New Jersey Devils Top 25 Prospects After 2018-19 Season

The New Jersey Devils prospect pool continues to improve. We’re here today to provide a 1-25 ranking of the best ones the Devils still have claims to.

New Jersey Devils general manager Ray Shero has done a masterful job turning the New Jersey Devils empty cupboard of prospects into players people actually care about. When he took over as GM, the Devils prospect pool wasn’t even worth ranking.

Taking a look at the 2014 Devils prospect camp, there are only three players on that entire roster that became regular Devils players. Miles Wood, Damon Severson and Blake Coleman are still decent members of the team, but back in 2014 zero of the teams prospects turned into stars, let alone team leaders.

Now, the Devils prospect pool has at least 10 players that feel like locks to one day be NHL players, then at least another ten that could make it to the big show if things work out correctly.

We will take a look at the Devils prospect pool prior to the NHL Draft, and will likely do an update later this summer. We have a very interesting pool of prospect because they come in all shapes and sizes, from all parts of the world and in varying levels of professional and amateur leagues.

A quick precursor of how we determined who was a prospect and who isn’t. There are only two rules:

1. They cannot be guaranteed a roster spot come October.

That means some of the Binghamton players that were forced to spend so much time on the roster last season are still considered under this format. Also, while we are assuming that a specific defenseman playing for Spokane will make the cross-country trip to the Garden State, but it’s hardly guaranteed. In the same breath, Mackenzie Blackwood is guaranteed a spot on this roster, so he’s no longer eligible.

Another side note, we’re not thinking of the 2019 NHL Draft at all. Of course Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko would be tops on this list, but since we don’t know who’s going where, or if something crazy happens like they trade the pick, then this would be moot. Just easier at this point to ignore the draft entirely.

2. They must be under the age of 24

Once a player hits 24 years old, it becomes harder and harder to make a true impact on the NHL roster. Not to say it’s impossible (look at Blake Coleman), but we had to make some age a stopping point, and this seemed like the right time.

A player like Kevin Rooney we guess is technically a prospect, but he feels more like a tweener NHLer. He doesn’t feel like a player that’s considered in the same breath as Michael McLeod or Jesper Boqvist.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to number 25.

25. Ludvig Larsson

It was actually really hard for who we should pick for that number 25 spot. There is Cam Johnson and Ryan Murray, who the New Jersey Devils might not re-sign in the offseason, but clearly have some upside. There are a few long-shot players who could also crack the list, but we went with Ludvig Larsson.

Larsson has had an interesting journey to the Binghamton Devils. He spent the first three seasons of his college career at Merrimack College then transferred to Penn State University to play with fellow Devils prospect Aarne Talvitie. He played well as the Nittany Lions first Swedish player scoring nine goals with 16 assists over 39 games.

He came to Binghamton last season after almost everyone got hurt. He played well enough that the Devils decided to sign him again for next season. His likelihood of making New Jersey is low, but he does have a ton of upside despite starting his pro career at 23 years old.

24. Jeremy Groleau

Preface this by saying one quick thing, the Devils prospects from 15 to 24 can theoretically be put in any order and it makes sense. We start this run with defenseman Jeremy Groleau.

He spent most of his season with Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL. He ended the season with Binghamton after signing an entry-level deal prior to the season. He had two points in five games in the AHL.

His birthday makes things very interesting for him next season. Since he’s still 19 years old, he’s forced to go back to Juniors if he doesn’t make the NHL, which he won’t. That’s unfortunate, because he’d likely do really well in Bingo. It’s only one more season, but being where he is on the rankings it will be hard to move up spending his fifth season in Juniors.

23. Eetu Päkkilä

Our own Tyler Kelley had Eetu Pakkila in his top ten (full disclosure, he didn’t add players like McLeod or Quenneville). Upon doing a little more research on him, it’s clear why some are high on this kid. He’s another reason why Ray Shero shows that no round in the draft is actually a waste. Pakkila is a 7th-round pick, like another player on this list, and after he was drafted he scored 38 goals for his Junior Finish league.

We should learn a lot more about Pakkila next season when he joins the pro Liiga playing for Ilves. The left wing was able to dominate lesser competition, but if he’s going to have a professional future, especially with the Devils, he needs to show he can play against better competition.

Pakkila could come to North America as soon as 2020, and he could eventually be really good. His ceiling is high, but his floor is very low. He could one day be an NHL player, or he could never even sniff the big leagues. Next year is huge for his development.

