During Devellano's time with the Red Wings, he played a large role in building the teams that eventually won two consecutive Stanley Cup Championships, including the drafting of Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom as well as bringing the Russian Five together, three of whom he persuaded to defect from Russia in order to play for the Wings.
In 1959, he dropped out of high school after failing grade 9 algebra, and found work in the Toronto garment district for 80 cents an hour.
Some of the Islanders drafted during his tenure include Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, John Tonelli, Ken Morrow, and Brent Sutter.
During his second stint as GM, Devellano served alongside Red Wings head coach Scotty Bowman, who also held the title of director of player personnel.
He named Devellano Senior Vice President, and tasked him with providing advice and expertise to the Tigers' business and marketing operations.
[11] Also in 2009, Devellano was named to the Board of the Directors of the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the International League.
A few days later, former Red Wing goaltender Chris Osgood also joined the ownership group of the Saginaw, Michigan-based team.
[14] In interviews and in his autobiography, Devellano recalled that the one player he tried to acquire on several occasions was Ray Bourque; and that he recommended Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour over Mike Keenan as candidates to be the Wings coach in 1993.
He said his best trade was probably in 1996, acquiring Brendan Shanahan and Brian Glynn from the Hartford Whalers in exchange for Keith Primeau, Paul Coffey, and a 1997 first-round draft pick (Nikos Tselios).
[16] Devellano admitted that his worst trade was sending Adam Oates and Paul MacLean to the St. Louis Blues after the 1988-89 season for Bernie Federko and Tony McKegney.