New Jersey Devils Top 25 Prospects Prior To 2019-20 Season

20. Gilles Senn

Gilles Senn had a really rough game against the Buffalo Sabres prospects on Friday night. He was lit up to the tune of six goals on 17 shots. He made a couple highlight reel saves, but then let in a couple clunkers. Senn is actually much older than he looks, already 23 years old. Senn is coming to North America for the first time this season, playing for Binghamton in Cam Johnson’s old role. He will split time with Evan Cormier. Senn’s stats never really jump off the page. He has some talent, we just need to see him use it on the ice.

19. Mitchell Hoelscher

This is another player that had his stock rising because of what happened last season, but he actually dropped off since other Devils prospects have been working out with the team. Mitchell Hoelscher had a really good playoffs this past year, scoring 13 points in 18 games. He’s going into his third full season with the Ottawa 67s. Hoelscher can also play a season with other Devils property in Graeme Clarke and Nikita Okhotyuk. It should be an interesting site to see if he can take the next step in the regular season. He needs to score a little more, after he only had 10 goals last season.

18. Mikhail Maltsev

Mikhail Maltsev is a prospect that’s unlike a lot on this list. While there are many boom or bust picks among Ray Shero’s choices, Maltsev is more of a safe choice. He’s a great two-way player that’s good at just about every aspect of the game. This is a steady player. How far can a player that’s just decent at everything but never really wows you do? Well, he’s on his way to the AHL, where he can develop those skills. He could absolutely make the NHL one day, but we don’t expect him to break into the top six at any point.

17. Akira Schmid

Akira Schmid might be the New Jersey Devils of the future. He has a long way to go in his development, but he’s only 19 years old and is coming off a career year with the Omaha Lancers. He’s another Swiss player, joining Nico Hischier and Mirco Mueller in the organization. His size and glove hand are major strengths. Schmid had a rough start to his year after Lethbridge basically cut him for having too many import players, but he ended up joining Omaha and led the league in multiple goalie categories, including posting a .926 save percentage. This season, we hope to see him step up at World Juniors after a below average performance last season.

16. Nikita Okhotyuk

Nikita Okhotyuk was a somewhat surprise selection by the New Jersey Devils in the 2nd round of the NHL Draft. Still, he showed a ton of upside as the season progressed for the Ottawa 67s. He started off as a good third-pairing defenseman, but as more opportunities presented themselves, he stepped up to the plate. He’s aggressive on the puck and looked to make a play. His points didn’t jump off the page, but we expect that to grow with more opportunities this season.