22. Josh Jacobs

Josh Jacobs is probably the hardest player to rank on this list. Some people think he’s a future NHL defenseman, while others point out he couldn’t even play well in the AHL. Yes, he was stuck on a pairing with less than quality all season long, but one would hope he could do more at his age. When Steve Santini was sent down to the AHL, he looked good, but Jacobs was not in the same place.

Jacobs played his first NHL game this past season. He focused on being a physical presence. However, the Devils were demolished by the Bruins in that game. The 2014 2nd-round pick has taken more time than we hoped to develop, but we can’t give up on him yet.

Jacobs has the upside to be an NHL defenseman one day. He’s 23 years old, so this is the last year we’ll see him on this particular list. The Devils will take their time with him since he’s a defenseman and they have a lot of players in a similar situation that are on the NHL roster. They don’t need him right now. He is a restricted free agent, so they have to figure out what contract they want to give him. It will likely be something short term.

21. Xavier Bernard

Xavier Bernard is such an interesting prospect. The Devils took him with their second pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, but it didn’t come until the 4th round. The big bruising defenseman seemed like a very good pick at the time by Ray Shero.

He brings one thing a lot of Devils prospects don’t have; size. He’s 6’3 and over 200 pounds. Bernard says he mirrors his game to Sharks superstar Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Obviously, it would be wonderful if he could even come close to his skill set.

Bernard is still way early in his career. He has to work on his puck movement and his offensive game, but he’s already a very skilled stay-at-home defenseman. He likes to hit, and he does it often. If he can establish himself with the puck, he could bring an old-school style of defense to the future of the Devils.

20. Yegor Sharangovich

Yegor Sharangovich was selected in the 5th round out of Belarus last season. We all knew it was going to be a long journey to get him to be good. He immediately signed with the Binghamton Devils, and spent the entire season in the North American pro leagues.

It was his second year in professional leagues, after spending 2017-18 with Dynamo Minsk of the KHL. Last season, he recorded 17 points, including nine goals. He’s got some skill as a center, but he’s extremely raw. Last season, he was getting used to the North American rink and playing style.

Sharangovich was an overage player in the draft last season. He’s already 21 years old, so other prospects got a step up on their development. However, sometimes these prospects are worth the wait.

19. Brandon Gignac

Brandon Gignac is a player we probably expected more from in his second professional season, but we have to remember that he was coming off a torn ACL. That means he not only was figuring out how to keep up with the speed of the AHL game, but he was also learning how to play on a reconstructed knee.

The 21 year old forward played 66 games and scored 36 points. He was given his first taste of NHL hockey thanks to the many, many injuries on the New Jersey side. He played one game and went -2. It was pretty clear based on his possession numbers and his general play style that he wasn’t ready for the NHL.

Gignac might become a completely different player next season. Having a full year after the torn ACL will allow it to heal completely. Let’s hold off on our full judgements of him until he starts playing games next season.

18. Gilles Senn

Gilles Senn is sneaky old, which is why he’s further down this list. Did you know he is already 23 years old? He was average during his time in the Swiss National League. This past season, he had a .901 save percentage with a 3.19 GAA with HC Davos. Those stats are actually worse than his stats the year before.

However, he must have shown Ray Shero something, because he’s coming to North America after the Devils signed him a few weeks ago. That likely means the end of the Devils career of Cam Johnson, because there just isn’t room.

Honestly, it was hard to decide which goalie prospect would make the list between him and Evan Cormier. That might be surprising to some, since Cormier was very good during stretches last season in Binghamton. Also, he’s younger than Senn. Still, the raw talent and skill is better with Senn, and prior to last season, Senn was the better goalie. We have more faith in Senn having a Mackenzie Blackwood like turnaround, despite what we’ve already seen from Cormier.

17. Mikhail Maltsev

Mikhail Maltsev is another Devils prospect that signed his entry-level deal this offseason. He played in the KHL last year, and like most young players he struggled immensely. He’s been in the SKA St. Petersburg organization for the past three years. It may be the most popular team in Russia, so he learned a lot from some really good players.

Maltsev bounced between the KHL and VHL last season. He can play on the wing and as a center, giving him the kind of versatility that Shero likes in his young players. He’s got the big body to survive “playing against men” as some like to say. He’s 6’3 and over 200 lbs.

He scored a half point per game while playing in the VHL. He was a +12 (even though +/- doesn’t REALLY matter). He did decent with what he was given, and showed true growth throughout the season. We expect him to be much higher on the charts by the end of next season.

