It's finally here. In a year in which Devils fans were held mentally hostage by the Ilya Kovalchuk signing, saw the Devils play horrible hockey for the first half of the year only to come up short on a late playoff run, cap problems, star player injuries, whispers of ownership issues, etc., something good finally happens. The Devils get to add a stud of a prospect to their organization. Drafting in the top five for the first time since 1991 when they selected Scott Niedermayer, the Devils will have the 4th selection in tonight's draft. The draft begins at 7:00pm on VERSUS and TSN and this is your thread to talk about all things Devils, NHL draft or trades.
Who will the Devils select? It's still up in the air. Unless they trade up, the Devils are forced to wait as Edmonton, Colorado and Florida make selections before them.
Will it be Adam Larsson? Can the Swedish defenseman fall all the way to pick #4?
Will it be Gabriel Landeskog, the most NHL ready of the bunch?
Will it be Sean Couturier who has seemed to fall out of what many believe are the 'top 4' players available in the draft?
Like you I have went back and forth on this question many times over the past few months. In a few hours we should finally know.
Note that any 'rumors' or news posted in the thread should be linked and please only utilize real sources. Tom Gulitti, Rich Chere, TSN, ESPN...the legit outlets. Please don't post any news that uses any rumor scoring system or one where the source was once incarcerated. Also, let's keep the discussion relevant for today's activities. But also feel free to discuss trades that occurred yesterday.
That said, enjoy the draft experience! Hopefully this is the Devils last top 10 pick for a long time. I will be manning the thread tonight and will create a new post for discussion once the draft begins and then a new post once the Devils make their selection (or if they make a trade). We will get reaction from experts around the web, ILWT staff and those at the draft party once the Devils pick, so keep checking ILWT for updates as the day progresses!
UPDATE PLEASE READ
Jake Wisniewski is an associate director at MSG Networks who works on broadcasts of Devils games. While you don't see him, he makes it possible for you to see the game.
Jake Wisniewski is also suffering from cystic fibrosis and needs a double lung transplant at the age of 24.
Tom Gulitti has been doing excellent work both at Fire & Ice and on Twitter in making people aware of James' problem and raising money for the costly surgeries he'll need. The New Jersey Devils Twitter Feed/Website also has notified people of it today.
So far efforts have been good, over $36,000 has been raised for a procedure estimated to be $100,000.
If you would like to help Jake out, I've included the donation link that Gulitti's been promoting here. Help out if you can, or at least spread it around so others can. Thanks.