The New Jersey Devils have a lot of great young players headed to the World Junior Classic.
The New Jersey Devils are (hopefully) getting ready to get their long-awaited season underway after the turn of the calendar. They aren’t an easy team to predict going in but we do know they have some great young players who are going to make an impact for a long time. Even if they don’t rack up wins in 2021, we can watch with faith in the fact that they are young, talented, and developing. There are even some also plenty of young prospects to watch develop in leagues outside of the NHL.
The best place to see some of those players is in the World Junior Classic. It is one of the most important events on the hockey timeline because it showcases some of the game’s future best players. We saw kids like Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes dominate the tournament in years past and now they are great New Jersey Devils players.
When you are an organization as young as the current New Jersey Devils are, you are naturally going to be well represented in the tournament for that season. That is absolutely the case for the 2021 Devils. They are sending six prospects to the tournament which is a great number. That doesn’t even include Jack Hughes, who was not released to go by the Devils. He would have been a great addition to Team USA but he will be preparing for his second NHL season.
Team Sweden surely is lucky to have Alexander Holtz on their roster. Of every player that the New Jersey Devils are sending, he is the best one. He was the Devils first round (seventh overall) pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. There is a lot of hope invested in this kid as they believe he can be a top-six winger for them. He has the type of skills that should make one of the young centers really happy one day soon.
Dawson Mercer is going to be the lone Devils representative playing on Team Canada this year. He was their second first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. He is more of a two-way guy who makes people around him better because of his ability to do it all. With how stacked Team Canada is this year, he has a chance to play with some amazing players and win a Gold Medal for the second straight year.
Team Russia is the only team to receive two New Jersey Devils prospects as Shakir Mukhamadullin and Arseni Gritsyuk will be going. Mukhamadullin was New Jersey’s third and final first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. With his addition, all three of New Jersey’s 2020 first-round picks will be going to the tournament. As for Gritsyuk, he was a fifth-round (129th overall) pick by the Devils in 2019.
Jaromir Pytlik is a great young player that the Devils selected in the fourth round (99th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft. He plays for the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL usually but has been loaned to a club team in his native Czech Republic. He will represent his country in the 2020 World Juniors.
As mentioned before Jack Hughes isn’t going to play for Team USA. They do have an American representative, however, as Patrick Moynihan will play for them. USA Hockey has a lot of great talent so this should be a great opportunity for the former sixth-round pick. Moynihan currently goes to Providence College but has only been able to play in two games so far this season. Hopefully, this is a good experience for him and he can come back to school strong.
It is good that the Devils can send some of their talents over to this tournament. That means that they are doing a decent job drafting. This is also an opportunity to see some new players that haven’t been drafted yet which is always nice. We know how some of these kids can raise their stock by playing well in this tournament. This is going to be a fun event to watch and all New Jersey Devils are going to get a chance to see some prospects play that perhaps they haven’t been able to yet.