At the 2021 NHL Draft, Tom Fitzgerald had an important decision to make. He was trying to build a team of winners after another season near the bottom of the standings. He had a young Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes on the roster, and he just drafted Jack's brother Luke Hughes with the fourth-overall pick. He went on to make the biggest mistake of his GM tenure.
Fitzgerald selected Chase Stillman with the 29th-overall pick. It was the pick that came to the Devils thanks to the Kyle Palmieri-Travis Zajac trade with the New York Islanders. Palmieri remains with the Islanders after re-signing with them this offseason.
Meanwhile, Stillman is no longer with the Devils organization. Stillman is one of six players in the first round who have yet to play an NHL game. In fact, 15 players in the second round have played NHL games. That includes Logan Stankoven, who was the centerpiece of the Mikko Rantanen trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, he's signed to a long-term deal there.
Meanwhile, the Devils threw Stillman into the Cody Glass trade at the deadline. It was an interesting move at the time for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who also got prospect Max Graham and a 2027 third-round pick.
It turns out, the Penguins were alright letting Stillman go, too. They just traded him to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Penguins have acquired goaltender Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forward Chase Stillman and a 2027 fourth-round pick.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 13, 2025
Details: https://t.co/SXuKx59Gvc pic.twitter.com/MWVs6i5EaI
Silvos had no place to go in Vancouver after they signed Thatcher Demko to a long-term deal. So, they needed to get what they could for him, especially since he had a save percentage around .860 in the NHL last season. The Penguins would rather have that guy than develop Stillman.
Stillman was always a long shot. He was supposed to be at best a third-round pick, but some analysts thought he would be available as late as the fifth round. It was the second year in a row that Fitzgerald went off the board with his last first-round pick, taking Shakir Mukhamadullin the year before (although that one wasn't such a bust).
Maybe Stillman figures it out in Vancouver and becomes a decent bottom-six NHLer. There are still people who consider him a prospect. However, the Devils knew they had to cut ties, and the Penguins didn't like what they saw at the end of the season. He had just three points in 19 games for Wilkes-Barre.
Stillman will always be a Devils bust. They could have had a really good piece for the NHL team now. Hey, at least they got Cody Glass.