An entire year’s worth of scouting, evaluating, rating and debating all comes down to two days in the summer at the annual NHL Draft. The months of time spent on the road, away from home, in hotels, in arenas, on planes, in rented cars, in foreign countries, all for these two days.
“It’s an exciting time,” Lachance said. “Your work is done. You’ve gone through all those meetings and put your list together. You’ve already done all the work, the planes, trains and automobiles. It’s the scout’s Super Bowl.”
In 2025, the draft was held remotely. So, Lachance and the entire Devils scouting and hockey operations staff were set up in the team’s official locker room inside the Prudential Center.
In years past, the Draft was held in one centralized location. Each NHL team had a table on the draft floor with a select number of staff seated at the table – for the Devils that included Lachance. The remaining staff typically were set up in a suit somewhere inside the arena.
While the change had mixed feelings throughout the league, it did have some benefits.
“You can speak freely, and you don’t have to worry about someone seeing your list,” Lachance said. “You can get up and go speak to analytics, you can go speak to one of your regional guys and try to pick their brain on the pick that’s coming up four for five spots away.”
The Devils made seven selections in 2025: Conrad Fondrk (2nd round, 50th overall), Ben Kevan (2nd, 63rd), Mason Moe (3rd, 90th), Trenten Bennett (4th, 99th), Gustav Hillstrom (4th, 114th), David Rozsival (6th, 161st) and Sigge Holmgren (6th, 178th).
And just like that, a scouting year comes to an end.
“The work’s done, the travel’s done and you’re sitting all around a table just trying to pick the best players for the New Jersey Devils,” Lachance said. “That’s what we work for.”