The New Jersey Devils are enjoying the fruits of their drafting labor this offseason. They've already signed 2019 fifth-round pick Arseni Gritsyuk and 2023 second-round pick Lenni Hameenaho. Both players are expected to make big impacts on the Devils next season and beyond. Getting prospects in the early years of their career is important to keep a team in the contention window.
Every year, teams have to decide whether to sign a player too early in their development and play them in the AHL or if they want to lose rights to those players completely. Of course, the player has a choice in the matter as well, as prospects could decide to either put themselves back in the draft pool or become a free agent after their next amateur season.
But there's a new wrench in the process. The prospects who are drafted out of major Junior hockey have their rights owned by their NHL team for two seasons. If a player goes the NCAA route, the rights are owned for three seasons. That was pretty straight forward when players in the CHL weren't allowed to jump to the NCAA as easily as they can now.
The New Jersey Devils likely have a second chance with prospect Cole Brown
With new agreements in place, players from Canada can leave the CHL and play in the NCAA. That just happened with former Devils sixth-round pick Cole Brown. He made a jump with the Brantford Bulldogs last season, scoring 33 goals in 67 games. He turned that into a new opportunity with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team.
That move to the NCAA also confuses his rights, as it is not clear whether he is still a member of the Devils, but many expect there to be an extension of rights when a player jumps from the CHL to American college hockey. The expectations is this will extend rights another two years.
This would be important for the Devils, as Cole Brown needs some time to prove what he is. Many older players in Juniors excel. Brown did what we expected him to do, but now he has a chance to prove it at the NCAA level.