Sullivan: Devils' GM Shero, holding No. 1 pick, heads into huge week for franchise

Tara Sullivan | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Nolan Patrick on upcoming NHL Draft Top prospect discusses his week at NHL Scouting Combine and what he knows about the Devils.

Ray Shero has time.

It’s only Monday, and the NHL draft is not until Friday. Shero has time to deliberate over what to do with the No. 1 overall pick, time to play his own internal version of the Nico-Nolan debate holding the NHL’s collective imagination in its sway. Shero has time to entertain calls from fellow general managers with trade offers, time to wheel and deal if something feels right.

But here, sitting on a train heading back to work after a Father’s Day weekend in Boston with his family, Shero doesn’t need any more time. He knows what he wants to do. He’s ready.

“If I was on the clock right now?” he said over the phone. “Yes, I do.

“I am.”

He knows; he’s just not going to say. Maybe it will be Nolan Patrick, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Canadian, or maybe it will be Nico Hischier, the 6-foot, 174-pound Swiss star. By Shero’s own account, either young center would be a smart addition, a belief that grew even stronger after multiple meetings and time spent with both young men during the recent NHL scouting combine in Buffalo. But as the days fall away from the calendar and the minutes disappear on the draft clock, Shero is content to hold his cards close to his vest, and let others do the speculating.

Video: Nico Hischier on upcoming NHL Draft Top prospect discusses his week at the NHL Scouting Combine and how he stacks up with fellow top prospect Nolan Patrick.

“I’m not making any calls on the first pick; I’m not shopping it,” he said. “Those calls are coming in. A lot of teams, they’ll call and say, ‘Do you have interest in moving your pick?’ That’s the usual question you get, and there have been two or three teams that have said if you have interest in moving your pick, there’s what we have in mind, with actual names. I still have the pick, so there was nothing I’m thinking about. The focus has to be on picking No. 1 at this point.

“That what I told our staff: Be prepared to pick.”

But who that pick might be? He’ll keep that to himself.

And why wouldn’t he? Shero is dealing from one of the most coveted decks in all of professional sports, under nobody’s influence but his own (and his Devils ownership and scouting staff, of course), free from any draft-day waiting game. But in holding the No. 1 pick, he is also sitting in one of the most scrutinized positions in sports, a potential boom-or-bust decision that has molded countless management résumés over the years. Get the No. 1 pick right and you have budding Oilers superstar Connor McDavid. Get it wrong and you’re the guy remembered for picking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.

“There’s no doubt, now there’s 31 teams in the league, whether you pick 16, 24, 28, there is an expectation to hit on first-round picks, but if you’re drafting 18-, 19-year-olds into the NHL, the hit ratio on No. 1, first-round picks, it’s kind of hit and miss still, percentage-wise,” Shero said. “But when you’re in a top pick, top five area, there’s really no room for error. Your first-round pick has to be something that impacts your franchise and helps you. It’s a decision we have to make, that has to be the right for us. That’s what makes that pick so special and important, is the value to your franchise.

“That’s the importance of this pick for the Devils and what we’re trying to do. The pressure that goes along with that to the player that gets drafted, that’s inherent with the business. No one expects a Connor McDavid; there’s not that internal pressure. You’re going to add a good player, a real good player to your organization.”

Though no one believes Nolan or Hirschier is a generational talent along the lines of McDavid or Toronto's Auston Matthews, Shero can certainly draft a new piece of his foundation. And his is a résumé built on rebuilding. Prior to joining the Devils in 2015, he spent eight years in Pittsburgh. Prior to that, eight years in Nashville. What do those two franchises have in common? They just met in the Stanley Cup Final, with the Penguins needing six games to secure a second consecutive championship. Across all the years of Devils’ success, when Martin Brodeur was a cornerstone goaltender and Lou Lamoriello a GM fixture, the Devils managed to stay a step ahead of the rebuilding curve, restocking their roster enough to remain competitive. But when Brodeur reached the end of the line and Lamoriello moved on, it was time for a franchise reset. Shero, with previous blueprints at his back, was the ideal candidate to do the job.

A job that starts with the first overall pick certainly doesn’t end there, not with the Devils having nine other picks, down from 10 after a weekend trade for 22-year-old defenseman Mirco Mueller. More than ever, this is a chance to add talent and depth to a roster in need, two commodities no team ever has enough of, and an opportunity for those new players to make their impact now and into the future. That can make for a powerful recruiting pitch, one Shero was confident in delivering to both Patrick and Hischier.

“In terms of this rebuilding, these guys come into a situation where they’re not expected to be the man, a situation where if we don’t win the Cup this year it’s gee whiz. That’s a tough thing to come into,” Shero said. “Part of the fun, true rebuilding, when we do make the playoffs they’ll be a big part of it. You come into a team that’s been there eight years a row, that’s a given. How are you going to impact our organization? They’ll have a big impact. I think that’s special, to come here and help us turn it around.”