As we get deeper into the offseason and the NHL draft gets closer and closer, I’ve started to think about how I want the New Jersey Devils to attack the 2026 edition of the draft. Holding the 12th overall pick, new general manager Sunny Mehta seemingly has a few options at his disposal. He can trade the pick for immediate help, he can keep the pick to replenish the farm system, or he can trade back to accumulate more draft capital. But whichever direction he decides to go in, I’ve been thinking about how I believe
Mehta should take a page out of the New York Giants’ draft playbook.
Yes, the NFL’s New York Giants. Let me explain.
Ernie Accorsi is a football lifer, perhaps best known for serving as the general manager of the Giants from 1998 to 2006. During his time at the helm of one of the NFL’s pillar franchises, Accorsi had many philosophies and ways of doing things. I would argue his single most important, impactful, and prescient modus operandi was a simple one:
Keep drafting pass rushers.
Accorsi developed this philosophy throughout a lifetime in the game at various stops across the league. Getting the right quarterback and protecting him were the most important aspects of building a competitive team in his eyes, but right after that was making life difficult for opposing quarterbacks. This is what led to the Giants collecting an embarrassment of riches on the pass rushing front and using those riches to win two super bowls in 2007 and 2011.
The irony, of course, is that Accorsi retired right before the Giants climbed the mountaintop twice in five seasons. But that 2007 squad was essentially his team, and his successor, Jerry Reese, took Accorsi’s draft philosophy to heart in drafting Jason Pierre-Paul in the first round in 2010. As any Giants fan can tell you, Pierre-Paul was an enormous factor in that 2011 super bowl victory, and Reese went with him in the first round despite the fact that the Giants already had pass rushers everywhere from Justin Tuck to Osi Umenyiora to Mathias Kiwanuka. Not to mention the interior defensive linemen that could rush the passer like Chris Canty and Linval Joseph. But Reese learned well from Accorsi that you can never have enough pass rushers, so JPP was the pick (in a similar manner to Accorsi selecting Kiwanuka in 2006 despite the plethora of pass rushers the Giants had at the time).
Ok, so what the heck does any of this have to do with the New Jersey Devils? How does the fact that a couple of old NFL executives loved pass rushers help us here in the NHL in 2026? Because I believe this general philosophy is one the Devils (or any team for that matter) would be wise to adhere to.
In the NFL, it’s pass rushers. And in the NHL, it’s centers.
There is a real debate to be had as to whether center or goalie is the most important position in hockey. I think the general consensus is goalie, and I do think I agree, but the problem is the notorious volatility of the position. There are shockingly few goaltenders in the NHL that you can rely on year to year. Even someone like Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning MVP and Vezina trophy winner and one of the greatest goalies of his era, is infamous for no-showing during the postseason. Not to mention the fact that he just got done putting together a terribly disappointing season by his standards. All the greats from this era, from Hellebuyck to Igor Shesterkin to Andrei Vasilevskiy, all have some element of randomness in their year to year production.
But skaters are MUCH more stable by comparison, which is why even if a goalie might impact the game more, going with the more reliable position of center in the draft is usually a winning bet. To be clear, I don’t mind taking a swing on a goaltender in every draft. Heck, the Devils did this for years, and while it didn’t necessarily net them their franchise goalie, there were some quality NHL netminders in the mix there (just ask the Colorado Avalanche). So I actually do think “habitually draft goalies” is a reasonable thing to do as well.
But again, the volatility of it all makes taking swings on centers a much safer strategy, even if a team is seemingly overflowing with them. If goalie is the most important position, then center isn’t that far behind. And it seems like in today’s NHL, the teams with the best center depth are almost always the ones that are hoisting the Cup in June. Consider what we’ve seen since the pandemic. The Tampa Bay Lightning were able to deploy Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, and Yanni Gourde for about 80% of every game. The Colorado Avalanche bludgeoned teams with a killer 1-2 punch of Nathan MacKinnon and Nazem Kadri, to go along with an up-and-coming Alex Newhook. The Vegas Golden Knights had a superstar in Jack Eichel at the top of their depth chart, followed by a ton of quality in William Karlsson, Chandler Stephenson (before he fell off the proverbial cliff), and Nic Roy. The Florida Panthers rolled Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, and Anton Lundell and sat back as they demolished opponents.
