Meet the New Jersey Devils draft bust who is a part of the Wayne Gretzky trade tree

The New Jersey Devils have a long history at this point, with many of those years coming with success. However, the early years were lean to say the least. It wasn’t because of a lack of drafting. They drafted Ken Daneyko and Pat Verbeek in their first ever draft, John MacLean in their second, Kirk Muller in the third, and Sean Burke in their fourth. It goes on and on, but the Devils were able to build a very good roster for those first years in New Jersey. 

We haven’t even talked about the trades that landed the Devils Scott Niedermayer and Martin Brodeur. With so much draft luck, the Devils shouldn’t complain about busts in this era. That’s probably why you don’t hear a lot about former Devils center Jason Miller. The Devils took Miller with their 18th overall pick in the 1989 NHL Draft. 

Miller never did anything in the NHL. He played a grand total of six games at the professional level. He ended up playing one more game than the Devils 11th-round pick that season, Jason Simon. It clearly wasn't a good career for Miller.

The Edmonton Oilers sent their first draft pick tied to the Wayne Gretzky trade to the New Jersey Devils. They should have tried to draft someone who wasn't Jason Miller.

Miller spend most of his time in professional North American hockey in the AHL. After putting up 136 points with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL, he joined the Devils for a cup of coffee before he was sent down to Utica to play in and grow in the AHL. The Devils eventually moved their AHL affiliation to Albany and named their team the River Rats, with Miller moving with them. He left the Devils organization and joined the Red Wings through their AHL affiliate in Adirondack. 

After that season, it was clear the NHL was not where Miller was going to make his money, so he went overseas. He starting in SM-Liiga in Finland, but he made most of his time in hockey in Germany, playing 13 seasons there. He did have some decent stats there, including a 30-goal season for the Nürnberg Ice Tigers.

Miller would go down as a huge Devils bust, but he didn’t even make our list of worst first-round picks of all time. There are a few reasons for that. At the time, 18th overall was considered near the end of the round. The Devils also drafted Bill Guerin fifth-overall in that draft. He was a good pick. Guerin wasn't the Devils best pick, and there was some consternation later in his career, but he was clearly a great hockey player going in the top five.

The Devils got the 18th-overall pick from the Edmonton Oilers, who they themselves already had two picks.

The Oilers sent the pick to the Devils for another draft bust, former 12th-overall pick Corey Foster. He never played a game with Edmonton, showing this choice was a complete bust for the Oilers, too. This pick wasn’t the Oilers pick, but it was the Los Angeles Kings’ pick. The Oilers got this pick, plus first-round picks in 1991 and 1993 in the trade that sent Wayne Gretzky to the Kings. 

This is the Devils one small tie to the most famous trade in NHL history. It’s one of the most famous trades in sports history. 

Looking at the 1989 draft, the Devils really should have taken Adam Foote with the pick. He ended up playing more than 1,100 games and was a force for the Colorado Avalanche. He’d pair amazingly with all the other Devils defensive stars. Of course, if we’re playing Captain Hindsight, the Devils should have taken Niklas Lidstrom, who went 52nd overall.