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New Jersey Devils Prospect Pyramid Headed Into 2020-21

By Vincent Parise

KELOWNA, BC - MARCH 03: Ty Smith #24 of the Spokane Chiefs skates to the bench against the Kelowna Rockets at Prospera Place on March 3, 2018 in Kelowna, Canada. (Photo by Marissa Baecker/Getty Images)
KELOWNA, BC - MARCH 03: Ty Smith #24 of the Spokane Chiefs skates to the bench against the Kelowna Rockets at Prospera Place on March 3, 2018 in Kelowna, Canada. (Photo by Marissa Baecker/Getty Images) /
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New Jersey Devils Jack Hughes
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The New Jersey Devils Prospect Pyramid is out ahead of the 2020-21 season.

The New Jersey Devils are a very young organization. They have a few veterans there now but they are mostly loaded with young players that they hope lead them for a long time. They made two number one picks with Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, have a young goalie in Mackenzie Blackwood, and some other young studs that have already impressed like Jesper Bratt. There are some young players that haven’t become full-time NHLers yet that are looking to make an impact at the NHL level.

The prospects are the key to this team taking the next step. We are fairly certain that the core they are building is going to take the next step at some point but they will need support. There are a lot of great players that are trying to develop into great NHL players. There are a lot of reasons to be excited about this team and the list of great prospects is one of them.

The Prospect Pyramid is a tool developed by Steve “Dangle” Glynn of Sportsnet where instead of ranking the prospects by number, they are put into six tiers on a pyramid. Each tier on the pyramid is ranked but the prospects in each tier come in no particular order.

Tier One

The New Jersey Devils no longer have a tier-one prospect. They have had one on two of the last three prospect pyramids, but this year is a year where there won’t be one. The spot is reserved for players that you are extremely confident will be good players right away. Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier were both that for New Jersey.

Hughes struggled at times, but he absolutely belonged in the league at 18 years old, which is something almost no one in the world of hockey can say. This tier is for those prospects that have a very small chance of being busts. They might not always become superstars (they mostly do), but they will impact your lineup in a positive way in a short amount of time. If the Devils remain without a tier-one prospect for a while, that would mean that their other players have started to win a lot more.

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