New Jersey Devils Top 25 Prospects ahead of 2024-25 preseason

Daniil Orlov seems to be dealing with a demotion to start this season. After playing 60 games with the Moscow Spartak of the KHL last season, Orlov started this season in the VHL, their equivalent of the minor leagues. He’s a really good skater, which usually makes life easier for defensemen in the Russian league. However, we have to see how this develops before assessing his development. If he spends the entire season in the VHL (which seems unlikely), then it’s a lost season of NHL development. He gains nothing in the VHL. However, he has a good skill set and could grow into an NHL player with the right development.

It’s hard to predict where Tyler Brennan will end up by the end of this season. He has shown promise in the past, but he’s kind of stuck behind quite a few other prospects. Even with Akira Schmid going the way of the Dodo bird, at least when it comes to the Devils organization, he’s still behind at least six options both on the roster, the Comets roster, and elsewhere in the prospect pool. Still, he’s going to be the starter for the ECHL Adirondack Thunder. He has a chance to show he shouldn’t be forgotten about. However, if he doesn’t do it this season, there’s a chance he ends up with another organization entirely.

Samu Salminen is another prospect with whom we don’t know how to properly evaluate, but it’s for a completely different reason than anyone else. His situation is unique because he’s finally going to where he was supposed to develop two years ago. Salminen was supposed to leave his native Finland for the powerhouse University of Denver. However, admissions issues caused him to be deemed ineligible (or at least it appeared that’s where this was heading), and he was forced to commit to the University of Connecticut. To his credit, he gave it two years to work out, but the highly-touted prospect had two underwhelming years at the non-traditional hockey school, and now he’s transferred to Denver to play under head coach David Carle. He was literally getting NHL interviews (including possibly with the Devils), so he knows what it takes to get him ready for the next level.