5 New Jersey Devils prospects whose failure still baffles us

4. Mattias Tedenby
120 NHL Games

This one is going to hurt a lot of our older (relatively) readers. Mattias Tedenby was a first-round pick under the Lou Lamoriello regime. He was taken 24th overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. He was taken ahead of players like John Carlson, Roman Josi, Derek Stepan, and current Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom. It’s not a great exercise to judge a draft by who was available because dozens of teams also missed those players, but it is ironic how often Lamoriello tried to get the heir apparent to Martin Brodeur, but he missed his chance so he could take a talented Swede. 

After the draft, Tedenby spent two seasons in Sweden before coming to North America. He was given a pretty legitimate shot right off the bat. He had 58 games in the NHL in that first season, and he was alright. He had 22 points, which is something to build off. Then, the next season he was terrible in the NHL. Like, truly awful. 

That was the season the Devils went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, so that team was stacked. Give Tedenby a chance to make a roster in the future, and maybe he can do better with more top-six opportunities. 

Then, it just got worse. He played just four games in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. He never found his game again, and he was back in Sweden and Russia for the rest of his career. So, what happened? Truly, it seems a constant change of coaching style pushed him aside. John MacLean seemed like he made it a point to make him work, but he didn’t last long. Jacques Lemaire and Peter DeBoer didn’t like his game, and he spent the rest of his North American career in the AHL. It follows a list of failed Swedish prospects, which now includes Alex Holtz.