Good Morning, Islanders Country
The Islanders’ dynasty was built through the draft, but one of the architects behind those four consecutive Stanley Cups has yet to receive the recognition he deserves. Chris Botta makes a compelling case for Jim Devellano’s induction into the Islanders Hall of Fame, reflecting on his extraordinary eye for talent, the unsung importance of scouting, and why honoring the past still matters today.
It is a fact: the New York Islanders dynasty was built through the draft.
It is also a fact that the NHL drafts that built the dynasty were run by one person. It speaks volumes about the wise leader and humble gentleman Bill Torrey was that he never shied away from telling the media and fans that he delegated the draft to his assistant GM.
What if I told you that every player below was selected by the same man – the one who ran the Islanders’ drafts for the franchise’s first ten years?
Clark Gillies
Bryan Trottier
Mike Bossy
John Tonelli
Bobby Nystrom
Duane Sutter
Brent Sutter
Denis Potvin
Stefan Persson
Dave Langevin
Ken Morrow
You would think the man who drafted four Hockey Hall of Famers and the core of a team that won four straight Stanley Cups would be in the team’s Hall of Fame, right? However, he is not, yet. And that’s OK. A team wins championships on the strength of its players, and it’s only right that many have been inducted before him. I’m not here to criticize an omission.
But now it's time for Jim Devellano to be inducted into the Islanders Hall of Fame.
Scouting is Mostly Failure
If you don’t mind being away from home for long stretches, scouting can be a great way to make a living. It can also be soul-crushing, because most of it is failure. Consider this: we can easily put together a list of the greatest NHL coaches of all time. We could debate who’s the best-ever GM, but you’d have no trouble listing contenders.
But who is the greatest scout in NHL history?
No one has ever received that designation.
Who is the greatest scout working today? When I reached out to several scouts in my contacts over the last few weeks, most replied with some version of “I don’t know because even the people who’ve made incredible picks also have plenty of disasters on their record.”
A few said Al Murray deserved consideration as one of the most successful this century for drafting players such as Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Ondrej Palat after the first round for Tampa Bay.
If one scout emerged today as by far the best at what he or she does, a team would give them a DiPietro-level contract. Because who would be more valuable than that person?
One did, for the Islanders, back when George Lucas was still typing up Star Wars. If most of scouting is failure, Jim Devellano spent a decade ignoring the odds.
Torrey, Arbour, Devellano
Since the Expansion Era began in 1967, the one scouting director with an unparalleled hot streak is Devellano. Everyone close to the franchise’s miraculous rise from birth to dynasty knows that the three invaluable men who didn’t play for the team were Bill Torrey, Al Arbour, and Jim Devellano. Ed Westfall, the team’s first captain, often sang Devellano’s praises to me.
I’m leaving Denis Potvin (first overall, 1973) off this list because, like Matthew Schaefer, he was an “Anyone Could Have Made That Pick” guy. Here are some of Devellano’s key picks:
1972: Lorne Henning (17th overall), Bobby Nystrom (33), Garry Howatt (144)
1973: Dave Lewis (33), Bob Lorimer (129)
1974: Clark Gillies (4), Bryan Trottier (22), Dave Langevin (112), Stefan Persson (214)
1976: Ken Morrow (68)
1977: Mike Bossy (15), John Tonelli (33)
1979: Duane Sutter (17), Tomas Jonsson (25), Billy Carroll (38), Roland Melanson (59)
1980: Brent Sutter (17), Kelly Hrudey (38), Greg Gilbert (80)
1981: Paul Boutilier (21)
1982: Patrick Flatley (21)
Among Devellano’s other contributions to the Islanders was his recommendation of Arbour – joined by Scotty Bowman – to Torrey.
Devellano had worked with Arbour in St. Louis. Devellano would be the first to tell you he did not work alone. He leaned on Henri Saraceno covering the Quebec League (where he watched Bossy almost every Monday night for an entire season), Harry Boyd on the OHL, Earl Ingarfield and Hank Bassen scouting Western Canada. Torrey and Devellano were ahead of the curve in the ‘70s, hiring part-timers, including in Europe, who identified players before many teams looked overseas for talent.
But the draft scouting staff back then was remarkably small. For context, under GM Mathieu Darche and his four assistant GMs, the Islanders employ amateur scouting director Trent Klatt, head amateur scout Veli-Pekka Kautonen based in Finland, and at least ten additional scouts focused on the draft. Klatt’s team includes Mario Saraceno, who was hired by Devellano and Torrey at 20 after his father, Henri, died suddenly of a heart attack at 45 in 1979.
Why This Matters
I’m well aware that a segment of the fanbase views events like Hall of Fame nights as living in the past, when the focus should be entirely on the present.
However, good franchises have always balanced both.
If you’re going to have a team Hall of Fame and place those plaques right at the top of the escalator inside the main entrance of UBS Arena, that wall of honorees should tell the complete story.
Devellano turns 84 in January. Over the last seven years, he has undergone quadruple bypass heart surgery and procedures to remove a brain tumor. The good news is that when I checked in with Devellano when training camps opened in September, he was in good health and spirits.
It says everything about his love for the Islanders that the office he still has at Detroit Red Wings headquarters features an entire wall dedicated to his time with the Islanders. A ceremony at UBS Arena would let the organization and fans properly celebrate the man who helped build a team that won four straight Stanley Cups and won 19 consecutive playoff series – a feat that may never be matched in any major sports league.
A true hockey lifer, “Jimmy D” may not be known to some younger fans, and his induction alone may not sell many tickets at UBS Arena. One solution: induct him alongside a player in the same ceremony. The ridiculously unheralded Stefan Persson, a top-four defenseman on those Islanders dynasty teams, became, along with Anders Kallur, the first European-trained players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup. Devellano drafted him 214th overall in 1974, which makes Persson one of several great candidates to be inducted alongside him.
Of course, there are several others who deserve to be inducted into the Islanders Hall of Fame, including Duane Sutter, Dave Langevin, and all those who played on all four Cup teams. Glenn “Chico” Resch, Pierre Turgeon and Zigmund Palffy are among others who come to mind, along with others of a more recent vintage.
The GM’s Verdict
When the publishers of Devellano’s memoir asked Torrey for a statement to use for marketing, the GM paid the ultimate compliment to his former deputy.
Torrey wrote, “Though he has never scored a goal, blocked a shot or thrown a body check, Jim Devellano contributed to seven Stanley Cup championships over three separate decades. An accomplishment of that magnitude is testament to his foresight, his work ethic and his keen eye for talent. Jimmy was a major factor in the building of the Islanders dynasty.”
Torrey also wondered what would have been had Jim been lured by Mike Illitch to Long Island after the third Stanley Cup in 1982 to become GM of the Red Wings. A glance at the Islanders’ drafts in the years after Devellano’s departure shows one of the big reasons the franchise failed to re-tool after the Cup run. Perhaps the only run of draft success that rivals Devellano’s with the Islanders was his own with the Red Wings.
The Islanders have honored the players, the coach and the GM. Now it’s time to honor Jim Devellano, the man who found so many of those players.
And we leave you with this…oh, and Devellano was part of four Stanley Cup-winning teams in Detroit as well. You can read about that and more in the book “The Road to Hockeytown”
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.
And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.
Awesome story about Jim Devellano!! Thanks!
I'm completely at a loss of understanding why he is not in the NYI HOF. Should have happy many years ago. Someone in isles ownership or mgmt HAS TO MAKE THIS RIGHT ASAP. I'm pessimistic though that it will happen but HOPEFULLY I'm wrong!