In the NHL, center depth wins. Plain and simple.
Don’t believe me? Just look at the other side, the teams that might be well off in other areas but lack the high end center depth that other contenders do. The Minnesota Wild have superstars on the wing in Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. They have a superstar on defense in Quinn Hughes (sigh) and another defenseman who isn’t that far off in Brock Faber. And they also have pretty darn good goalies in Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson. But their top center is Joel Eriksson Ek, who is a fine player, but a far cry from the franchise center a team needs to go the distance. And sure enough they didn’t put up much of a fight in the second round against Colorado. The Carolina Hurricanes might finally break through to the Cup Final in a weak Eastern Conference this season, but they’ve forever been held back by their general lack of star power but specifically at the center position. Even the Edmonton Oilers, who boast the best player in the world in Connor McDavid and another player close behind in Leon Draisaitl, haven’t been able to seal the deal thanks in large part to the failings of their depth, and center depth especially.
I will reiterate: In the NHL, center depth wins. Plain and simple.
One of the big problems is that there just aren’t enough quality centers to go around. So many teams struggle to build depth down the middle, which as we all know is true for the Devils. After Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, New Jersey has failed to adequately fill the 3C hole for years and years. Cody Glass has come close to being that quality 3C that a championship contender needs, but between a lack of point production (despite impressive goal-scoring), as well as a general inability to stay fully healthy, Glass would be better off as a 4C. Go down the list of champions since the pandemic and you will find that Glass matches up poorly versus those team’s third-line centers.
What makes this even more frustrating is that New Jersey had their opportunities to set themselves up with enviable center depth for years. In the 2020 draft, they went with Alexander Holtz over Marco Rossi. In the 2022 draft, they went with Simon Nemec over Logan Cooley or Shane Wright. The Devils drafted for need, passing on talented players at the most important skater position. How much different would this team’s outlook be today if Marco Rossi, Logan Cooley, or, to a lesser extent, Shane Wright was their 3C? They might not have made the Devils contenders by themselves, but they would’ve helped immensely.
And it’s not just the top of the draft either. New Jersey has neglected the center position in the draft overall for a while now. Take a look at the numbers over their last five drafts:
Former general manager Tom Fitzgerald seemed to finally recognize that he needed to course correct during last year’s draft and started picking centers again. But before that, since 2021, New Jersey has neglected the position horribly. Not addressing center in both 2022 and 2023 are outrageous, even though to be fair, the Devils did not have their full complement of picks in 2023. Still, they had opportunities to draft centers, and they chose not to.
I’m not saying every single pick has to be a center. In general I believe in Best Player Available at any given slot. I do also believe in positional value though, so if you’re on the clock and you have a center and, say, a left-shot defenseman graded the same at the top of your board, go with the center. Even if you think you have enough centers, you probably never have enough. I’d rather take a chance on the most important skater position in the hopes that one of the centers you draft can develop into that stud pivot that every team needs. Plus I think wingers and defensemen are easier to find in free agency or via trade. Not the case with centers.
So in the end, I go back to what the New York Giants did under Ernie Accorsi and then Jerry Reese: Keep drafting pass rushers, even if you seemingly have plenty of them. The NHL equivalent of this is to keep drafting centers, even if you think you have enough center depth. With the entry draft coming up next month, new GM Sunny Mehta would be wise to go with a pivot whenever possible. Don’t reach, and trust your board, but go with a center if it’s at all close. And maybe, just maybe, the Devils can finally find their 3C of the future that they’ve been looking for for years now.
