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A couple of days ago, I gathered some data from LB-Hockey’s line compatibility tool and used it to “optimize” the New Jersey Devils’ forward corps. After all, the tool is designed to capture combinations of players with different skillsets that complement each other — a great example from the piece is Jack Hughes theoretically working quite well with Timo Meier because Meier brings things Jack does not (checking, in particular). LB-Hockey’s tool uses microstatistics — tracked data that shows what a player is doing on and around the puck — and an in-house expected goals (xG) model to draw these conclusions. Today, I wanted to do the same exercise, but with the defensive corps.

LB-Hockey uses Standings Points Above Replacement (SPAR) as the preferred metric of evaluation — think of it as a version of Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

As with the forward lines, please do note that analytics is but a piece of the puzzle — there are obviously other factors that go into pairings and chemistry. These aren’t necessarily what I would do personally, but they are the combinations that make the models the happiest.

Without wasting any more words, let’s talk about the defense pairs:

Pair 1: Luke Hughes & Brett Pesce

Unsurprisingly, the Devils’ first pair in this exercise is the often-used Luke Hughes - Brett Pesce pairing. Not only have they sported superb underlying numbers whenever they’re paired together, but the microstatistics believe that they’re the best first-pair combo the Devils have. Predictably, Hughes dominates the offensive categories between the two, while Pesce handles the defensive side of things admirably.

Luke’s best category is transition offense (97th percentile), a predictable outcome for the type of player he is. He also grades out well in passing (87th percentile), shooting (72nd), and chance generation (69th). Between Luke and Pesce, the former also leads the charge in breakouts, finishing in exactly the 50th percentile.

As previously mentioned, Pesce is certainly the better of the two in terms of defensive metrics, which is the predominant reason that their chemistry rating is +0.6 SPAR. He ranks in the 97th percentile for checking, the 96th for transition defense, and the 83rd for in-zone suppression. Offensively, while he places below average in breakouts, shooting, and passing, he ranks in the 50th percentile for transition offense and the 53rd for offensive generation.

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The underlying numbers reflect the microstatistical chemistry, to be sure. The two of them have logged exactly 1320 minutes together at 5v5 since Pesce joined the team, and their on-ice numbers are excellent. In that time, the pairing has an expected goal share (xGF%) of 53.04%, as per NaturalStatTrick. They have also controlled 53.53% of the shot attempts, 55.52% of the scoring chances, and 52.79% of the high-danger chances. They’ve been a bit unlucky, though, with the team only scoring about 45% of the actual goals while they’re on the ice. It stands to reason that they’re due for some positive regression there, especially as Luke continues to develop. After all, his raw tools give the impression that he can and should be a top-tier defenseman in the NHL.

Pair 2: Declan Chisholm & Dougie Hamilton

In terms of SPAR, a second pairing of Declan Chisholm and Dougie Hamilton would yield the best result, according to the model. Similarly to the top pair, Hamilton acts as the offensive driver of the two, and Chisholm can adequately handle the defensive side of the puck.

Hamilton’s strengths lie in shooting (99th percentile), transition offense (80th percentile), and chance generation (77th percentile. He’s also the better passer of the two, finishing in the 56th percentile in that regard. Interestingly, though Chisholm has the advantage in checking and transition defense, Dougie also ranks favorably in those regards, placing in the 66th and 63rd percentiles, respectively. He’s a perfectly adequate all-around defenseman with a worse rap than he deserves.

Chisholm, meanwhile, has always put up favorable numbers from an underlying perspective, and that remains the case in terms of his microstatistics as well. He’s an expert retriever, and, as such, finishes well in terms of breakouts (66th percentile). He’s excellent in transition defense (79th percentile), in-zone suppression (73rd), and checking (68th) to boot. He also is a plus in transitional offense (66th), passing (53rd), and chance generation (52nd).

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All told, then, on paper, this second pairing should be capable of playing sound two-way hockey and winning their minutes. Dougie will always have an under-appreciated defensive game and Chisholm is a sort of Pesce-esque, do-it-all, two-way blueliner.

The interesting part of this exercise is that it is yet another feather in the cap of those who believe that Chisholm will not be riding pine to start the season. He gets paid $1.6 million, and that alone should question his purpose on the depth chart, but the underlying numbers are extremely favorable. We all know just how much Sunny Mehta values that, and he has spoken extremely highly of Chisholm before.

Pair 3: Jonas Siegenthaler & Johnathan Kovacevic

From a microstat and SPAR standpoint, Brenden Dillon unfortunately does not make the cut, instead leaving the third pair to consist of Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnathan Kovacevic. It’s a purely shutdown pair, with neither one of them grading out past the 48th percentile in any offensive statistic, something Kovacevic does for both passing and shooting.

Instead, as they were deployed when they were both healthy in 2024-25, they’d be tasked with the shutdown minutes. Both Siegenthaler and Kovacevic rank favorably in checking, both of them finishing in the 67th percentile. Though Siegenthaler is better at the other defensive metrics in this model, Kovacevic still ranks in the 52nd percentile for suppression and the 77th for transition defense. Siegenthaler, though, places in the 76th and 96th percentiles, respectively.

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When the two of them are playing up to their standards, they’ve proven to be a lethal defensive duo. In 2024-25, among the 62 defensive pairings to play at least 500 minutes together, Siegenthaler and Kovacevic had the lowest expected goals against per hour (xGA/60). They allowed the third-fewest shots on goal against per hour (SA/60), the ninth-fewest shot attempts against per hour (CA/60), the second-fewest scoring chances against per hour (SCA/60), and the fewest high-danger chances against per hour (HDCA/60). They were the best defensive tandem in the league, and a down year from Siegenthaler paired with a rough injury from Kovacevic neutered their on-ice numbers.

It stands to reason that they can rekindle that success in 2026-27, barring any setbacks.

Again, the numbers are just one part of the equation. The reasoning behind these pairings is sound, though, and the Devils would be in a better spot than they are on paper if we assume development and positive regression. It could be that they have one of the better defensive corps in the Metro if everything goes well.

The trio begin the first half of the episode by outlining the Devils for the upcoming 2026-27 season, from the off-season Sunny Mehta has had to regression candidates to problems still ailing the team. From there, JP and Jake pick Dimitri’s brain about analytics and their usage, and the balance between them and the eye test.

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And, of course, listen to the Devils’ Advocates Podcast on your favorite platforms below:

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Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts

We are quickly approaching NHL training camp, with rookies reporting for duty in just 13 days. While there are still seemingly some on-paper moves to make to shed roster spots and salary prior to the regular season beginning, it seems like a prudent thing to do to start thinking about line combinations.

With that, I wanted to take some time to look at the combinations that would best serve the New Jersey Devils from a conceptual, underlying standpoint.

To do so, I’ll be using LB-Hockey’s line compatibility tool, which uses NHL players’ microstatistics to assign a number to different facets of the game: passing, offensive generation, transition offense, breakouts, transition defense, defensive suppression, checking, and shooting. Theoretically, it stands to reason that players who have gaps in their game (Jack Hughes’ checking abilities, for example) would benefit from a player who excels in that facet of the game (like Arseny Gritsyuk or Timo Meier). That’s exactly what this model aims to cover.

LB-Hockey uses Standings Points Above Replacement (SPAR) as the preferred metric of evaluation — think of it as a version of Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

Without further ado, let’s jump into it and go line by line.

Line 1: Timo Meier - Jack Hughes - Jesper Bratt (+0.9 SPAR)

The “ideal” first line for New Jersey, of course, features Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. Joining them is perhaps a surprising name in Timo Meier, who many seem to believe has not paired particularly well with the center he’s penciled in next to here. The truth is, though, that even beyond the conceptual combination of the two — a bull-in-a-china-shop power forward playing next to an all-world playmaker — their underlying numbers are actually quite strong together. According to NaturalStatTrick, the duo has an expected goal share (xGF%) of 53.77% together in 521:06 of playing time in the last three seasons. The fact is, as with much of the Devils’ roster, they’ve simply been snakebitten, with a PDO of .986 in those minutes.

