From New Jersey Devils Media Guide

George McPhee‘s scouting staff is growing at a rapid rate with the announcement of David Conte as the organization’s newest Pro Scout. He has been with the New Jersey Devils since 1984 including serving as the VP of Hockey Ops for the last 23 years.

Aside from being a part of three separate Cup winning teams, Conte’s track record is pretty ridiculous. Just look at the list of players he’s been directly involved in bringing to New Jersey.

His former draft picks include Brendan Shanahan, Bill Guerin, Martin Brodeur, Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rolston, Sergei Brylin, Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. Additionally, Conte was influential in the signing of undrafted players such as John Madden and Brian Rafalski. –NHL.com

But, recently the Devils have been nothing short of miserable when it comes to early round selections. Since 2008 his first and second round picks were John Quenneville,  Steven Santini, Stefan Matteau, Damon Severson, Adam Larsson, Jon Merrill, Jacob Josefson, Eric Gelinas, Mattias Tedenby, Brandon Burlon, and Patrice Cormier. Aside from Larsson, not much to get excited about.

He left the Devils in 2015 over what was described as a “mutual agreement.” However there were some rumors that Conte was upset he was not tabbed as the successor to Lou Lamoriello when the legend left New Jersey. Conte quickly denied those reports, but the fact he was out of the organization later that year and hired in Vegas shortly thereafter indicates otherwise.

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