New Jersey Devils: Top 25 Prospects At Midseason

The New Jersey Devils prospects were bolstered after the Taylor Hall trade. Here’s where the top 25 stand at midseason.

The New Jersey Devils season has gone so bad that we need to look ahead once again. At least the bi-yearly prospect report looks a lot better than it did five years ago. The intrigue around the top 25 grew after the Devils traded their superstar Taylor Hall to the Arizona Coyotes for three prospects and two draft picks.

Those prospects add to a very intriguing pool of prospects the Devils already have. Former general manager Ray Shero had been revamping the prospect pool for years, and now there are some players there that might turn into something.

This prospect report is going to look a lot different, and honestly a lot worse. Jack Hughes and Jesper Boqvist graduated from this list as they are both on the main roster now. Losing the number one and number three prospects from the list really hurts the over quality of a prospects list, but there is still a lot of intrigue surrounding the following 25 players.

One of the most intriguing prospects is Tyce Thompson. He didn’t even make the preseason top-25 prospects list, but now he’s one of the best players in college hockey. Look ahead to see how high he landed.

The only other prospects to fall off the list is Nikola Pasic and Brandon Gignac. We have high hopes Pasic can become something one day, but he was near the end of the list, and with the addition of the Coyotes prospects and his disappointing output at the World Junior Championship, he ended up falling off. As for Gignac, he’s 23 years old, and was going to fall off the list soon anyway. He’s been in and out of the Binghamton lineup.

Now, to the players who DID make the list. First, some quick rules:

1. They cannot be guaranteed a roster spot on the NHL team.

We went over this in September. Jack Hughes wasn’t guaranteed a spot before the season. Now, he’s on the New Jersey Devils for good. The same goes for Mackenzie Blackwood, who’s their bonafide starter from here on out.

2. They must be under 24 years old.

This is surprisingly not a problem with almost anyone. Nobody was calling Ben Street a prospect, so it’s no surprise we aren’t either. There were zero prospects who we put on the list but had to take them off when we realized they were too old. Now, to the top 25.