500-ish minutes isn’t a huge sample size over three seasons, either. Perhaps it’s worth another look, as further evidenced by the microstatistical mesh the two have. As expected, the leader in percentile for all of passing, offensive generation, transition offense, and breakouts is Hughes, who ranks in at least the 94th percentile for each metric. That includes a 100th percentile finish for transition offense and a 98th percentile finish for passing. Jesper Bratt isn’t far behind him in any of those metrics, ranking in the 94th, 92nd, 95th, and 89th percentiles respectively. He also sports the best numbers of the trio in transition defense (75th percentile) and defensive suppression (39th percentile).

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Meier, meanwhile, lands in the 97th percentile for both shooting and checking metrics, the latter of which is far and away the best of the three.

The reality is, a line of Meier, Hughes, and Bratt doesn’t really need excellent shot suppression metrics to succeed — it stands to reason that an all-out offensive top line with players that have such strong possession metrics will have the puck the vast, vast majority of the time. Defending the neutral zone is much more important than playing in-zone defense for them, and each of the three players ranks in at least the 50th percentile for that facet of the game. To me, as much as Meier has shown chemistry with Nico Hischier over the years, this line is absolutely worth a long, hard look.

Line 2: Arseny Gritsyuk - Nico Hischier - Dawson Mercer (+0.4 SPAR)

Hischier will, of course, be centering the theoretically optimal second line, joined by Dawson Mercer and Arseny Gritsyuk on the flanks. This gives the Devils another first-round caliber line, but one more focused on being a two-way machine than a purely offensive group.

Hischier, predictably, grades out the best of the three in terms of both shooting and passing, ranking in the 83rd and 84th percentiles, respectively. He is also far and away the best breakout player of the three (97th percentile). Expectedly, he also ranks as well above-average across the board, living up to the consensus of being one of the most well-rounded players in the NHL. His “worst” facet of the game is in defensive suppression, which he ranks in the 63rd percentile in.

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That’s all fine, though, considering that Gritsyuk is already one of the best suppression forwards in the game. He ranks in the 93rd percentile in that regard, placing similarly highly in transition defense (89th percentile) and checking (86th). Gritsyuk is also the best of the trio in terms of transition offense (91st) and offensive generation (83rd), though Hischier is close in both (89th, 75th). Mercer, candidly, only places positively in passing, suppression, and checking, placing below or well-below average in everything else. The good news is that Hischier and Gritsyuk more than hide Mercer’s deficiencies, still giving them a statistical chemistry boost of +0.4 SPAR.

Line 3: Evan Rodrigues - Cody Glass - Anthony Mantha (+0.1 SPAR)

The Devils’ ideal third line would consist of Cody Glass, Evan Rodrigues, and Anthony Mantha, and they grade out as more of a second line than a third line. It’s one of the more well-balanced lines on the team, too, even if their total SPAR isn’t world-beating.

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Down the middle, Glass leads the group in transition defense (88th percentile) and breakouts (77th percentile), though it should be noted that he also ranks positively in shot suppression (66th) and shooting (56th). Rodrigues, a new addition to the Devils, is an excellent suppressive forward in his own right, ranking in the 90th percentile in that facet of the game and the 83rd for checking. He’s also the best passer of the group, placing in the 72nd percentile for passing. Presumably, he would be the primary playmaker for Mantha, who sits in the 93rd percentile for shooting. His 33 goals last season came predominantly in a similar role to this projected third-line deployment, so it stands to reason that he can produce similarly with these linemates as well. His 84th percentile finishes in both transition offense and chance generation also handily lead the group.

With this third line, the Devils should, in theory, be able to use them in a two-way capacity, giving some defensive responsibilities against middle-six competition while also being able to score off of Rodrigues’s playmaking chops and Mantha’s transitional finishing capabilities. Glass and Rodrigues are strong in retrievals and extending possession, and having a complementary finisher would suit them well.

Line 4: Stefan Noesen - Jesper Boqvist - Connor Brown (+0.2 SPAR)

Finally, that leaves a fourth line of Stefan Noesen, Jesper Boqvist, and Connor Brown, ultimately omitting Nick Bjugstad from the roster. In theory, the concept is sound — Noesen is someone who thrives on the physical side of things and has some shooting talent as a netfront presence. Boqvist, meanwhile, is a genuinely sound in-zone defender and the best transition defense option the Devils have left. Brown, meanwhile, is the biggest offensive threat of the three, being the only one who grades out as above-average in transition or on the breakout.

Noesen has far and away the biggest isolated impact on any tracked metric, ranking in the 95th percentile for checking. Boqvist’s suppression impact of the 64th percentile is second-best, followed by Brown’s transition attack (60th) and breakout (56th) finishes. None of the other four facets of the game have a player on this line who ranks in at least the 50th percentile. That’s perfectly fine, though — it is a fourth line after all. Its total impact of +2.9 SPAR ranks as a third line, too, giving credence to the thought that perhaps they would be far more impactful against the opposition’s fourth lines than the visualization would make you believe.

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Obviously, it’s impossible to tell what Amadeus Lombardi brings to the table, given that he has yet to set foot in the NHL to begin with. That said, on paper, and according to LB-Hockey’s model, these are the lines that would bring the Devils the most success from a stylistic, microstatistical standpoint. Each and every one of their lines has a positive chemistry number associated with it, with the lines being considered two first lines, a second line, and a third line, according to their respective SPAR totals. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Of course, keep in mind that analytics are just one piece of the puzzle (though it should be noted that microstatistics, by definition, are a measure of the eye test). There are plenty of other factors that go into deciding what is truly “optimal,” but this seems to be a pretty sound combination of lines regardless.

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It’s undeniable that the New Jersey Devils have done well to flesh out their roster, in particular focusing on bringing in depth pieces to bolster the lineup from the bottom up. Additions of Jesper Boqvist, Amadeus Lombardi, Declan Chisholm, and Vladislav Kolyachonok have seemingly ironed out the bottom of the roster at each respective position, while Evan Rodrigues and Anthony Mantha being added to the lineup should result in a couple of players getting bumped down.

Suffice to say, it’s a crowded roster at this point in time.

That said, Professional Tryout (PTO) players should always be welcome. After all, more competition for roster spots is never a bad thing, and it’s certainly possible to capture lightning in a bottle one in a blue moon with the right player in the right spot with a PTO. With that in mind, let’s chat about some options New Jersey has for PTOs — one at each position:

Patrik Laine (RW)

I’m a bit surprised Patrik Laine — a player I have written about extensively here — has yet to sign a contract with any team. Is he injury-prone? Absolutely. Does he have defensive deficiencies? Undeniably. Have his on-ice metrics habitually been putrid? Sure have!

However, Laine can shoot the rock like few in the league. In each and every season of the 28-year-old’s career, he has surpassed, in actual production, the number of goals he was expected to score. He has a career shooting percentage (SH%) of 14.8% and scored 20 goals or more in every season in which he surpassed 50 games played, including a 2024-25 season in which he logged 52 games on the fourth line and first power-play unit for the Canadiens. The thought of what he could do alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt — who would be the two best playmakers he has ever played with — is simply tantalizing.

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The Devils had a league-worst team-wide 5v5 SH% of 7.2% and ranked second-worst in all-situations SH% (9.3%). It stands to reason that some of those woes will be alleviated by a presumably healthy roster, some positive regression, and the shooting talent added to the roster (Mantha in particular), but I don’t think there’s such a thing as too much shooting talent on any roster.

Adding him on a PTO to see if there is legitimate chemistry with 86 & 63 might not be such a bad idea, even if there are concerns about his health. It’s not too often that a potential 40-goal threat is available as a tryout.

Oliver Kylington (LHD)

It has been two seasons since 29-year-old defenseman Oliver Kylington last played in the NHL. He most recently logged a 25-game season in the SHL, playing middle-pair minutes for Djurgårdens IF and putting up one goal and eight total points in that span.

