New Jersey Devils Top 25 Prospects Prior To 2019-20 Season
By Nick Villano
25. Patrick Moynihan
The New Jersey Devils took Patrick Moynihan with the 158th pick of this most recent draft. He actually makes the list over a few names that went ahead of him. This may be a personal pick, but there’s a lot to like about the American kid best known for being Jack Hughes friend. He’s set to join Providence College this season, where we might be able to see him really excel. He’s extremely versatile and is already showing signs of a two-way game. This is the main reason he’s on the list. He’s not someone who’s going to blow people away, but he absolutely has the skills to make the NHL.
24. Nikola Pasic
The Devils final pick of the 2019 NHL Draft was one of their best. He’s another versatile forward (he can play center and wing already) who’s scoring a point per game in his youth Swedish league. He was widely considered a top-100 prospect taken in this year’s draft class. It’s not the Devils fault he fell to them.
23. Yegor Sharangovich
Yegor Sharangovich spent a full season with the Binghamton Devils after they used a 5th-round pick last year. The 21-year-old center spent a season in the KHL with the Dynamo Minsk before coming over the the AHL. It took him a while to get used to the North American game. He only scored 17 points over 68 games, but getting 68 games in the American game was extremely important. We’re not going to lie, he’s close to falling off this list entirely, but we see a lot of skill in the man from Belarus. He’s still has some growing to do, but we expect a jump this season.
22. Michael Vukojevic
This is a Rangers player, which we don’t like, but he’s on the Kitchener Rangers so we’ll deal with this. The Devils took Michael Vukojevic in the 3rd round of this past draft. He’s a point-producing defenseman that has a ton of room for growth. He’s not afraid to take shot, sending the puck to the net 100 times last season in the OHL. He’s already 6-3 and 200 lbs. He’s got first-line defender potential even if he’s lacking a little speed. We don’t expect to see him anytime that soon, but once we do he could be really good.
21. Brandon Gignac
Nothing has changed since the last time we listed Gignac except a few drafted players jumped over him. He’s still one season removed from a torn ACL. The 21 year old scored 36 points for Binghamton last season. It’s nice to see that he was able to play a full season after his injury. That was a big step for the former 3rd-round pick. He’s not three seasons out from his draft year, so he’s getting to the point where he has to show us what he’s got. Gignac has his NHL debut out of the way, and now he can focus on taking the next step.