New Jersey Devils: 5 Prospects Who Fell Out Of Favor This Season

Brandon Gignac

Preseason Ranking: 21

Brandon Gignac spent his third season in the AHL wildly inconsistent. We thought he was going to become one of the team’s best players, but instead the points just didn’t come. He scored more than a half point per game in 2018-19, but that dropped to .39 points per game. That shouldn’t happen to a player now two years removed from ACL surgery.

It’s actually odd what happened to Gignac. It seems like he lost a step inexplicably. Was he injured and not telling anyone? It really just made no sense how he took a major step in the wrong direction.

The good news is the expectations for Gignac remain low, so he can take his time getting to where he needs to be. He was a 3rd-round pick, and he may never live up to that projection, even though that’s not necessarily high. He just didn’t take the step in the right direction we were hoping to see.

Overall, Gignac is a long shot to ever show he’s an NHL player. The Devils have a plethora of top prospects that have lapped him at this point, and this was his season to prove the Devils wrong. Instead, he proved that he’s still three to four years away at a minimum, and players like that usually don’t make it. There are the rare occurrences like Blake Coleman, and Gignac has a similar demeanor so it’s definitely possible, but we need to see a lot more from him next season.