Prospect Info: Devils Prospect Rankings By Position

Guadana

Registered User
Mar 7, 2012
6,654
17,505
St Petersburg
If you include the US-NTDP, I would rank the USHL as the second best developmental league in the world outside of the CHL. I find the defensive play, physicality and skill all far ahead of the Swedish, Finnish and Russian juniors. I would argue that last year's Chicago Steel team could have seriously competed in the QMJHL or OHL.

The AJHL is a different story. Though it has caught up with the BCHL in recent years, the consistency of talent and coaching/development are just not up there with the CHL or USHL. The stats really should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm a big of fan of Carter Savoie as anyone, but the 52 goals he scored in 53 games with Sherwood Park last year would probably be cut in about half were he playing for the USHL or WHL.

As far as Ethan Edwards go, he scored a respectable 33 points in 50 games for Spruce Grove of the AJHL last year. It's going to be far more difficult for him the USHL, which is defensively more sound and more physical. Edwards lacks a standout quality and he's neither big nor a speedster, so it's going to be a big test for him in Sioux City. I'm hoping that with the year of development, he can continue to progress defensively and still put up similar scoring averages to last year.

I watched some qmjhl games and some mhl games and I don’t think defense in q is better. There are some really bad teams in mhl but if we talk about average level... I can’t remember sky numbers in mhl. 1.5-2 ppg in mhl are ridiculous numbers(only one or two players can do it per season), in ohl, whl and qjmhl... every day, nothing special(I'm exaggerating). Goalies are much better in mhl. And we are talking about translating of numbers.
Do I can trust any juniors league? No I don’t think so. If I can’t trust KHL, AHL or SHL in numbers translation how can I trust junior league? I still believe we should watch and rate skills no matter what league is it, but we should watch it in context.
 

NJ Fan 12

Registered User
Jun 23, 2020
1,372
507
Zaitsev is a huge wildcard for me. Toiling away in obscurity in the KHL, he might bet ahead of the Okhotyuk/Misyul/Vukojevic trio.


I like him, too. Think he has a hardness that brings a different component - and for that reason see him above some of the others.
 
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NJ Fan 12

Registered User
Jun 23, 2020
1,372
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i think reid boucher is a UFA, if we’re looking for higher end prospects

Seems like the KHL may be a better fit in terms of salary he can command. Big numbers in the AHL as a 26-year-old after being unable to secure a spot in three NHL lineups is hardly an indicator of NHL potential.
 

NJ Fan 12

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Jun 23, 2020
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I'd say there's maybe 7-8 guys that have a chance at the NHL with only 2 of them having a real shot at becoming elite.

Defensively theres not much to be excited about outside of Ty Smith. And that's a huge bummer for a team with such horrible defenseman.

Could not disagree more - though pessimism regarding anything Devils seems to be the norm both here at HF and in some of the fan blogs and podcasts.

Believe both White and Josh Jacobs (who I would have included in this group) have NHL potential and could have been in New Jersey last year had the season not gone south so quickly. I can't help thinking it was far better for their long term growth to be playing top
pair minutes on a team that was winning than shuffling between the press box and limited minutes in an environment that didn't seem very positive.

As for the younger prospects coming through the system, can't help thinking that with the likes of Bahl, Zaitsev, Okotyuk, and Vukojevic the organization is stocked with true defenders that have been lacking - possibly going back to the days of Stevens, Neidermayer and all. And that is without mentioning Misyul and Shak.

As in the glory days of the 1990's, when Devils picks like Scott Pellerin, Jason Smith and Jaroslav Modry all had long careers elsewhere with the glut of talent in New Jersey, this group seems to have an abundance of talented players.
 
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NJ Fan 12

Registered User
Jun 23, 2020
1,372
507
ah. so i don’t agree that we have no players knocking at the door; this is hard to do with covid-19, but i would say smith, bahl, foote, boqvist, holtz and bastian would be ready to make the jump in less than 12 months, and some are probably ready now. that’s excluding nico, hughes, and bratt.

Would add Seney, Kuokkanen, Sharangovich and one of either Jacobs or White to your list - maybe subtracting Foote and Boqvist (only because I think they'll need more time not that they aren't NHL prospects).
 
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billingtons ghost

Registered User
Nov 29, 2010
10,504
6,744
I’m not disagreeing with you other than there’s too much focus on the Devils doing terrible in drafts with no zero depth when they had no early picks. They did badly when it was a lot harder to do well but that’s understandable. What do I think is Conte’s most disastrous draft and my least favorite?

2009
120Jacob Josefson
254Eric Gelinas
373Alexander Urbom
4114Seth Helgeson
5144Derek Rodwell
6174Ashton Bernard
7204Curtis Gedwig
[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

See- that's a tough one for me. I get what you are saying - with all of the talent that was out there, why didn't we get at least one hit? I loved this draft at the time (at least until the 5th round) because all of the pieces had talent and looked legit.

I can't kill this draft, because it produced 4 players that played in the NHL while picking at the #20+ spot. JJ minus board-crashing shoulder injury *could* have been something - although I think we got caught up in this Swedish fetish and picked guys that seemed to have alot of polish to their game (already playing against men) but not the mental make up to play in North America. (and I include Larsson in that group, because I think his toolbox was there but he always looked uncomfortable from Day1)

With hindsight it is a complete debacle but at the time I thought we did well.

Tough thing to handicap prospects. I think STI's list (and I'm a huge STI fan) is way overly optimistic but I hope I'm wrong because I (and literally EVERYONE else) don't have alot of data points to go on. I don't even think Ty Smith is a shoe-in and his ceiling could be Butcher 2.0.. with slightly better wheels - but even that is questionable, because like MacLeod, language tends to fail us when talking about players skating and the effectiveness of their skating. All you need to do is look at Hughes and Wood and MacLeod to see that.

If I'm just to compare it to what I've seen in the past and be completely realistic, I think we see Smith, Bahl, Holtz, Mercer and Foote become regulars and then three or guys follow the Jacob Josefson/Mirco Mueller career trajectory (Boqvist, Maltsev, one or two of the Russians, Merkely) and then two or three end up injury plugs that log miles on the shuttle to the A (Bastian, MacLeod, Senney) until they don't get offered a contract or are sent away in a trade. The rest may never see the NHL (stuck in AHL, Russians might just stay in KHL) or get dealt before ever playing for this team. I'd be pleasantly surprised if even the above happened.
 

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