Once upon a time, though, he was a highly thought-of blueliner, reaching his peak value in a 2021-22 season in which he produced 31 points in 73 games with the Calgary Flames with superb underlying numbers. Following that breakout campaign, he dealt with a severe battle against mental illness, ultimately missing the entire 2022-23 season and the first half of the 2023-24 season because of it. Since then, he has dealt with a myriad of injuries that have prevented him from logging as many games as he is worthy of playing.

In his 19 2024-25 NHL games between the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks, he put up five points and strong underlying numbers, with an expected goal share (xGF%) well over 50%. To boot, his individual impacts were excellent as well:

The fact that his Z-scores were so positive in a model designed not to overreact to small sample sizes is telling — over the course of a full season, he would have graded out quite well. In 2024-25, he ranked as being the 62nd-best defenseman (of 291 with at least 50 minutes of EV time) in the NHL in terms of his isolated impact on shot attempts on a per-60 basis. That’s a 79th percentile finish, and he ranked in the 76th percentile for his individual impact on xG as well.

Clearly, there’s something there.

Being a left-handed blueliner does not do him any justice within a Devils’ organization that already has five lefties signed to one-way contracts, but at worst, he can be a valuable member of the Utica Comets. He’s shown time and time again that he has the juice to compete at the NHL level.

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Matt Murray (G)

The Devils seem likely to have a three-goalie rotation at the NHL level between Jake Allen, Nico Daws, and David Rittich. None of the three goaltenders are really capable of logging starter minutes at this point in time, and there certainly is an argument that if one of them goes down with injury, the Devils could be in trouble.

This holds especially true since the Utica Comets’ presumed #1, Jakub Málek, has not appeared in a single NHL game in his career and had his inaugural season in North America in 2025-26. He struggled at first with his adjustment to the pace of AHL hockey before ultimately settling in, but I don’t think he would be the ideal call-up at this point in time.

Beyond that, unless the Devils plan to give the AHL backup reins to Jeremy Brodeur, who has spent most of his career in the ECHL, or Seth Eisele, who has one AHL game under his belt at 27, they’ll also need someone behind Málek.

With that in mind, Matt Murray is an intriguing PTO option in net. The 32-year-old has 279 career NHL appearances under his belt, with a .910 SV% and a +0.27 goals saved above expected (GSAx) in those games. He most recently played to the tune of a +2.27 GSAx in five games with the Seattle Kraken in 2025-26 and has been superb in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies.

It’s a bit surprising that Murray has remained unsigned to this point — or at least that he has not been offered a PTO — but the Devils can capitalize on the other 31 teams being quiet on that front. At the least, they’re getting a capable veteran backup to Málek who can teach him a few things, push him, and provide the Comets with competent backstopping when called upon.

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Though these three players are the most intriguing to me personally, there are certainly some other potential fits for New Jersey. Pavol Regenda and Adam Henrique could be potential fits up front, while the likes of John Klingberg and Mike Reilly make sense on the back end.

Regardless, we’re just a few days from September, which means we’re rapidly nearing closer to training camp. Expect PTO signings accordingly.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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In recent days, I have written about how Luke Hughes and Arseny Gritsyuk are both poised for a step forward in their respective games, with Luke potentially breaking out into a top-pair-caliber defenseman and Gritsyuk likely producing far more than he did this past campaign.

On the other side of the spectrum is Cody Glass, a player I have been extremely high on for quite a while. In the past, I have cited him as arguably the best pure third-line center in the league (in the sense that I was not counting 2Cs playing that role in that exercise) and have said that he is one of the premier defensive forwards in the game.

Both of those are still true to some extent. Of course, it is difficult to gauge what the 3C landscape will look like in the midst of the 2026-27 season, but past performance and age make me believe Glass will still be in the upper ranks of the 3C tier list. By most accounts, his defensive game is consistently excellent compared to the average NHLer.

With those in mind, though, there are a couple of reasons to temper expectations. Today, let’s talk about them.

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Reliance on Gritsyuk in 2025-26

Cody Glass logged 848:40 of 5v5 time in 2025-26, with the vast majority of it on the third line. 350:30 (41.3%) of it was spent next to Gritsyuk, and that figure would have been significantly higher were Gritsyuk and Glass healthier throughout the course of the season — they missed a combined 28 games. Regardless, the point stands that quite a bit of Glass’s time was spent with the rookie.

In their minutes together, the duo was relatively unstoppable. They controlled 58.87% of the shot attempts, 58.57% of the shots on goal, 55.36% of the expected goals (xG), and 53.24% of the scoring chances, all per NaturalStatTrick. Those are all incredible outputs; undeniable testaments to how potent a duo they were, especially when firing on all cylinders.

As noted in yesterday’s piece, Gritsyuk is the type of player who makes everyone better. The problem arises when looking at Glass’s numbers away from his counterpart.

You see, away from Gritsyuk, Glass had the following drop in his statistics:

Shot attempt share (CF%): 58.87% → 47.99% | (-10.88%)
Shot on goal share (SF%): 58.57% → 46.72% | (-11.85%)
xG share (xGF%): 55.36% → 45.09% | (-10.27%)
Scoring chance share (SCF%): 53.24% → 48.05% | (-5.19%)

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Pretty jarring, right? Especially considering that Glass spent nearly half of his ice time at 5v5 alongside Gritsyuk, this certainly could and should be considered subpar. What happens if Gritsyuk isn’t his linemate in 2026-27? What happens if Gritsyuk gets hurt? The statistics show a player who seriously struggles without his favorite linemate.

Likelihood of Individual Shooting Regression

Glass scored a career-high 19 goals in 2025-26, five more than he had ever scored before. While that in and of itself is not worrisome, what is is that he did so while putting just 104 shots on net, producing a shooting percentage (SH%) of 18.3%. That’s obviously unsustainable for a player who has a career SH% of 10.9%. In fact, the only full season Glass shot over 10% was his 35-point 2022-23 campaign. He had a 14.3% SH% year in his sophomore season, but only ended up playing in 27 games that year.

As a result of that and some slightly abnormally strong goaltending, Glass was the only regular on the entire New Jersey roster to have a PDO above 1.000. His PDO was reasonably within the acceptable threshold to believe that his luck level was repeatable, but given the disparity between he and the rest of the Devils roster, I would expect some normalization to the mean from the third-line center.

Regardless, the expectation should be that he doesn’t reach that 18.3% threshold again. Perhaps there’s an abnormal world in which he surpasses 15 goals once again, but he would likely need to increase the volume of his shooting by quite a bit to repeat that performance.

Reasons for Optimism

Just because Glass is due for a bit of regression does not mean that he is not still a very capable player. The reality is that, historically, he has won his minutes in the aggregate and has been particularly sound defensively.

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HockeyStats has Glass’s xGF% in 2025-26 at 49.6%, which falls slightly below his career average of 50.1% and far below his 2024-25 campaign in which he produced a 55.1% with the Penguins and 57.3% with New Jersey. In that regard, I would expect Glass to actually improve. The goal-scoring production might not match his 2025-26 season, but the underlying statistics very well may.

Most of that minute-winning history is by virtue of his stellar defensive play. By all accounts, Glass has been one of the better defensive players in the league. According to Evolving Hockey, of the 383 NHL forwards to log at least 2,000 minutes of ice time since 2022-23, he ranks 32nd in even strength defensive wins above replacement (EVD WAR. In other words, Glass was in the 92nd percentile of even-strength defensive impact for the last four seasons. There’s no reason to expect any sort of change on that front.

There’s also the fact that Glass only logged a grand total of five assists in 70 games in 2025-26. Based on his microstatistical profiles throughout his career, he has never truly been a playmaker, rather opting to operate as a secondary passer in transition and as a shooter (though he isn’t a sniper, either). That said, though, he had by far the lowest assists per hour of his career since his rookie season in 2025-26 — 0.35 assists per 60 minutes is not typical of his game whatsoever. In fact, it’s just about half of the assist production of his second-lowest season (0.69 assists/60 in 2023-24). By virtue of having a strong support staff around him, he should certainly be a candidate for positive regression in terms of generating assists.