16. Mitchell Hoelscher

The New Jersey Devils 2018 6th-round pick definitely moved himself up this list after an awesome run in the playoffs. It was a run that had his coach calling him one of the best players on the Ottawa 67s. He scored six goals over 18 playoffs games and added seven assists.

He was decent during the season, scoring 40 points in 68 games. His goal-scoring output was the exact same, but he was +12 in assists year over year. Prospect experts said he had a lot of untapped potential before the draft.

He has become an intense player on the ice. He does not quit on the play, and that started ending in points this season. He got better as the year went on, and he was at his best during the playoffs. He plays a great two-way game for his age, something Shero loves in his players. The way Hoelscher is going, he could be on the NHL roster some time in the near future.

15. Akira Schmid

Akira Schmid is super young, but has shown flashes of greatness as a 19-year-old goaltender. He also showed one of the worst performances in net we’ve ever seen in his one game in the WHL. With the Lethbridge Hurricanes, he posted a .741 save percentage and they put him on waivers the next day.

Maybe it was for the best, because he was on another level for the rest of the season. He posted a .926 save percentage in the USHL. He was dominant against lesser competition all season long, but once the bright lights started to shine he took a step back. Even without the terrible outing in Lethbridge, he left much to be desired at World Juniors.

He posted a .878 save percentage while representing Switzerland. We were hoping for more from Schmid, especially with his good start in the USHL. It showed he still has some work to do in net, but really the New Jersey Devils chose him to be a goalie in five years, so as long as he continues to grow then he’s on the right track. We definitely saw growth this season.

14. Nikita Popugaev

When thinking of ranking Nikita Popugaev after the past two seasons, it was just a shrug. He came out of the 2017 NHL Draft looking like the steal of the draft. There were some analysts who thought he could be a 1st-round pick, and the Devils were able to get him in the 4th round. That was absolute insanity.

Then, some issues began. The season before the draft, he was dominating with the Moose Jaw Warriors. Then, he was traded to Prince George. Things kind of fell off the rails a little bit. He went from well over a point per game to half a point per game with Prince George. The next season, he started off well enough, but he felt he wasn’t given the right time and he went back to Russia.

We thought he had the skill to stick to the KHL, but he just wasn’t ready to play in a men’s league. He bounced around between the KHL, MHL and VHL for the next season and a half. That ended up failing as well, and he came to Binghamton midseason. He did fine in the AHL, and the Devils re-signed him this offseason. We expect to see a big jump now that he has some consistency and he’s being surrounded by a support group that has everything invested in his success.

13. Matthew Hellickson

Did Ray Shero do it again, making a very late-round pick into something good? Matthew Hellickson will go into his Junior season with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He’s been a pretty good defenseman over the last two season, and made headway as a freshman and sophomore. This is great coming from a 7th-round draft pick.

He hasn’t become a big scoring threat yet, but he’s approaching a half-point per game. That’s not bad for a defenseman in the NCAA. In fact, Will Butcher had 18 points in his sophomore year before exploding for 32 in his junior year. Hellickson has the ability to have a similar type season, but he has to prove it.

Hellickson has been climbing up the prospect rankings, and by next season we expect him to be in the top ten. As long as he takes another step forward, the Devils might look to sign him at the same time as another defensive prospect still to come on this list. The Devils have a very interesting young defensive core. Hellickson might get overlooked because there are three others better than him right now, but next season he will get a lot more publicity.

12. John Quenneville

Listen, we can hear you groan from here, but John Quenneville definitely deserves to be on this list. He had another really good AHL campaign, he was just God-awful in the NHL. This is the last year he’s considered a prospect, and the Devils will likely give him one more shot to put it all together. We thought he would be an NHL player by now, but every time he’s given a shot, something is always missing.

Quenneville had one point in 19 NHL games. Then, he had 39 points in 37 AHL games. He’s a superstar in the minors and worthy of being cut in the big leagues. There’s an issue with his consistency, and the Devils have had trouble finding the right fit for him.

However, nobody will outwork him. This is likely all in his head. Despite being the elder statesman in terms of prospects, he still goes to all the camps. He wants to get better and better. He has all the skills to be an NHL player, he just needs to figure out what that missing piece is. He could be a real cog in the Devils plans if he figures it out. Think a Blake Coleman type, where we expect him to make the team but he gives us 20 goals. It’s still possible, however after this season it’s much less likely.

11. Marian Studenic

Marian Studenic is yet another middle to late-round pick that is playing higher than we expected. He scored 13 goals and had 15 assists in his first season with Binghamton this season. He was also pretty good in international play on a less-than-stellar Slovakia team, scoring five points in the World Championships.

