The New Jersey Devils have a bunch of prospects that have high ceilings and low floors.
The New Jersey Devils aren’t littered with high-quality prospects across their pool. There are a few players we expect to play in the NHL at a high level. Nolan Foote was a great prospect to get from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Blake Coleman trade. Ty Smith is expected to make a big impact on the defense next season. Jesper Boqvist was dominant at times in the AHL, and he should be able to transition to the NHL next season.
These are prospects we feel confident in projecting as NHL players in the near future. Other prospects can literally become anything. Future star player in the NHL? Sure. Perennial 30-goal scorer? Yeah, I can see that. How about a fan favorite defenseman who does everything right? That’s definitely a possibility. Can they fall flat on their face and never make the NHL? It’s definitely in the realm of possibility. (We’re getting major Dwight vibes right now.)
The Devils have one of the top ten ranked prospect pools. Unlike their rivals across the Hudson River, their prospect pool is all about quantity. There are a lot of prospects to like. Some have already spent some time in the NHL like Joey Anderson, Janne Kuokkanen, and Michael McLeod. Others haven’t even stepped onto North American soil to play the world’s greatest sport.
Projections for prospects are wrong constantly. We ran across this rankings from Bleacher Report in 2012. There are some very familiar names (hey Kyle!). Others didn’t make the list at all (Nikita Kucherov isn’t on the list in his draft-plus-one season.) Prospects projection is a place where people are constantly wrong. This is nothing new. There’s a reason there are major busts in the NHL Draft every year. Even those who do this for a living get these wrong.
The Devils have so many prospects that it feels it’s impossible to project them. This isn’t seeing a 1st-round pick and figuring out their role. This is wondering whether a player could be a 10-year contributor on an NHL roster or someone who might be lucky to even make the league one day. There are so many variables, but there’s enough to get excited about that we have hope.