In totality, then, it seems as though Glass is primed for negative regression in terms of his goal-scoring production but will almost certainly be better off in terms of assists and underlying numbers. Sure, there are some orange-at-best flags with respect to his reliance on playing with Gritsyuk, but I have a feeling that’s more to do with the latter making everyone better in a season in which the Devils as a whole had a rough go of it than it is a reflection of Glass himself.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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Arseny Gritsyuk did not receive a single vote for the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2025-26 — not even for fifth place. Part of that is simply because this was an excellent year for rookies: Matthew Schaefer, Ivan Demidov, and Beckett Sennecke headlined the group, and the likes of Ben Kindel, Jimmy Snuggerud, Jakub Dobes, and Jesper Wallstedt rightfully got their flowers. The other part of the equation was pedestrian production. Gritsyuk’s 13 goals and 31 total points across 66 games were… whelming, especially compared to the eye test and underlying numbers.

That’s just the thing, though — if I were voting on how a player actually played instead of how they produced, Gritsyuk likely would have found a way on my ballot (or at least would have been close to it).

The 25-year-old, by all accounts, not including the box score numbers, was sensational in his first season on North American ice. The Devils’ front office agreed, handing him a three-year contract with a very team-friendly $3.25 million annual cap hit. It was a well-earned payday for Gritsyuk, who instantly became a fan favorite by virtue of his on-ice work ethic and off-ice personality, and a worthwhile bet from Sunny Mehta and company.

With that, let’s dive into what, exactly, made Gritsyuk’s rookie campaign such a success and try to use that data to project what he could bring to the table, production-wise, in 2026-27 because of it.

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Gritsyuk’s Rookie Numbers

There’s no dancing around it — statistically, what Gritsyuk accomplished in 2025-26 (outside of his box score production) was superb.

His on-ice metrics were spectacular, especially relative to the team around him. He was one of five Devils’ forwards with an expected goal share (xGF%) of over 50%, meaning that the Devils controlled the xG game while he was on the ice. His 52.6% ranked third on the entire team, according to HockeyStats. Gritsyuk also handily led the team in shot attempt share (CF%), with New Jersey controlling 58.16% of the shot attempts while he was on the ice, as per NaturalStatTrick. His scoring chance share (SCF%) was second on the team behind Jack Hughes, and Gritsyuk also ranked 8th on the team in high-danger chance share (HDCF%). By all accounts, the on-ice numbers were fantastic.

Even more impressive, though, are his isolated impacts.

According to Evolving Hockey, Gritsyuk had the second-best isolated impact on shot attempts in the entire National Hockey League. The only player better than his CF+/- of 12.12 was Luke Evangelista, who sported a barely-better 12.16. Of course, Gritsyuk’s isolated impacts on xG and actual goals were also positive, as evidenced by the RAPM chart below:

As a result of this absurd individual influence over the game, Gritsyuk had some of the more absurd with-or-without-you numbers you’ll find. Look at the chart below to see just how positive an impact he had on his teammates:

I filtered every single player who played at least 45 minutes with Gritsyuk on NaturalStatTrick and compiled some jarring evidence that he is the type of player who makes just about everybody better. On average, there was a +6.71% xGF% and +9.93% CF% swing when players were playing alongside Gritsyuk versus playing away from him. That’s simply incredible work.

Looking at his microstatistics, there’s pretty clear evidence why.

According to LB-Hockey, Gritsyuk ranked in at least the 82nd percentile of all NHL forwards in all of zone offense (82), zone defense (99), transition (90), and checking (84). Let’s break it down further.

In terms of each zone offense statistic tracked, Gritsyuk placed in at least the 69th percentile in every tracked statistic, including a 99th percentile finish for sustained offensive zone pressure. In zone defense, his worst metric was zone exits, and he still finished in the 80th percentile. He ranked in at least the 88th percentile for everything else, including a ridiculous 100th percentile placement in mitigated defensive zone pressure. Those respective 99th and 100th percentile placements absolutely track with Gritsyuk’s previously mentioned CF+/- numbers being top-two in the NHL.

Beyond the in-zone stuff, Gritsyuk was extremely effective both in transition and in, predictably, checking. He finished in at least the 80th percentile in every transition metric: zone entry efficiency (80), zone entry offense (81), zone entry disruption (81), zone entry chance defense (92), and zone entry volume (95). He ranked in the 96th percentile for forecheck pressure and the 95th for stick checking to boot.

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By all accounts, he was magnificent in his individual actions on the ice. Those directly translated to superb on-ice impacts, and should result in future success in the NHL.

Finally, simply looking at Gritsyuk’s puck luck should be an indicator that he was deserving of more points than ended up happening. Beyond just the eye-test reaction of “Oh man, I really thought he was going to score that,” there’s luckily a metric that takes that into consideration: PDO. PDO is the combination of a player’s on-ice shooting percentage (oiSH%), which is the shooting percentage of the entire team while X player is on the ice, and a player’s on-ice save percentage (oiSV%), which is the goaltending a player receives while he is on the ice. Every year, league average PDO is exactly 1.000 — either a shot on goal goes in the back of the net or gets saved.

An abnormally low PDO — one where positive regression should be expected moving forward — is roughly 0.980, or a 2% swing from league-average. At that point, the typical fluctuations of the league aren’t really reasonable arguments for lowered production, rather that the player was genuinely due for more production or was due to receive far better goaltending.

Gritsyuk’s PDO last season was 0.977, slightly below the “abnormally low” threshold.

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Considering that the league-average save percentage was .896 in 2025-26, and Gritsyuk’s oiSV% was .894, it stands to reason that the bulk of his PDO result has to do with the oiSH%, which would have directly influenced his production. His 8.32% oiSH% ranked in the middle of the pack for New Jersey, but relative to the rest of the league graded out quite poorly. Of course, with average finishing in 2026-27, Gritsyuk will be much, much better off on the scoresheet.

Projecting Gritsyuk’s 2026-27 Production

With those underlying numbers out of the way, I wanted to look into NHL forwards who were in similar situations in their rookie campaigns in recent memory. I was able to find three such instances for rookies, and one case study of a sophomore I just could not ignore because the statistics were so similar across the board.

The table above is composed of data from a few different outlets. The CF+/- and xG+/- numbers are from Evolving Hockey, and they are measures of each player’s individual isolated impact (RAPM) on both shot attempts (CF) and xG. The xGF% numbers are from HockeyStats, and the rest of the statistics are from NaturalStatTrick. As noted above, every player except Zach Benson was a rookie in the seasons listed, with it being Benson’s second year in the NHL.

The reason I included Benson’s sophomore campaign on the list is that his statistics are just so similar to what Gritsyuk put up in 2025-26. It’s far and away the closest comparison on the list, with perhaps the only big discrepancy being the xG+/-.

The other three names on the list sported somewhat similar numbers in their own regard, typically being far less effective at individually controlling the shot-attempt game but having better on-ice metrics, specifically in terms of xG impact. Of course, Jackson Blake benefited from the Hurricanes’ system and supporting cast around him being naturally suppressive.

Regardless, each player’s production was not reflective of their on-ice perofrmance. Gritsyuk actually had the highest points per 60 of any player on this list (1.86), with the other four ranging from 1.49 (Foerster) to Blake (1.84). Each of the four comparables had significant output increases in their subsequent season, with Foerster jumping from 1.49 to 1.89, Doan increasing from 1.65 to 2.40, Benson multiplying from 1.51 to 2.50, and Blake moving from 1.84 to 2.38.

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It should be noted that each of the comparables (except Foerster) saw their ice time increase from third-liners to second-liners, so the quality of their teammates naturally increased as well. Foerster actually saw his ice time decrease, but was has been given second-line deployment since he joined the NHL.

