New Jersey Devils: 5 Prospects Facing Make-Or-Break Seasons

Jesper Boqvist

Jesper Boqvist should have been penciled into that number-three center spot when Travis Zajac was sent to the New York Islanders. He wasn’t, although he did get a lot of games to prove himself last season. Boqvist played 28 games last season and put up seven points. There was no way that the Devils could just hand him a spot based on those numbers. He has to do much better than one point every four games if he wants to be a skilled forward in the NHL.

He’s only played one game for Utica as of this writing (he plays Friday night, but this was written before they take the ice). Right now, he’s not even playing with top prospect Alexander Holtz. He’s on a line with Nolan Foote, who is a top prospect himself, and Graeme Clarke. Maybe that was a decision due to chemistry since Holtz is new to the team, but after Holtz’s first performance, he needs to be with the best center on the team.

Is that Boqvist? He’s not even on the team’s first power-play unit. That’s very bad news for a player who was supposed to be a dynamic playmaker after the Devils took him in the 2nd round of the 2017 NHL Draft.

Boqvist is the one player facing the biggest challenges. The Devils are watching more and more young players take NHL spots, which means they will hold those spots for a long time. Boqvist isn’t guaranteed anything like he was in years past, and now he needs to prove he’s an NHL forward.