Tonight, the moment we have been waiting for since, what, April will come to fruition. The 2014-15 New Jersey Devils stunk and so they will pick sixth overall tonight. Tonight will end the speculation whether they'll use the pick, and if so, who they will pick. Whether you think the Devils need a long re-build or a short one, they can obtain a major prospect who will be a part of the team's future tonight.
We're going to do things a little different than in previous years. We will have an open post for the events of the first day at the NHL Draft. We will have a second open post for the second day of the NHL Draft on Saturday. As the Devils have a high selection in the first round, I imagine there's enough excitement for that to warrant it's own open discussion. Likewise, now that we know that the salary cap is set at $71.4 million, there may be plenty of action in terms of trades and rumors within this first round. So this is the place to discuss it all. All site rules apply. I'll close this post a bit after the first night is over and open the next one early tomorrow morning.
Check out CJ's Draft Preview post for the full details on how to get prepared for tonight. If you have some further time, there's a lot of content here at ILWT. We wrote 41 draft profiles focusing on prospects that could be available throughout the entire draft. You should check those out. We at SBN did a mock draft where we picked Mathew Barzal at sixth overall. I reviewed 36 other mock drafts and a plurality had Barzal as the pick and the vast majority had New Jersey taking a forward. On Tuesday, Brian did a top-ten mock where he ended up having Mitch Marner drop to the Devils. There's a lot of content, so check it out and share it as the draft begins.
The first round will begin at 7 PM and it should last about three hours. It'll be on NBC Sports Network in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada. Enjoy it and hope Ray Shero, David Conte, and the rest of the crew don't botch it.