With that in mind, it seems reasonable to expect Gritsyuk to have a similar production improvement. After all, he’ll be more acclimated to the pace of the NHL and more in-tune with the system he was thrust into. Hell, even being able to communicate better with his teammates and coaches will serve him quite well.

Expecting a point production jump to around the 45-point mark seems reasonable if he ends up staying as a third-line, PP2 player in 2026-27. If he gets put onto the second line, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he followed in the footsteps of Benson, Doan, and Blake, and turned into a 55-point-pace player. Given that the Devils’ second line is full of more high-level talent than any of his counterparts, potentially surpassing that pace seems like it would be in the cards as well.

From the eye test, it’s clear that Gristyuk had more in the tank production-wise in 2025-26 — what he did on the ice was not typical of a first-year NHLer, and should be treated as specially as it was. His $3.25 million AAV is already a bargain, and will only look better and better as he continues to get comfortable in the NHL and the cap continues to rise. It’s not unreasonable to say that he can, and should, end up as a fixture in the Devils’ top six in due time. I wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t begin as soon as this upcoming season.

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For quite some time, the conversation around Luke Hughes has been that he seems poised for a legitimate breakout campaign — a leap toward being a true top-pair defenseman. After all, he was selected fourth overall, and history shows that the vast majority of defensemen selected at that spot turned into that caliber of defenseman by their age-22 season. Hughes has yet to make that jump, though, which is somewhat concerning given his pedigree, team-high $9 million AAV contract, and the fact that Brandt Clarke, who was selected four slots after him in the same draft, has turned into just that.

Yet, 2026-27 does feel like the season this is bound to happen for Hughes.

For one, it’s the first time in three seasons in which Hughes is presumably entering the beginning of the season without issue. In 2024-25, he missed the start of the campaign with a nagging shoulder injury, one that supposedly bugged him for quite some time. In 2025-26, he missed most of training camp for contract negotiations and ultimately didn't get an extension until he was inked to a seven-year deal on October 1st. Missing most of camp certainly slowed his ability to get into the swing of things.

This off-season, though, Luke should be a-okay from the get-go. Yes, he had a shoulder procedure in April, getting shut down for the final four games of the 2025-26 campaign to get it done, but the expectation is that he is 100% good to go. He has already been training alongside his brothers for a couple of weeks and seems perfectly fine.

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Hughes also dealt with an injury just before the Olympics, dislocating his shoulder in January and missing time until he was eligible to return from LTIR. Perhaps that injury was for the best, though, as the 22-year-old returned like a man possessed. Post-Olympics, Hughes had a near-55% expected goal share (xGF%), as per HockeyStats. It was the best xGF% among Devils defensemen by 3.2% and fourth on the team in total in that span. Contrary to his archetypal perception, he also had the best expected goals against per hour (xGA/60) among defensemen, with the Devils giving up 0.29 xG fewer per hour with him on the ice than with the second-best blueliner.

Part of the reason a step forward is anticipated is because of that dominance the young defenseman showed when he was feeling healthy and confident after the Olympic break. It was legitimately encouraging — the Devils have lacked a true #1 defenseman for a time (really, since Dougie Hamilton’s second season with the organization), and Hughes is certainly considered their franchise cornerstone on defense at this point in time.

It isn’t the only reason, though — far from it.

The biggest reason why a breakthrough is anticipated, and why it has been the case for a couple of years now, is Hughes’ microstatistical profile. Simply put, Luke does a ton of stuff on the ice with and around the puck, and history typically favors those who do so with strong production and strong on-ice impacts. In the last three seasons, according to LB-Hockey, he ranks in the 83rd percentile for Standings Points Above Replacement (SPAR) by virtue of his microstatistics and xG impact, ultimately ranking 48th in the NHL among defensemen in their model. That’s a first-pair caliber defenseman simply based on the amount of things he contributes to on the ice:

As you can see above, the majority of what he contributes to the game is on the offensive side of the puck. Ranking in the 91st percentile for zone offense and the 90th percentile in transition is no joke, especially considering how poorly Hughes ranks in finishing (1st percentile) and zone entry chance defense (19th percentile). Very few defensemen in the National Hockey League contribute to their team’s offensive game as he does.

Hughes’ 29th percentile placement in zone defense undersells him a bit, too — I don’t think anyone would reasonably call him a good defender right now, but he does rank above-average in all of zone exits (67th percentile), mitigated defensive zone pressure (76th), and puck retrievals (54th). It stands to reason that he’ll only get better, too, given his 91st percentile finish in stick checking and the fact that, when he and Brett Pesce were fully healthy two years ago, there were moments when Luke Hughes was among the best neutral zone defenders in the game by virtue of his mobility.

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The framework is there, and Louis Boulet (the creator of LB-Hockey) knows it, too — he’s listed in the silver tier for the Breakout Candidate badge, meaning that he’s a top-13 defenseman in his dataset for being a player who is “projected to see a significant jump in production based on their skill level of various offensive metrics and age.”

That sounds pretty good to me.

It doesn’t stop there, though — looking at family history, there’s additional reason to believe that a true step forward is anticipated. I must note that lineage doesn’t mean everything and development isn’t linear, as we are all aware, but the development arc of Luke and his brother, Quinn, is eerily similar:

Now, of course, Quinn’s baseline was higher than Luke’s in Micah Blake McCurdy’s Synthetic Goals (sG) model — Quinn entered the league playing at a similar level to how Luke played at his best so far. However, both players saw a pretty significant dip in their age-21 season in terms of on-ice and isolated impact. Both players rebounded a bit in their age-22 seasons, playing somewhere in the 3/4D level.

Quinn really came into his own as a #1 defenseman in his age-23 campaign, the very same one Luke is entering in 2026-27.

I’m not saying that Luke should be expected to do the same, but the trend is clearly upward and clearly mirroring his brother’s trajectory. A player who followed a similar trajectory, but to a lesser extent, was Zach Werenski, who also took a small nosedive at age 21 in terms of sG before rebounding at 22 and blossoming into a top-pair defenseman. The point is, this has happened before multiple times with multiple high-end blueliners, including the best defenseman in the world, who also happens to be Luke’s brother.

A significant jump in production should be expected at the least, given the likelihood that Luke is slated to be the mainstay on the Devils’ top power-play unit for the duration of the season, rather than fighting for custody with Hamilton. In fact, looking at Luke’s under-the-hood numbers for the man advantage should be extremely encouraging.

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While both defenders ranked highly in terms of expected goals for per hour (xGF/60) while on the power play — Hamilton ranked 5th and Luke ranked 6th in the NHL among defensemen, as per HockeyStats — no defenseman in the league was on the ice for more shots on goal or scoring chances per hour than Luke was. At this point, it seems like a near-guarantee that Luke quarterbacks the Devils’ top power play, which should greatly help his confidence, his rhythm within the game, and his production.

Between his excellent finish to the 2025-26 campaign, his superb microstatistical profile, his mirroring of his brother’s development path in sG, his likelihood to play more significant time on the power play than he ever has, and the fact that this is the first normal entrance to a season he has enjoyed since his rookie campaign, the writing is on the wall for Luke Hughes to genuinely turn into what the Devils thought he could be when he was drafted: a #1 defenseman. At the very least, the expectation is that he should be a top-pair player. His raw tools are simply too tantalizing not to be one.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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Welcome to the final installment of the Metropolitan Division positional rankings, where I’ll be aiming to rank the goaltending groups for all eight teams. As has been the case, this was a difficult ranking — the Metro has undoubtedly the strongest goaltending of any division in the league, containing four of the top-10 goalies.

Let’s jump right in!

8. Pittsburgh Penguins: Arturs Silovs, Sergei Murashov

Without a doubt, the Pittsburgh Penguins have the weakest goaltending duo in the Metropolitan Division. Last season, they did well to sell high on Tristan Jarry’s early-season run of excellence, capitalizing on the poor decision-making of the Edmonton Oilers and ultimately acquiring the younger, better Stuart Skinner as well as a couple of other assets in the trade. They did not sign Skinner, though, seemingly content to hand the reins to their 1B, Arturs Silovs.

