5 New Jersey Devils Prospects Who Could Turn Into Anything

Reilly Walsh

This is the best prospect that’s going to be on this list. Reilly Walsh is one of the Devils top-ten prospects and likely sits right around the top five. For a long time, it seemed like the Devils were going to lose him to free agency last season after he announced his desire to return to Harvard for his senior season. Well, things went a little haywire with the world and it didn’t seem possible to have a hockey season with the Crimson, so Walsh decided to sign with the team that drafted him.

Walsh now has a chance to make the Binghamton Devils a lot better on defense. Like their NHL club, it’s the team’s biggest weakness. Goalie Gilles Senn did his best to make up for the issues on the back end, but like would be so much better with a really good player leading the unit. Walsh legitimately has that kind of upside.

The issue with ranking Walsh is how he responded this season to a larger role. When he was asked to be an offensive defenseman on a team that had major hype, he was doing great. Once Adam Fox left the blue line, he was expected to be the leader there. He wasn’t bad last season, but he took a minor step back offensively from his very good sophomore season.

It’s to be expected. A larger role almost always starts with less offensive production at first for defensemen. These players are getting used to a whole new set of responsibilities. However, we’ve seen in the past a player losing his ability to score because of the new role. Look at Will Butcher. Walsh and Butcher are very similar players despite playing with different hands.

Walsh’s first year in Binghamton is going to be extremely important. If he can show us he’s ready to take another step in the right direction, he can be projected into future lineups. However, if he struggles, it could take some time before we know what he will be.