New Jersey Devils Prospect Joey Anderson Named Captain Of Team USA

One of New Jersey Devils best prospects will add another accolade to his early career. Joey Anderson is the captain of Team USA ahead of the World Juniors Classic.

Coming into this season, I wrote about Joey Anderson’s meteoric rise among the New Jersey Devils prospects. As a winger, he seemed to hold all the tools. That article was coming off his stellar performance in the World Juniors Summer Showcase, where he scored a hat trick against Team Canada. There, I wrote that he could become the Devils top prospect in due time.

Now, Anderson continues his rise among the ranks. He was just named captain of Team USA for the upcoming IIHF World Juniors. This is a team that includes Ottawa Senators prospect Logan Brown and Buffalo Sabres prospect Casey Mittlestadt. This is a huge honor for Anderson.

Anderson’s stats in college aren’t remarkable. He has nine points in 13 games, with six penalty minutes and leads all forwards on Minnesota Duluth with a +5. There are five players on his own team, including his brother Mikey, who have more points than he does. It’s coming in a down year for Minnesota-Duluth, which goes into the holiday break at 8-9-2.

Anderson is a different player in national competition. He seems to thrive when the spotlight is brightest. The 2016 third-round pick played extremely well over the summer alongside the rest of America’s best.

He was a member of last year’s gold winning American club. He didn’t do much, only recording two assists in seven games, but was still an integral part of the roster, taking care of the parts of the game that don’t show up on the stat sheet.

Anderson is joining some great company as Team USA captains. Jack Eichel was the captain of the 2015 team. Minnesota Wild star defenseman Ryan Suter led the team back in 2005. Keith Tkachuck led the team way back in 1992. Team USA is considered the little brother to Canada the juggernaut. However, this isn’t your grandfather’s Team USA.

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The American team is looking for it’s first ever back-to-back championships. In fact, last year was the first time that Team USA medalled in two straight Junior championships. To bring a team to history as the captain would be something extremely special.

Anderson has a bright future, both with the Devils and Team USA. Add onto that he could find himself at the Olympics with the status of Team USA hockey, this could be a special year for Anderson. He needs more seasoning before he’s ready for an NHL career, but everything we’ve seen so far shows he will be able to handle anything that comes his way. I mean, just look how happy his teammates are after he’s named captain.