Silovs had a relatively poor campaign, with a goals saved above expected (GSAx) of -5.69 on the year. In other words, he allowed 5.69 more goals than expected goals against him (xGA). That put him at 54th in the league among the 66 goaltenders who logged at least 20 games played in total, with his GSAx per 60 minutes ranking 50th. He’s still just 25 years of age, so I suppose the thought process is that they believe he can develop into a sound 1A in due time, even if his career numbers are somewhat putrid.

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Backing him up, presumably, will be rookie Sergei Murashov, who has been one of the league’s top netminder prospects for a couple of years now. The 22-year-old backstop got his first taste of NHL play this past season, with a GSAx of -0.76 in that span. Pretty innocuous stuff from a first-timer playing in a system that was unfavorable to goalies. I’m sure they’ll want Silovs to handle the bulk of starts for now, though Murashov may force his way into more starts. After all, he was one of the AHL’s best goalies in 2025-26, posting a .919 save percentage (SV%) over 38 starts at that level.

Ultimately, though, the Penguins’ goalie room is made up of a career backup/1B who has always posted subpar numbers and a rookie goalie who is completely unproven at the NHL level, even if he has hypothetical promise. It’s a contender for the worst goalie tandem in the entire league.

7. Carolina Hurricanes: Brandon Bussi, Pyotr Kochetkov

The Hurricanes had three goalies on their roster at one point, but ultimately allowed Frederik Andersen, who buoyed their Stanley Cup run for three rounds, to walk to the Edmonton Oilers.

Brandon Bussi was undeniably a revelation for the Hurricanes last season, setting the NHL record for fastest goaltender to reach 20 career wins (24 games). He won 10 of his first 11 games and was pretty spectacular for a good chunk of his season. In his first 27 games, he had a GSAx of +9.66, which, in a Hurricanes environment that has always been extremely difficult for goaltenders by virtue of how many rush chances they allow1, is quite impressive. He tempered off throughout the course of his 39 games, though, falling below 0 at one point before rebounding in his last two games. All told, he ended the 2025-26 campaign with a GSAx of +2.81, and was rewarded with a three-year, $1.9 million AAV extension.

Kochetkov, meanwhile, underwent hip surgery in December of 2025 and was only able to suit up for nine total games last season. He was bang-on average, with a GSAx of -0.34 in those games. Though he didn’t end up playing past December 20th, he made a miraculously quick recovery and was listed as healthy to end the season. Presumably, then, he’ll have a full off-season of rest and recovery to get back into true playing shape. The 27-year-old Kochetkov has been average to slightly above average throughout his career with Carolina.

It stands to reason, then, that the Hurricanes will be given average-ish goaltending for 2026-27. Kochetkov is an average goaltender coming off surgery, and Bussi is an up-and-down goalie whose high level of play at the beginning of his tenure was matched by his poor level of play to end it.

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6. New Jersey Devils: Jake Allen, Nico Daws, David Rittich

I had some trouble deciding who should be 6th and who should be 7th between Carolina and the Devils, but ultimately had New Jersey edge out the competition simply because I believe Jake Allen is the best goalie of the two teams.

The now-36-year-old goaltender has been one of the best backups/1Bs in the NHL since he joined New Jersey, most recently having posted a GSAx of +9.83 in his 37 2025-26 games, which was good for 18th in the NHL among that same group of 66 goalies with a minimum of 20 games played. For comparison, Jacob Markstrom, who was intelligently offloaded and supplanted with a rotation, was 59th in that group (even if two anomalous starts anchored a somewhat average aggregate campaign). Allen, in 2024-25, his first full campaign with New Jersey, posted another excellent +8.85 GSAx in 31 games. Of the 45 goalies to have logged at least 60 games in the last two seasons, Allen ranks 10th in GSAx/60. By all accounts, he’s been superb.

The other two slots in the Devils’ goalie rotation are a bit murkier, admittedly. Nico Daws is still unproven, though New Jersey’s front office is seemingly high on the possibility that he can turn into a legitimate plus at the NHL level. The 25-year-old only appeared in three games in 2025-26, but had solid enough numbers (+1.65 GSAx) and had sound numbers in 2024-25 as well (+4.39 GSAx in six appearances). There’s reason to have optimism with him, for sure.

David Rittich was added on a one-year, $1 million contract, and will seemingly be the third-stringer in this rotation. In his most recent season, he logged 30 games for the New York Islanders, putting up a respectable GSAx of +6.82. He’s been perfectly capable when he’s been needed throughout his career.

All told, the three-goalie rotation the Devils seem slated to roll out will be a gamble, given that none of the three really have the capabilities to take the reins as a starter until proven otherwise. As I have written about before, each goalie has a habit of fizzling out when handed consecutive starts, so it will be interesting to see what the approach is throughout the season.

5. Philadelphia Flyers: Dan Vladar, Joseph Woll

It should be noted that there’s a pretty steep step up from the No. 6 spot to the No. 5 spot, with the Philadelphia Flyers having two strong 1A-caliber goalies in Dan Vladar and Joseph Woll.

Let’s start with Vladar, who was prematurely handed a spot in the NHL’s Top 10 Goalies ranking for this season (#8) after having the best season of his career. In fact, it was the only season in his career in which he posted a positive GSAx. That said, he was undeniably excellent for Philadelphia last season, with a +11.42 in 52 games. He was a beneficiary of the Flyers’ sound defensive system, but made a number of show-stopping saves throughout the campaign and certainly deserves his flowers.

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The Flyers then went out and traded for Joseph Woll from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who has the exact opposite statistical archetype as his counterpart. Instead of having the first season in which his GSAx was positive like Vladar, Woll had his first season with a negative GSAx in 2025-26, with a -1.40 in 39 starts. The oft-injured backstop has dealt with his fair share of turmoil by virtue of how often he gets hurt, but when healthy, he is consistently great.

The duo of 29- and 28-year-old Vladar and Woll certainly carries risk. If Vladar takes a step back and looks more like the goalie he’s been throughout his career, if Woll gets injured again, or if both happen, the Flyers could be in some legitimate trouble in net. Until then, though, assuming they’ll be a sound tandem is prudent.

4. Columbus Blue Jackets: Jet Greaves, Elvis Merzlikins

Jet Greaves does a ton of heavy lifting for the Blue Jackets in net, given his status as a bona fide top-10 goalie in the league. The 25-year-old, who came to a three-year, $5 million AAV contract agreement with Columbus this summer, is arguably the most underrated netminder in the NHL.

2025-26 was Greaves’ first full season in the league, having only played 21 career games in three seasons prior. He put up an astounding 18.30 GSAx in those first 21 games, and solidified himself as a true high-end #1 this past season. His +18.00 GSAx across 55 2025-26 games was good for seventh-best in the league, sporting the 13th-best GSAx/60 to boot. There’s reason to believe, too, that he can elevate his game once more, given his trajectory and the fact that he’s still only 25 years of age. Expect him to be a problem for a long, long time.

Elvis Merzlikins behind him is a problem, though. The 32-year-old has long been one of the worst goaltenders in the league for quite some time, even if his -4.37 GSAx in 30 2025-26 games is relatively tame. He hasn’t had a single positive season since 2021-22, including a 2022-23 campaign in which he gave up nearly one more goal than expected per game.

Assuming they give Greaves an even heavier workload than his 55 games is the smart thing to do — I could certainly see him start every game that isn’t a back-to-back. The Blue Jackets should do that, and they’d be in a good spot while doing so. Greaves is quickly cementing himself as one of the few true plug-and-play-for-positive-value goalies.

3. New York Rangers: Igor Shesterkin, Joonas Korpisalo

It seems so wrong to rank a goalie tandem that features Igor Shesterkin as the third-best group in a division, but that’s the reality in the Metro.

