Final Look At New Jersey Devils Prospects At World Junior Championships

Team Russia – Arseni Gritsyuk

Arseni Gritsyuk was one of the best performers of the New Jersey Devils prospects. He was actually one of the best players for Russia over the entire tournament. He had four points over six games and often played a middle-six role for a good Russia team. In the bronze medal game, which Gritzyuk missed with an injury, his absence was glaringly obvious.

Gritzyuk provided a spark every time he was off the bench for the Russians. Outside of Semyon Chistyakov, he probably grew his stock most of any Russian player. Gritsyuk went from a player with little expectations outside of the hope he could eventually move up to the KHL to a talented prospect with scoring upside.

It was unfortunate that he missed the bronze medal game. Getting him as much experience in this tournament as possible was always going to be a good thing. His jersey was hanging up during the game, so clearly he made a mark on his teammates. Hopefully, his injury isn’t serious. He’s one Devils player coming out of this tournament that will likely miss time. We saw before how that impacted Aarne Talvitie.

Gritsyuk still had a positive experience overall. He got a chance to play really well against a stacked Canada team. He was one of the only Russian standouts in that game.