14. New Jersey Devils – Score 82.2

Top 15 Prospects

Individual Breakdown

The New Jersey Devils have had some incredible lottery luck over the past few years. Two first overall picks, in Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, the fourth overall pick in 2021, and the second in 2022 is a pretty nice way to start a deep prospect pool. Despite being considered a playoff lock this season, they fell short, but there are certainly the pieces there to build a future contender. At the very top of these rankings are Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, who earned average scores of 8.8 and 8.7 respectively. These are two very high-end defensive prospects who are already playing important minutes in the NHL. I personally favour Nemec, who I believe adapted even better to the pro game this year than Luke Hughes, but there is definitely a case for both of them.

Beyond Hughes and Nemec, Alexander Holtz, another first round pick, earned an overall score of 7.4, which represents his high upside well, but equally puts into consideration his shortcomings in the NHL thus far. Defenseman Seamus Casey, who exudes offense and excitement earned a 7.0, and four other players, notably Nico Daws, Arseni Gritsyuk, Akira Schmid, and Lenni Hameenaho earned over a 5.0. That’s a lot of depth for a team that made the playoffs last year, and were very close this one.

There is equally siginificant lower-upside NHL depth in the system, with players like Nolan Foote and Kevin Bahl having already played games with the team.

Team Breakdown

It is difficult to say that this past season wasn’t a big disappointment for the New Jersey Devils, who missed the playoffs despite being not only considered a lock, but a frontrunner for the President’s trophy. However, big strides from Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes show the clear path towards contention for the team. While goaltending is their main issue, Nico Daws and Akria Schmid are both very solid prospects in net, and have both been key NHLers at different points for the team. The Devils aren’t going to be as patient as they should for one of them to take a step, however, as they are rumoured to be aggressive in the goalie market this off-season.

Alexander Holtz is a name that may be moved this off-season as he is not fitting as well as he could in New Jersey. Whether this is in a move for a more experienced NHLer (most likely), or for a similar prospect is yet to be seen. The New Jersey Devils have a lot of assets; they just need to build the right team.