2025-26’s fifth-best goalie had a GSAx of +21.09 in his 51 starts, and he has surpassed +15 GSAx in four of his last five seasons. Included in that are a ridiculous +43.62 and +31.63 campaign. To boot, he’s been one of the best playoff goalies of this generation when his team has actually made the postseason. There’s truly not much I can say about Shesterkin that isn’t common knowledge — he’s been arguably the best goaltender in the league for the last half-decade and, without him, the Rangers would be a perennial bottom-10 team.

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The problem in ranking him any higher is that the gap between him and the other two #1s isn’t large enough to make up for the gap in backup quality.

The Rangers lost Jonathan Quick to retirement and supplanted him with Joonas Korpisalo, who has been a net negative for much of his career. In fact, since he entered the league in 2018-19, he only has one campaign in which he had a positive GSAx (2022-23). Outside of that one anomalous season, Korpisalo has been atrocious. He’s been better since backing up Jeremy Swayman, but still posted a negative GSAx in each of his two seasons with Boston.

Shesterkin isn’t injury-immune, so the Rangers are running the risk of having some seriously subpar goalie performances should he miss time. In the games Shesterkin is healthy but too fatigued to play, New York is likely to let in more goals than they should.

2. Washington Capitals: Logan Thompson, Charlie Lindgren

In 2025-26, Logan Thompson was handily the best goaltender in the league come season’s end, finishing the campaign with an astounding +35.63 GSAx in 58 games. It’s par for the course for the 29-year-old, who put up a +19.20 in 43 games in his first season with the Capitals and has been consistently strong throughout his brief career. There’s no reason to suspect any backslide, either.

Behind him is Charlie Lindgren, who has been an average goaltender in the aggregate. 2025-26 was his worst campaign to date, having put up a -5.34 GSAx in his 21 games, but he has been a slightly positive goaltender throughout his career otherwise. He’s perfectly fine to trot out in a backup role, and is genuinely capable of being a net positive most nights. He’s been tasked with starter capabilities once before, too, in a season in which he posted a +6.54 GSAx across 50 games.

So, the Capitals have a top-10 goaltender in Thompson and a backup who generally provides positive value when he plays — what could possibly be better than that?

1. New York Islanders: Ilya Sorokin, Semyon Varlamov, Vitek Vanecek

Having a top-five goaltender and a backup who generally provides positive value, of course.

Ilya Sorokin was the second-best goalie in terms of GSAx in 2025-26, with a +27.50 in his 55 appearances. He’s undoubtedly a top-five, arguably top-three netminder in the NHL, with a +42.55 season under his belt to boot. He has posted a negative GSAx one time in his entire career, and otherwise has been a complete stud and the reason that the Islanders have remained relevant as a Wild Card contender for so many years despite their roster being completely lackluster.

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Behind him is Semyon Varlamov, who missed all of 2025-26 with injury but is planning on returning for the 2026-27 season. Varlamov, now 38, has posted a positive GSAx in seven of his last 10 campaigns and 11 of his last 15. 2024-25 was his last season playing hockey, and he had a slightly negative -1.99 GSAx in his 10 appearances with the Islanders that season. For the vast majority of his career, though, he has been a fully capable, net-positive goaltender. As a backup for Sorokin, he has been stellar.

The Islanders also added Vitek Vanecek as an injury reassurance, given Varlamov’s uncertainty. He’s typically below average, but should only really be called upon if both of the goalies ahead of him get injured.

To recap the entire Metro Division ranking series, here’s where each team stacks up in each position:

Centers:

1. New Jersey Devils
2. Pittsburgh Penguins
3. Carolina Hurricanes
4. Washington Capitals
5. Columbus Blue Jackets
6. New York Rangers
7. Philadelphia Flyers
8. New York Islanders

Wingers:

1. Washington Capitals
2. Carolina Hurricanes
3. New Jersey Devils
4. New York Rangers
5. Philadelphia Flyers
6. Columbus Blue Jackets
7. Pittsburgh Penguins
8. New York Islanders

Defense:

1. New York Rangers
2. Columbus Blue Jackets
3. Carolina Hurricanes
4. New York Islanders
5. Washington Capitals
6. New Jersey Devils
7. Philadelphia Flyers
8. Pittsburgh Penguins

Goaltenders:

1. New York Islanders
2. Washington Capitals
3. New York Rangers
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Philadelphia Flyers
6. New Jersey Devils
7. Carolina Hurricanes
8. Pittsburgh Penguins

The Metropolitan Division is slated to be a gauntlet — in my opinion, there’s no truly bad team, with even the Islanders’ subpar skater group being offset by arguably the best goalie room in the NHL. It’s a subtly tough division, but one I ultimately believe the Devils will end up near the top of. Their forward group is the best of any team, their defense has the potential to grade out much better than their ranking here, and any team with a roster like that can succeed greatly with average goaltending. They’re in a good spot, in my eyes.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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Another day, another ranking of the Metropolitan Division teams’ positions. This time around, I’ll be looking at the defense groups for each organization. Let’s get right into it!

8. Pittsburgh Penguins: Erik Karlsson, Sam Girard, Kris Letang, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Declan Carlile, Kaedan Korczak, Ryan Graves, Ivan Solovyov

While he might not be the all-time great he was earlier in his career, Erik Karlsson is still a fantastic defenseman — a top-20 blueliner in the league — at 36. Shockingly, his defensive numbers were pretty average, with an expected goals above replacement (xGAR)1 of +0.5 on the defensive side of things in 2025-26. Of course, he was still his dominant offensive self, with his +12.6 offensive xGAR ranking 10th in the entire NHL among defensemen.

Past him, though, things are a bit bleak for the Penguins, especially given that they let Ryan Shea walk to the Edmonton Oilers.

Sam Girard is useful enough in sheltered minutes, and shockingly sported positive defensive results in his 20 games with the Penguins, but there have been and always will be questions as to whether or not he can put those results up in true second-pair minutes. That said, he is an upgrade over Brett Kulak, who he was traded for. Kudos to Kyle Dubas there. Ivan Solovyov is a solid depth defenseman, too, who has consistently sported positive on-ice metrics. Expect him to get some looks at the NHL level in 2026-27.

Trevor van Riemsdyk is also solid enough, as he has sported a positive xGAR for the vast majority of his career and has typically won his minutes in terms of expected goal share (xGF%) and the like. His two-way chops are solid in third-pair minutes, but I am again questioning if he is able to put those numbers up in non-sheltered minutes. He’s also 35, so it’s possible that we see him finally downtrend.

Kris Letang is a shell of his former self, having ranked last on all of the Penguins in xGAR (-2.9) and not having a single facet of the game in which he was positive in that metric. He’s only getting older, too — he’ll be celebrating his 40th birthday at the end of April 2027. Perplexingly, he has another year left on his contract after that. Declan Carlile and Kaedan Korczak are both serviceable bottom-pair defensive defensemen, with Carlile sporting a +3.0 defensive xGAR and Korczak rocking a +6.9 defensive xGAR in 2025-26.

I’ve always been surprised at Ryan Graves’s presence in the AHL, where he spent quite a bit of time last season. In part, it’s due to his $4.5 million AAV salary, and in part, it is because he has put up respectable on-ice numbers whenever called upon at the NHL level. If I were running the show, I’d probably have him as a mainstay on the second pair given how bleak things look for them past Karlsson in that respect.

For the Penguins, despite having a true difference-maker on the back end, their ultimate lack of second-pair caliber defensemen beyond him left me no choice but to give them the last spot in the Metro Division. Who is going to play next to Karlsson? Who is going to play on the second pair? How many third-pair-caliber defensemen does an organization need in the lineup?

