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

The Devils took two very similar forwards with their third-round picks, and they come up back-to-back here. Herman Traff is an interesting player who went much higher than many expected coming into last season. He proved himself in many aspects of the game, and that has some thinking this could be a steal by the Devils. His mid-to-long-range shooting has been a pleasant surprise for HV71 in the SHL. If he can continue scoring at an adult level, he could be signed by the Devils sooner than many expect. He’s been constantly surprising analysts, so that actually wouldn’t be a surprise. 

Kasper Pikkarainen is the other third-round pick, and while some believe he has a lower upside than Traff, there’s a reason he was ranked higher on draft boards, and the Devils took him first. He has a few lockdown traits that are great for the NHL. He does a lot really well, and the hope is that as he develops, much of that will turn into NHL-level traits. He’s incredibly young, and he has so much room to grow. Speaking of growth, he’s already 6’3, and at 17 years old, there’s a chance he will get even bigger. 

Josh Filmon is the Devils’ surprise of the 2022 NHL Draft. The Devils took him with the 166th-overall pick in the sixth round. To be fair to Filmon, some had him as a top-100 prospect in the 2022 draft, including TSN’s Craig Burton. Most assume that if the pandemic didn’t halt Canadian hockey, he would have a chance to really move up draft boards. Oh well, that’s every other team’s loss. After the Devils drafted Filmon, he immediately scored 47 goals for the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL. His numbers dropped significantly last year (27 goals in the same amount of games), but many believe he should be able to find the scoring touch in Utica again.