New Jersey Devils: Reilly Walsh Will Make Positive Impact

Reilly Walsh will make a positive impact on the New Jersey Devils soon.

The young players are the most important assets to the New Jersey Devils future. Reilly Walsh is one of those important players. The Devils selected Walsh with the 81st-overall pick (3rd round) in the 2017 NHL Draft. Since then, he attended Harvard University where he took major steps in his development. Some people were unsure if he would ever play for the Devils because the original plan was apparently for him to play his senior season with the Crimson, making him a free agent next year. He did decide to sign with New Jersey and will get his pro career started in 2020-21.

Walsh, in all likelihood, will start with the Binghamton Devils. There, he will have a chance to be a puck-moving defenseman on a really good team. It might be worth it to keep him down there where he should gain some valuable experience playing pro games that mean something. The big club probably isn’t going to be as good which might make things tough on a young defenseman.

With that said, there is a chance that he does make his NHL debut during whatever season we are given for 2020-21. When he gets there, some might think he will light it up right away but don’t count on it. It usually takes some time for young defensemen to get acclimated to the NHL after coming out of the NCAA. They are also easy to blame when things get tough and you really don’t want to put Walsh through that.

One of the key players around him at Harvard was Adam Fox. Fox made his NHL debut with the New York Rangers last season and was one of the best rookies in the entire league. Walsh wasn’t quite as productive in college as Fox was, so don’t expect him to be as good as him in the NHL. However, we can use it as a starting point. If Walsh was 80 percent as good as Fox in college, being 80 percent as good in his rookie season would be a major positive for the Devils.

Where Reilly Walsh succeeds, for the most part, comes with his passing ability. He has been able to quarterback a power play which helps him create for his teammates. He has also been known to use his big bomb of a shot when pucks are laid nicely for him. There is no doubt that if he reached all of this potential in the NHL he would be a key piece to the Devils future. Whenever hockey returns, it will be fun to see how he does with any chances he is given.