Last season, perhaps no Devils' prospect had as disappointing a season relative to expectations as college freshman Ben Kevan, who was one of two Devils' 2025 second-round picks to play in the NCAA in 2025-26.
At the time, the pick was a consensus steal relative to where he was originally likely to go. The reality is, though, his freshman performance was just four goals and six assists in 34 games while sporting a minus-12 rating in a bottom-six role. Suffice to say, the anticipation was that he would perform significantly better than that output.
Worse still, six of his ten total points (two goals, four assists) came in a five-game span near the end of the season. Kevan even endured a point-less stretch of 15 games in the middle of the season. If anything was encouraging about the season for the now-19-year-old, it's that his point explosion came on the back of an expanded role. Cullen Potter went down with an injury at the tail end of the season, and Kevan was the one to take his role on the second line.
Ben Kevan still has a chance to prove himself in the NCAA
In that role, he had six points in nine games -- all of which came in that aforementioned five-game stretch -- and looked far more like the explosive-skating, smooth-dangling forward he looked like in his draft year.
The great news entering 2026-27 is that he looks poised to maintain that top-six role. Both of Arizona State University's top-line wingers (and their two top point-getters) were seniors this past season and thus will not be continuing their careers with the college. Sure, Potter will be back in the lineup, and the Sun Devils acquired four forwards in the transfer portal, but none of the new blood performed better than Kevan did this past season except for Linwood University sophomore Olivier Houde.
With an off-season of training and development and more opportunity ahead of him, Kevan should reasonably reset expectations to what they were pre-draft. He has always been dynamic off the rush, and an increased role with more offensive responsibility will do him well in showing that off while growing on the cycle.
Perhaps no prospect within the Devils' pipeline has as much riding on 2026-27 than Kevan does, but the good news is that he looks poised to take a tangible step forward.
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