Wednesday afternoon, the New Jersey Devils' social media team gave an inside look at the Devils' draft process. In the eight-minute long video they released, general manager Sunny Mehta gave excellent insights into the draft process, how the team has aggregated information, and their priorities as an organization.
In the beginning of the video, Mehta noted that he began the draft process by looking at the Devils' scouts' board -- if there was a player not on their list, they were ignored as an option. From there, the team's analytics department and "blended models" took charge.
After further going through the process, Mehta zeroed in on the decision to select Alexander Command with the 12th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. He made it known that the choice was not a split-second decision and that the Devils had multiple "if-then" calculations planned out prior to the draft.
Mehta then went on to say the following:
"Alex was... a player that our scouts were extremely high on in terms of his compete level, his maturity in terms of his defensive side of the puck, and both his... character testing in the combine and some of the psych analysis. He was also a player that showed up really well by our data and analytics models. All of these decisions kind of come into play and get combined when we made that decision to draft Alex and so yeah, we're really excited."Sunny Mehta
Obviously, that is a glowing review for the 18-year-old Swedish center, and it should be music to the ears of anyone who is a fan of the team.
Alex Command made sense to Sunny Mehta, and that makes sense for the New Jersey Devils
For those who value intangibles, the scouting department and psychological evaluations were enamored by his character and work ethic. For those who value skill and possession, the analytical models were high on him as well. Of course, we know that Mehta's personal preference is to focus on the analytics side of things, which should give even more confidence to the fans who prefer that facet of evaluation.
Command, who was not necessarily a consensus top-15 pick in most public rankings, was viewed as a reach by some. However, as more and more information becomes available, layman watchers get more familiar with his game, and more votes of confidence come from the general manager who picked him, the pick looks better and better by the day. He very well may be better than his 12th overall pedigree.
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