Final Look At New Jersey Devils Prospects At World Junior Championships

Team Czech Republic – Jaromir Pytlik

Jaromir Pytlik had a chance to look really good on a short-handed Czech Republic team. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. They did not have a lot of drafted players on that Czech team, so Pytlik had the perfect chance to sign after the Devils drafted him in the 4th round. He only lasted one game before an injury knocked him out for the rest of the tournament. After he made the team last season, he was ready to make a real impact.

Pytlik looked really good in that one game. He had an assist against Sweden in a 7-1 rout against them. He missed the upset of the Russians. The Czech team was already low on talent compared to the rest of the teams in the tournament. Losing Pytlik was the nail in their coffin.

Overall, the tournament was fine for Devils prospects. Nobody really stood out. This is what happens when the two teams who made it to the gold medal game (Canada and USA) had Devils players on their fourth line. There was a chance things could have been great and Devils fans could have felt great about its prospects. It’s not like there’s any reason to feel worse about them, outside of the injuries, so that’s a positive.

However, nobody really made themselves known as a superstar yet. There’s still plenty of time for all of them.