New Jersey Devils: Joey Anderson Has Chance To Be Team’s Top Prospect
Joey Anderson has been tearing it up for Team USA, scoring a hat trick in the finals of the World Junior Summer Showcase against Team Canada. He has the chance to become the New Jersey Devil’s top prospect by year’s end.
Not much was made of the New Jersey Devils draft last year. Fans thought some of the players had potential, but the ceiling on almost all of the players was in question. While the Devils did well overall, draft grades wise, that had a lot to do with the volume of picks over anything. Now, a lot of those questions are becoming statements, and the latest one is about third-round pick Joey Anderson.
Anderson is coming off an absolutely stellar performance in the World Junior Summer Showcase. He finished off Team Canada with an empty-net goal, giving him a hat trick against the best competition the Americans had.
He’s coming off a decent season with Minnesota-Duluth. He scored 37 points in 39 games in his freshman season. He was second on the team in scoring, a team that went all the way to the NCAA championship game. The team lost to Will Butcher and University of Denver, but that experience was like no other for Anderson.
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He was even better in that Frozen Four tournament. He scored two goals with five assists in four games. Anderson continued to get better as the season went on.
He took that experience, and brought fire with him to Devils development camp. For the team scrimmage, he was paired with Miles Wood and number-one overall pick Nico Hischier. College players don’t usually get that kind of experience when they are heading back to school.
The future is bright for Anderson. So bright, he could rocket up the Devils prospect rankings. Right now, the top of the Devils prospect list is pretty obvious. Dobber prospects ranks Nico Hischier, Pavel Zacha and Michael McLeod. Obviously, all three of those players are better prospects than Anderson. However, all three could become NHL players and lose their prospect status. The same goes for Miles Wood, Steve Santini, Blake Spears and John Quenneville.
That gives Anderson the chance to fight for top-prospect status. He has to build off the momentum of last college season, while continuing to show his skills at right wing, but by this time next year Anderson could be another gem flying to the top of the Devils list.
Anderson is another smart, savvy move by general manager Ray Shero and his scouting team. After years of worthless drafts in New Jersey, Shero has reset this system seemingly overnight. Anderson is another product of a little Devils luck and some great scouting. He’s going to contribute at a high level next season for Minnesota Duluth. One day, he could be doing the same in Newark.