Chase Stillman’s name will always take the air out of the room for Devils fans, but he’s actually put up numbers this season. He was the Devils second first-round pick in 2021, taking him with the pick the Devils got in the Kyle Palmieri-Travis Zajac trade. Stillman grabbed headlines after he scored four goals in a game against the Mississauga Steelheads. Outside of that performance, Stillman has been better but not great. He didn’t come close to making Canada’s World Juniors roster. His compete level continues to be his greatest asset. It will be interesting to see where it eventually takes him.
Graeme Clarke is such an interesting prospect. He legitimately got a long look in the preseason, and he was scoring against NHL competition. He finished the preseason with two goals in four games. That’s not nothing! That just hasn’t translated back to the AHL. Clarke is eighth on the team in points with nine. He’s tied for third on the team in goals with four. He was supposed to take a big step forward this season with Alex Holtz graduating to the NHL (which has yet to happen full-time), but he’s failed to fill the hole in the goal-scoring department. There is still a lot to love about Clarke, but this prospect pool is stacked. A prospect can get lost quickly. Clarke has plenty of time to turn it back in his favor. However, he shouldn’t wait too long.
The Devils took a huge chance on Shakir Mukhamadullin at the 2020 NHL Draft, and it looks like he’s been passed up by a plethora of Devils defensive prospects. Mukhamadullin was with the Utica Comets to start the season, but he was loaned back to his KHL team Ufa. We haven’t heard a lot about why, but it seems to be a reason for his growth. He already has his career high for points in a season (13). Mukhamadullin was always a project. He was never going to be NHL-ready in two years. We should revisit the pick in two years to really make a proper analysis.
Josh Filmon is quite the story. He was the Devils most recent sixth-round pick. He was expecting to go in the third round, but he fell down the draft board. Tom Fitzgerald pounced at the chance to take Filmon, who is now using this as motivation (we assume based on his point production). He has 23 points in 20 games to start the season. He’s grown a couple of inches since all the draft stuff happened. He’s now 6’3. Honestly, if he was this tall going into the draft, he might go in the second round. Now, the Devils have this phenomenal asset that came at a rock-bottom price.
Nolan Foote is finally putting together the season we were hoping for since the Devils got him in the Blake Coleman trade. Foote has six goals in 17 games. He’s been one of the few bright spots in a weird Utica season. He’s third on the team in points and second in goals. He looks closer to being an NHL player. Is he someone who’s going to be ripping it up on the Devils soon? No, absolutely not. He does show positive progression, which is all you can ask for at this point.