The New Jersey Devils have secured the 12th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. This lottery, held on Tuesday, May 5th, resulted in the Toronto Maple Leafs earning the number one pick overall, with the San Jose Sharks securing the second pick. This season, the draft will take place in Buffalo on June 26-27th. Teams will remain in their home locations while draftees are on site in Buffalo, continuing the trend from past seasons; this year's draft will be decentralized once again. Below is a list of all of the teams' first-round picks since 2000, per FloHockey. [https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/12682578-new-jersey-devils-nhl-draft-history-devils-all-time-first-round-picks] * 2000: David Hale (22nd overall) * 2001: Adrian Foster (28th overall) * 2003: Zach Parise (17th overall) * 2004: Travis Zajac (20th overall) * 2005: Nicklas Bergfors (23rd overall) * 2006: Matthew Corrente (30th overall) * 2008: Mattias Tedenby (24th overall) * 2009: Jacob Josefson (20th overall) * 2011: Adam Larsson (4th overall) * 2012: Stefan Matteau (29th overall) * 2014: John Quenneville (30th overall) * 2015: Pavel Zacha (6th overall) * 2016: Michael McLeod (12th overall) * 2017: Nico Hischier (1st overall) * 2018: Ty Smith (17th overall) * 2019: Jack Hughes (1st overall) * 2020: Alexander Holtz (7th overall) * 2020: Dawson Mercer (18th overall) * 2020: Shakir Mukhamadullin (20th overall) * 2021: Luke Hughes (4th overall) * 2021: Chase Stillman (29th overall) * 2022: Simon Nemec (2nd overall) Over the past 26 years, the team has twice selected first overall: in 2017, when Captain Nico Hischier was chosen, and again in 2019 with Jack Hughes. Nico Hischier, Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes, Simon Nemec, and Dawson Mercer are five first-round picks from the past decade who appeared on the active roster throughout the 2025-26 season. Now, with the twelfth pick in this year's draft, the team will make another first-round selection.
