (26th overall).
Analysis: The Devils’ first-round pick for this year was given the summer before to the San Jose Sharks for taking Vladimir Malakhov off of the teams payroll. Perron turned out to be okay. Hoeffel, McPherson, Sopanen, and Molle never played an NHL game. Simmonds being taken right after Hoeffel stings a little bit. The biggest one however is just after the Devils took McPherson, the Stars took Benn who has become an All-Star and the team’s captain. Scoring and leadership, something the Devils could have used in the early 2010s.
Halischuk was dealt for a declining Jason Arnott. Palmeri was a part of the Marek Zidlicky trade. Palmeri was given many chances to succeed on the top line with Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk and showed some promise at times. He could never figure it out on a consistent basis. The only reason why this is not the worst class was because the Zidlicky trade helped the Devils reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2012.
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