The New Jersey Devils are in a very weak position after this season went as bad as it did. Now, they should focus on signing all of their big-name college prospects to bring them into camp.
The New Jersey Devils have a litany of very interesting prospects in their ranks throughout the world. However, the ones that may turn into the best players currently play in the NCAA.
Right now, Reilly Walsh, Jeremy Davies, Aarne Talvitie (when healthy), and Matthew Hellickson would fight for a roster spot today. They are all playing very well at their respective universities.
Walsh has been a star for the Harvard Crimson. He has 11 goals in 29 games as a defenseman. He’s putting up better stats in his sophomore season, and he might be even more motivated after he was left off Team USA at the World Junior Championship. He might be a future top liner on the Devils next to Ty Smith, or he could play on a second line with Sami Vatanen. This kid could be that good.
Jeremy Davies is a former 7th-round pick in the NHL Draft. Very few of these players even make it to the league, but this one is so good he’s up for the Hobey Baker Award. That’s the same award Will Butcher won the season before he signed with the Devils. Davies has been killing it for Northeastern University. He’s averaging more than a point per game from the blue line, adding another defensive prospect to a team that sorely needs them.
Aarne Talvitie is out for the rest of the season after an injury suffered at WJC. That shouldn’t stop the Devils from trying to sign him. He’s currently enrolled at Penn State University, where he had 16 points in 17 games as he got used to the North American game. The Devils should take over his rehab process, and work him back into a great player.
Hellickson may be the one with the biggest question marks, but the Devils have a ton of room in the minors right now and they need to add talent. He’s playing for Notre Dame, who’s ranked 17th in the country. Again, Walsh, Ty Smith and Davies are better prospects at this point, but Hellickson could eventually turn into an NHL regular with the right positioning.
Those four players should be signed to entry-level deals this offseason. There are many reasons why they should, but two stand out above the rest.
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The first being that the Binghamton Devils need serious help. Cam Johnson and Evan Cormier look to be the goalies of the future for the AHL team, but the defense in front of them has not played well. Ray Shero made some moves to address this trading for Ryan Murphy and Desmond Bergin, but there’s more he can do.
Say Shero brings in all of Smith, Walsh, Hellickson and Davies next season. The Devils will likely have room for one of them (which would have to be Smith based on NHL-OHL rules), so they could reform that defense to look like this:
Walsh-Josh Jacobs
Davies-Murphy
Tariq Hammond-Hellickson
That defense is worlds better than what they are icing right now, especially with the injuries throughout both the AHL and NHL lineups. Signings and other prospects developing could change things, but this is a roundabout prediction of what it could look like.
Another reason to sign these players is the Devils don’t want to lose them for nothing. Shero watched as Alex Kerfoot left the Devils to sign with the Colorado Avalanche. It’s the same thing the Devils did for Butcher, but it still stings. He could promise them getting paid for what they were doing anyway in college and they’d get a shot to play in the NHL. This worked on Joey Anderson, who was in a similar spot last season.
This would be a great move for the present and the future. Sure, this is burning years off their entry-level contract, but where the Devils are they need depth in all positions at all levels. We learned this season that they will need to call on their AHL players at different points in the season, and having this much talent in the minors helps them when an injury bug hits the NHL roster.