5 New Jersey Devils Draft Picks Who Got Famous Somewhere Else
Jack Hughes. Scott Niedermayer. Jesper Bratt. Martin Brodeur. Those are just some of the names that were drafted, developed, and turned into a star all under the New Jersey Devils banner. The Devils had the right scouting, coaching, and everything else in place that is necessary to create stars from scratch.
Of course, it doesn’t always work out like that. There are more successes than failures when it comes to development in this organization. However, there are always the horror stories of players the Devils drafted who went elsewhere and got famous.
There are dozens of names who were drafted by the Devils and just saw their career peter out. Some first-round picks failed to make the NHL at all. We’re not talking about draft busts today. We’re talking about those players who were drafted by the Devils, left the organization for one reason or another, and they became famous with another organization.
Brendan Shanahan
1987 first-round pick, second overall
Alright, we’re starting with one where we’re cheating, but this is probably the first name that comes to mind when we say “got famous somewhere else” has to be Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan. Of course, he was pretty famous in New Jersey. The former second-overall pick spent four seasons in New Jersey.
We all know what happened next. He signed an offer sheet with the St. Louis Blues, who already used the pieces for an offer sheet on Scott Stevens. In one of the greatest examples of negotiation skills in human history, Lamoriello talked an arbitrator into giving him the superstar defenseman in exchange for Shanahan.
Shanahan would return to the Devils at the end of his career almost two decades later, but not many think of the Devils when you say “Brendan Shanahan.”
Sheldon Souray
1994 third-round pick, 71st overall
Sheldon Souray doesn’t have the long-lasting clout that some on this list have, but he was a very good defenseman during his time in the league. Lamoriello found this defenseman in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and he used this third-round pick on him before he had Stanley Cup clout on his name.
Souray famously showed up to a training camp out of shape, prompting Lamoriello (who at this point won the 1995 Stanley Cup) to publicly call him out, going as far as saying he would never play in the NHL if he did that again. To his credit, Souray took the dressing down seriously and worked to become an NHL regular.
Souray is one of the unlucky few who played a few seasons during the Devils peak but never won a Stanley Cup. He joined the team as a regular in 1997, but he was traded on March 1, 2000, for Vladimir Malakhov.
He went on to have a very successful career as a defenseman. Souray played through the 2013 lockout-shortened season. He finished his career with 758 games played and 300 points. His highlight reel includes big hits, fun goals, and a lot of assists.
Alex Kerfoot
2012 fifth-round pick, 150th overall
This one is much more recent than the previous two options. The Devils drafted Alexander Kerfoot in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Draft. The Harvard University star was building his legacy, and rumors started to swirl that he had no interest in joining the Devils organization. An excuse that came back was he “didn’t like the center depth” in this organization.
Funny how that worked out, huh? Kerfoot could have played on a team with Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier if he were just a little more patient. Honestly, he never became the player he probably thought he was going to be.
Kerfoot signed with the Colorado Avalanche in the summer of 2017. Less than two years later, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the deal that sent Nazem Kadri to Colorado. Kerfoot played a bottom-six role with the Leafs but fell out of favor with the fanbase.
This past offseason, he signed a two-year deal with the “Arizona” Coyotes. It’s probably a smart deal for him, as he tries to show he can be a scorer in this league. His career high is 19 goals, but that was in his rookie season. He never did better than 13 goals with the Leafs despite their impressive center depth.
Deryk Engelland
2000 sixth-round pick, 194th overall
This one might come as a true surprise because Deryk Engelland was around the NHL for a long time and played zero minutes with the Devils. That’s because it took Engelland forever to make the NHL. We’d love to know what caused the Devils to pass on Engelland’s rights, but the league wasn’t covered that deep back then. We just know that Engelland was forced to start his professional career in the ECHL, and it took until the end of the 2009-10 season to get an NHL shot.
Engelland finally made it to the league at 27 years old. That almost never happens in the current NHL. Teams usually give up on the dream when it doesn’t work by 25. However, Engelland kept getting better. In 2007, he had a really good playoff performance as a shutdown guy with the Hershey Bears.
That led to a contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who became the first franchise to commit to him as a professional. It still took him 231 games in the AHL before he made it to the NHL. After that, he never played in the minor leagues again.
Engelland, at this point, is most well known for his performance with the Vegas Golden Knights once they joined the league. He called Vegas home after they were his first ECHL team. So, the Knights getting a homecoming among its players made him the ideal leader in the locker room. He finished his career in 2020 after three seasons with the Golden Knights. It was a fitting end to an impressive story.
Eric Weinrich
1985 second-round pick, 32nd overall
Going back in time again, Eric Weinrich was a formidable player in the late 80s and early 90s. After the Devils drafted him in the second round, he would go on to have a 17-year NHL career. That’s a very successful second-round pick. The Devils made the most of their picks in the late 80s, turning this team around after years of futility.
What’s strange is Weinrich was actually drafted by a different team first. The Buffalo Sabres drafted Weinrich in the 1984 NHL Draft, but that pick was deemed invalid because Weinrich didn’t clear the age restrictions. The Devils took him the next season, and he would join the organization in 1988.
Weinrich was a promising prospect in the Devils system. He won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s best defenseman. He had a very successful first season with the Devils, notching 38 points as a rookie.
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Then, the Devils traded Weinrich for a player who would be one of their best of all time. The Devils sent him and goalie Sean Burke to the Hartford Whalers for Bobby Holik and draft picks. Holik is a name everyone knows in the Devils’ fanbase. The prospect of Weinrich got this team Holik, but he went on to player more than 1,100 games in the NHL. They both had fantastic careers.