Pucks and Pitchforks
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5 Recent New Jersey Devils Prospects Who Never Lived Up To The Hype

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NJ - JANUARY 21: Jacob Josefson #16 of the New Jersey Devils of the New Jersey Devils prepares to play against the Ottawa Senators at the Prudential Center on January 21, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Senators 6-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - JANUARY 21: Jacob Josefson #16 of the New Jersey Devils of the New Jersey Devils prepares to play against the Ottawa Senators at the Prudential Center on January 21, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Senators 6-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Stefan Matteau #15 of the New Jersey Devils (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

5. Stefan Matteau

Stefan Matteau is still toiling around in the NHL, but we just don’t see him ever living up to that 2012 first-round pick. The 26 year old has played 73 career NHL games. He played 44 games for the New Jersey Devils before they traded him straight up for Devante Smith-Pelly. Even though the Devils were eventually forced to buy out a contract for Smith-Pelly, they won that trade like gangbusters.

Matteau was supposed to be a major goal scorer when he finally made it onto the New Jersey Devils. Well, he broke his career high in goals this season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He scored two. That’s right, he never scored more than one goal in a season with the Devils, or anyone else to be frank.

Matteau hurts even more because the Devils could have just given up the pick due to the punishment for cap circumvention tied to Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract. They made the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012, so it was unlikely any future pick would be worse. If the Devils gave that pick up, they would have been given the 10th-overall pick in 2014 instead of the 30th. Some of the players available here include Kevin Fiala, Dylan Larkin, and David Pastrnak (although he was taken 25th, so to say the Devils would take him at 10 might be a little disingenuous).

This one had us holding on to hope for the least amount of time for the players on this list, but we thought he was going to be something special. He ended up being another Matteau to break the hearts of Devils fans.

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