New Jersey Devils: Prospect Pyramid Headed Into 2021-22

Tier Four:

• Samu Salminen
• Nikola Pasic
• Topias Vilen
• Michael Vukojevic
• Fabian Zetterlund
• Arsemi Gritsyuk

This is always the most interesting because these are good players that have a lot of developing to do. Sometimes you watch them and think that they should be higher but they never go above and beyond to take that next step.

It will be fun to see who of this group can make an ascension up the ladder as the year goes on. One player to keep an eye on here is Michael Vukjevic. He has risen a lot lately and could eventually be an NHL player.

Tier Five:

• Patrick Moynihan
• Zakhar Bardakov
• Daniil Misyul
• Jaromir Pytlik

Tier five is the type of tier that is hard to rank. These are prospects who have a long way to go in their development but are worth enough to have their name mentioned individually. None of these guys are locks to be NHL players but could turn it on at any given time.

Yegor Sharangovich was in my tier five last season and we all know what he did. He is now a legit threat to lead the New Jersey Devils in goals. He was one behind the team lead last year just a few months after being a tier five player. You just never know with some of these prospects.

Tier Six:

Everyone else not named is in tier six. Steve Dangle’s version is the exact same way. If there is a prospect that you are thinking of that isn’t ranked above, they are in tier six. It would be really cool to see one of these players rise from the shadows and make an impact one day but don’t expect it too soon.

To go with the aforementioned Sharangovich, Ty Smith, Jesper Boqvist, Michael McLeod, Janne Kuokkanen, and Nathan Bastian (who is now a Seattle Kraken) are all players on last year’s edition that won’t be there this year. They have all made enough contributions in the NHL now (in different ways) to be removed from this year’s pyramid.

Hopefully, that many can continue to come off for the right reasons as the years go on. Things are looking bright in New Jersey. There are already great young players on the NHL roster and more are coming.