ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski recently put out a glorious piece of offseason fodder, ranking the best player at every draft pick. Many of his selections were obvious. Mario Lemieux was the best player selected first overall. Martin Brodeur was the top choice at 20th overall (obviously). Scott Niedermayer was third, and he was among the seven New Jersey Devils draft picks on the list. Some are obvious, like Jesper Bratt at pick 162, but one of the most shocking choices on the list was Devils’ legend Ken Daneyko.
Daneyko was picked as the best player ever chosen 18th overall. It’s nothing against Daneyko. He’s a deserved member of the Devils' retired numbers, and he was important to their three Stanley Cup wins, but he was a defensive defenseman who brought grit to the team. When looking at the players taken in the post-expansion era (since 1967), one would think there are Hall of Famers at every pick in the top 20.
However, when looking at who was taken at 18th overall every year, it’s not exactly a who’s who of NHL greats. Some of the recent names taken 18th overall include Mirco Mueller (oh no), Mark McNeil, Urho Vaakanainen, and Louis Leblanc.
Historically, only five players have played more than 1,000 games at 18 overall. Outside of Daneyko, we’re looking at Brooks Orpik, Petr Sykora, Jason Smith, and Glen Murray. Ironically, three of the five games played leaders who were selected 18th overall were taken by the New Jersey Devils.
With Daneyko as the top pick here, there’s an opportunity for some of the young players selected there to take the mantle. Thomas Chabot is probably the top pick if you had to choose today, but Liam Bishel (2022), Thomas Harley (2019), and Alex Tuch (2014) have a chance, as well. As does the Devils' 2020 pick, Dawson Mercer.
Dawson Mercer could one day become the best 18th overall pick of all time
As much as fans might be out on Mercer, he has a real chance to turn it around to the point that he would become the best player ever chosen at 18th overall. He’s been incredibly durable, missing zero games to this point in his career. If he just played nine more seasons at this rate, he would break the 1,000 games played threshold.
Mercer needs to become a perennial 20-goal scorer with a few seasons of 30-goal seasons to beat who’s on the list right now.
That’s not nearly out of the question for Mercer. He’s had two rough seasons in a row, but he’s doing some things right. His position is phenomenal, and he has decent mechanics and plays with an incredible motor. He just needs to adjust his shot selection (and shoot way more).
This is definitely within reach for Mercer. He can usurp a Devils legend when we revisit this list in 10 years.