5 Players You May Not Realize Aren’t New Jersey Devils Anymore

Chase DeLeo

Chase DeLeo came to the Devils organization after spending his first few years with the Anaheim Ducks organization. He made an immediate impact on the Utica Comets. He was their leading scorer as some team in this organization finally made the playoffs. However, as soon as he could, he went back to the Ducks organization. He is a California boy, and he’s going back home. That’s how he put it on Twitter.

DeLeo played well but didn’t get the same opportunities as a lot of the other AHL forwards. He only played two NHL games last season. An organization like the Ducks who invested more in him, they would be more likely to give him an NHL shot. While they didn’t draft him, they brought him in as a hometown boy.

DeLeo didn’t have a huge shot to make the NHL roster this season. Even if he repeated his AHL production, the Devils have a long line of forwards looking for NHL minutes. DeLeo is getting older, and his NHL dream is dwindling if he’s not in the right situation. The Devils clearly weren’t that situation, so it makes a lot of sense that he’s moving on. Even though he’s going to be missed on the Utica side of things, the fanbase as a whole likely won’t notice he’s gone.