PODCAST: Hughes, Hischier Recount Experiences heading into the Lottery

As we head into the NHL Draft Lottery this Friday and the NHL begins to lift its Pause, we thought of no better way to transition our "Pausecast" to our "Speak of the Devils" Podcast than to include Devils first-overall picks Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. It's still the Official Devils Podcast, bringing you Devils news and guests every Monday.
You can download all past episodes of our podcast here:
NewJerseyDevils.com/Podcast

PAST DEVILS PODCASTS
SPEAK OF THE DEVILS PODCAST
Hughes and Hischier look back on their Draft years
DEVILS PAUSECAST
Episode 11 - Gomez on life in Alaska and past Devils Cup wins
Episode 10 - Marshall on playing against the Devils in 2000 and for them in 2003 Cup wins
Episode 9 - Rupp looks back on his Cup-winning goal in 2003
Episode 8 - Severson on life in Kelowna during the quarantine

Episode 7 - Merkley and Schnarr on living together after arriving in the Hall trade

Episode 6 - Bastian and McLeod on their friendship and leaps in their on-ice game in 2019-20

Episode 5 - Mermis on keeping busy during the Pause
Episode 4 - Chico on live in Minnesota during the break in action
Episode 3 - Devils President Jake Reynolds on staying busy during the Pause and community involvement
Episode 2 - Carrick on his new podcast and more
Episode 1 - Welcome to the Pausecast
MORE PODCASTS
Full Archive of Devils Podcasts
Jack Hughes joined the podcast from Michigan where he is back with his family. Jack's older brother Quinn plays for the Vancouver Canucks and made the trip back home at the start of quarantine as well. Hughes discussed the VIP treatment he's receiving being back at home.
"I come home, and me and Quinn are getting breakfast made for us, getting dinners made for us and we're like 'oh it's nice at home,' pretty thankful now. I think my mom and dad are pretty thankful to have us all back in the same house," said Hughes. "It's a really rare time for all three of us to be in the same house this long. I think our parents are taking advantage of it for sure."
Hughes discussed the chores and work around the house him and his brothers are doing to help out their parents.
"We bring the entertainment in the house," Hughes joked. "We just got a pool put in so I've been building chairs around here, building things. And then we had to do some yard work, like fill up the whole yard with mulch and we gotta to landscape this place too. Nothing too taxing. First month of quarantine we were home chilling, using our excuse as first time being home in awhile not doing much."
With the Draft Lottery coming up on the 26th, Hughes also discussed the 2019 Draft Lottery and what it was like waiting to hear who would get the number one overall pick. Hughes was the top-ranked prospect going into the Draft Lottery and was on site for the selection show.
"I remember the last few nights, a couple weeks before the lottery, I was always on that draft simulator, and it was just throwing out a bunch of random stuff. But in the moment, the picks are going off like every 30 seconds, then they go to a TV commercial, and then next thing you know there's 3 teams left."
The final 3 teams vying for number-one overall were Chicago, New Jersey and New York, and Hughes is very happy with landing in New Jersey.
"Three great spots, and I'm very excited to be in New Jersey now. I know my family is really excited I'm in New Jersey with a lot of people around so I think it's a great spot and I'm glad that's the spot."
"For me it was mind-blowing how fast it was going, I knew it was a 30 minute show, but like I said, picks were coming out every 30 seconds non-stop and you just lose track of what teams are still in the mix."
Hughes also discussed what it felt like to not only score his first goal but also what it was like being drafted first-overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
"When you first get drafted that's an unbelievable feeling. You can relate it to your first goal, I guess, but it's totally different. A lot different emotions, when you score your first goal you're kind of just fired up and really excited. When you get drafted, I felt very thankful and fortunate and a lot of emotions flowing out in terms of looking around and seeing a lot of friends I grew up with, family that helped me get to that point and just sharing it with them."
Following Hughes, Nico Hischier joined the podcast. Hischier returned to Switzerland when NHL players were allowed to leave their NHL markets and has kept busy back home.
"First when I got back, it was a kind of long wait about what was going on with our season, and I was staying there first for six weeks with my family. It was actually pretty nice, my brother was there, my sister, the whole family was together. That doesn't happen that often so I really enjoyed it."
"After that, I'm right now doing my mandatory military service, it takes 18 weeks. So always from Monday through Friday I'm in a training center and I'm able to workout there and we have some little stuff we have to do for the Army. But we really can't do everything because of the rules we have for coronavirus."
Hischier's 18 week service started in April and he was planning on participating in his service even if sports weren't paused from COVID-19. Hischier was planning on playing for Switzerland in the IIHF World Championships if the Devils did not qualify for the NHL playoffs and going to his military training following his season.
He also discussed his experience with the Draft Lottery and Draft and both were quite different for the 2017 First Overall Pick.
"I remember I was in Italy, went to bed, woke up in the morning and first thing looked it up and saw New Jersey had the pick," said Hischier on hearing who had the number-one pick for his NHL Entry Draft. "I still didn't know until the last second until they called my name [at the Draft] that they were going to pick me."
Hischier also discussed how much research he did about the team he was drafted to.
"I think everyone would do it. I kind of looked at where it is, who's playing there, but most time you know who's playing there since you're following the NHL for a couple years already. It was just making a first impression, you have to be there to really get the real feeling."