Tonight, the National Hockey League will conduct the first round of the 2014 Entry Draft. This year's draft is in Philadelphia. Like most of you, I will follow along from a distance but I will do my best to keep you up to date as to what happens.
The New Jersey Devils weren't supposed to have a first round pick due to the penalty for Ilya Kovalchuk's rejected contract required a first rounder to be forfeited by 2014. However, the league modified the punishment and the Devils had a first round pick reinstated. Specifically, the thirtieth overall pick. The Devils cannot trade this pick; they must use it. And so there's a reason to follow this year's first round beyond all of the potential of trades, buyouts, prospects rising and falling, and all other moves on Friday night. So talk all about it here - and the Devils - in this open post.
Here's the basic information for this year's draft.
The Time: 7 PM EST - 10 PM EST on Friday for the First Round. 10 AM - 1 PM EST on Saturday for Rounds 2-7.
The Broadcast: NBC Sports Network will air the first round. They may be using TSN's feed based on recent history. The NHL Network will have NHL Tonight prior to discuss what may happen going into the draft and a recap after the first round. The NHL Network will air the second through seventh rounds on Saturday.
The Devils' Picks: The Devils have six picks this year: 30th (first round), 41st (second round), 71st (third round), 131st (fifth round) ,152nd (sixth round, originally from Florida), and 161st (sixth round).
The ILWT Profile Hub: Wondering who some of these guys are? Want to see who we profiled for this year's daft? All of our collective work, including our pick in the SBN mock draft, is available in this hub.
The Rules: As usual, site rules apply.