Studenic was given a much bigger role than we expected this season. With the entire New Jersey Devils roster injured, they needed to call up most of Binghamton’s roster. That provided an opportunity for Studenic to grow. He played well at times, and made mistakes at times, but he’s going to be better for it. He still has a little bit of growing to do, but without this year’s opportunity he might be another two years away.

He’s 20 years old, and shows he can score on the minor-league level. It was a culture shock, after jumping from the OHL. He played better than expected, like we said, but now let’s see how he does now that he does have expectations. Can he take the next step and become a player that’s truly someone who can contribute on the NHL level?

5. Joey Anderson

Joey Anderson is another young player who’s season was cut down by injuries. He was given a shot to make the main roster on October 27th against the Florida Panthers. He was on the team for a little less than a month when he went down.

He didn’t return until February, where he was clearly limited by his lower-body injury. However, we know what this kid brings to the table. He was the captain of Team USA at World Juniors in 2018, led his team to a national title at Minnesota Duluth and then jumped right to the AHL. He played well to start, but that injury really slowed him down.

Anderson will be another one of those key cogs on a future great Devils team. He made strides this season, but we have to see if his body can handle a full 82-game season. Last year was supposed to get out those kinks, but this year will have to do. He may make the opening night roster.

4. Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod seems to get less and less fanfare every season. When the Devils chose him in the 1st round of the 2016 NHL Draft, fans were excited. When he carried the Mississauga Steelheads to the OHL Finals on his back, Devils fans couldn’t wait until he was on the roster.

Then he got injured going into the 2017-18 season. That seemed to derail a lot of the momentum he had. He never really got that quick first step back until the offseason. The expectations for him went down considerably.

Then last season, he had an inconsistent first pro season, which included 21 NHL games without a goal. That’s not great, obviously. He still won the Binghamton Devils Rookie of the Year Award. He had a decent season in the AHL, he just couldn’t get anything going when the lights were bright. He clearly has speed and a great shot, but he could not put those two things together. Hopefully he works all offseason to make that happen.

3. Reilly Walsh

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Reilly Walsh is currently in the “best three years of his life” as Ray Shero put it. He’s playing on the blue line at Harvard, and with Adam Fox going to the New York Rangers, his can now play on Harvard’s top line. Walsh was already playing really well. He took an 11 point jump from his rookie to sophomore year.

Walsh is a little on the smaller side, but this is the only issue we’ve seen thus far. He’s an offensive-minded defenseman who can really get the puck to the net. He needs to build some strength, especially leg strength to build up his speed, but with the added responsibility we expect that to happen this offseason.

Walsh could propel himself to the top prospect in the Devils system just by sticking to the same routine he has been. We expect number one and two to make the NHL this season. Then, their 1st-round pick is also making the roster. Walsh needs to grow just a bit to make him a major prospect.

2. Jesper Boqvist

The top two prospects for the New Jersey Devils are obvious. Not because they are all that’s left, it’s because these two players are awesome, and will likely be on the NHL roster in October. Boqvist had a great season with Brynas IF playing on their top line for most of the year and making incredible plays.

What doesn’t this kid do well? He does things that doesn’t show up on a stats sheet. He sends a perfect shot on net that turns into a rebound that his teammate can easily guide into the net. Boqvist has a knack for getting in the perfect position for a one timer. He can shoot a writer past a goalie before he can blink, but also has enough power on the slapshot that it keeps the goalie thinking.

He scored 35 points in 51 games in the men’s league last season. Based on watching film, his best ability is taking calculated risks. He is willing to try an pass over a defenders stick that lands perfectly on his teammates for a breakout. Boqvist will try a deke through traffic if he thinks it means he gets a clean look. These are the types of players that separate the good players and the great players in the NHL.

1. Ty Smith

It wasn’t going to be anyone else. Ty Smith was amazing this season. He was dominant on the ice for Spokane, winning the Defenseman of the Year award in all the WHL. He definitely deserved it, and he looks like he’s NHL ready today.

Smith’s vision is next level. He sees the whole ice whether it’s on the breakout or in the offensive zone. He was named the Chiefs’ captain, and scored 69 points in 57 games. Smith was so good offensively, he might immediately jump onto the Devils first powerplay.

As good as he is offensively, he could eventually be just as good defensively. He’s already playng a “200-foot game” as analysts put it. He understands his responsibilities, and he sticks to them. Smith is coming to New Jersey, and with the additions of Jack Hughes and Jesper Boqvist, this may go down as the greatest year of young talent in recent NHL memories.