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7. Philadelphia Flyers: Travis Sanheim, Jamie Drysdale, Cam York, Nick Seeler, Rasmus Ristolainen, David Jiricek, Simon Benoit

The Flyers are in a similar boat, but they’re admittedly a step up across the board from their biggest rival in the Penguins. Travis Sanheim is still a legitimate first-pair defenseman, having ended 2025-26 12th in the entire league (among rearguards) in xGAR by virtue of his excellent two-way game. He’s a bona fide #1, and that has serious value, and there’s no reason to believe he’ll take a step back, even if he’s now on the wrong side of 30.

I do question who will play alongside him.

It could be Jamie Drysdale, who is entering his age-24 season and who finished last season fourth among Flyers defensemen in total xGAR. He had a sound offensive output in that regard and developed slightly defensively, finally turning the corner into a positive rather than being a negative in his own end. He did it while playing over 21:30 per night, too, so it seems likely that they’re expecting him to blossom into Sanheim’s partner on the first pair.

Beyond him, they have three offensive black holes who provide excellent defensive value in Nick Seeler (+1.0 offensive xGAR and +3.6 defensive xGAR), Cam York (-3.4 and +7.2), and Rasmus Ristolainen (-3.0 and +1.8). All three have played bottom-four minutes for them for quite some time, which is their deserved spot in terms of talent level. I do think York is a legitimate second-pair option, but Seeler and Ristolainen are best served in sheltered minutes at this point in their careers.

David Jiricek, meanwhile, is still completely unproven, even if the Flyers organization seems high on him. He has always struggled when called up to the NHL level, and until he takes a concrete step forward, he will always be regarded as one of the more overrated prospects in the league in my eyes. Simon Benoit, who they acquired in the trade that brought Joseph Woll to the team, is outright one of the worst defensemen in the league. For the Devils’ sake, I hope he gets played often.

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Though the Flyers, too, have a legitimate #1 defenseman, they have a hole next to him, and their second-pair caliber players either need to develop more (Drysdale) or provide some semblance of offensive value (York). Their third-pair defensemen are all defense, so there’s going to be a ton of pressure on Sanheim and Drysdale to carry the bulk of puck-moving throughout their games.

6. New Jersey Devils: Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes, Brett Pesce, Jonas Siegenthaler, Johnathan Kovacevic, Brenden Dillon, Declan Chisholm, Vladislav Kolyachonok

Dougie Hamilton, for all the flak he got last season, had an excellent season and is the closest thing the Devils have to a #1 defenseman at this point in time. His +13.4 xGAR ranked 20th in the NHL in 2025-26, and he astoundingly put up strong positives on both ends of the ice. Offensively, his +9.4 xGAR ranked 20th. Defensively, his +5.9 xGAR ranked 23rd. That’s right — statistically speaking, Dougie Hamilton was the 23rd-best defensive defenseman in the league last season. Watching the games should have certainly given you that impression, too, as he took tangible leaps forward in his own end. He was far more positionally sound and was trusted in the second-heaviest defensive deployment on the team for the bulk of the season. When handed his typical, favorable deployment, he produced to a 60-plus-point pace and had excellent offensive outputs. I still regard Hamilton as a legitimate first-pair defenseman, even if he’s more of a #2 than a #1, and Brad Shaw has turned him into a two-way stud. I’d bet he is able to keep it up.

Their other $9 million AAV defenseman, Luke Hughes, has been poised for a true breakout for a number of years now, with stellar microstatistics that paint the picture of a player who does a ton of stuff with the puck on his stick but hasn’t quite put it all together yet. He’s having a (relatively) normal off-season, though, which should help him iron out some of those kinks and should set him up for a big year. For much of the 2025-26 campaign, Hughes was a bit lost defensively, ultimately ending the year with a -3.2 defensive xGAR, but there’s reason to believe he can be a neutral zone stalwart given his mobility. There’s no denying the 22-year-old has a ton of talent; perhaps this is the season he puts it all together and blossoms into a #1. For now, though, he’s more of a second-pair caliber player.

Past those two, things get a bit bleaker in terms of moving the puck. Brett Pesce is capable in that regard, though he is more defensively oriented, leading the Devils’ defensemen in defensive xGAR/60 last season while showing slightly positive offensive numbers to boot. Brenden Dillon had a resurgent year, to be sure, with slightly positive value on both sides of the ice (!!), but it seems like a bit of an outlier campaign given his aging curve.

Johnathan Kovacevic had a poor return from his ACL injury, but I would be remiss not to mention that his recovery was supposed to be a long one — expecting him to contribute as he did in 2024-25 would have been silly. If he’s healthy, though, there is reason to believe he can bounce back to being one of the better defensive defensemen in the league once more. The same goes for Jonas Siegenthaler, who wasn’t injured but had a supremely down season. If Kovacevic rebounds, I feel as though Siegenthaler will follow suit — those two being paired up on the third pair as they were two seasons ago could, in theory, serve New Jersey well. Of course, that requires them to bounce back.

Declan Chisholm and Vladislav Kolyachonok were two excellent additions by Sunny Mehta and company. Chisholm, who I still have a hard time believing will be a seventh defenseman given his $1.6 million salary, has been a perfectly capable third-pair defenseman for the bulk of his career. He’s a puck retrieval wizard, and typically turns those retrievals into zone exits. That’s something that the Devils desperately need more of in their game. Kolyachonok, meanwhile, has consistently put up sound on-ice numbers on both ends of the ice in every instance he was given NHL minutes. He’s the likelier bet to be that 7D for New Jersey, as he should be.

The Devils lack a true #1 defenseman at this point in time (barring a return to 2022-23 form from Hamilton or a major leap forward from Hughes). That said, they do have four legitimate second-pair defensemen in Hughes, Pesce, Siegenthaler, and Kovacevic (assuming health doesn’t impede them again), and they do have solid depth to boot. It’s a defense corps that could be a lot better than their ranking on this list currently is, but the stars do have to align a bit first.

5. Washington Capitals: Jakob Chychrun, Matt Roy, Martin Fehervary, Rasmus Sandin, Cole Hutson, Timothy Liljegren, Vincent Desharnais, Justin Holl

The Capitals have the best defenseman on this list so far in Jakob Chychrun, who not only scored 26 goals in 2025-26 but actually ended up as handily the best offensive defenseman in the league in terms of xGAR (+24.4). He does have his defensive deficiencies, though (-1.3 xGAR), but it simply doesn’t matter given how versatile he is while his team is on the attack. There’s a real argument for the now-28-year-old to be considered a fringe top-10 defenseman in the league.

Past him, they suffer from the same problem that the Flyers have, in that the rest of their group is made up more of second- and third-pair blueliners.

Statistically, Rasmus Sandin graded out as their second-best defenseman last season, though he is slated to miss significant time while recovering from an ACL tear he suffered in April. It’s likely that this season ends up being a complete wash for him. Matt Roy had a bit of a down season in 2025-26 — shockingly, his only positive value in terms of xGAR came by virtue of his penalty differential — but he has proven in the past to be able to handle second-pair minutes with strong on-ice impacts and should be expected to do so in 2026-27.

Martin Fehervary is in the same boat as Roy, with a net-zero impact on the ice outside of his penalty differential. When everything is clicking, though, he has proven to be a capable second-pair defenseman.

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The Capitals do have another potential weapon in Cole Hutson, who proved in his brief time at the NHL level last season that he can hang, at least offensively speaking. He’s still technically a rookie and has several names ahead of him in the depth chart, but I would be shocked if he didn’t absolutely crush his sheltered, third-pair, PP2 minutes. He’s going to be dynamic at the NHL level at some point, and even if he isn’t a top-pair guy for another couple of seasons, he will be in due time.

Washington also has Timothy Liljegren, who only played four games last season and should be expected to play bottom-four minutes for them now. They acquired Justin Holl to be their seventh defenseman, and signed Vincent Desharnais to presumably anchor the third pair next to Hutson. Desharnais was shockingly good on the defensive side of the puck for San Jose last season (+6.2 xGAR), so I think he can absolutely provide that same value while in a more favorable system and in a more sheltered role.

Chychrun is the best defender to appear on this list so far, but the reality is that the Capitals have a bunch of #3-#6 defensemen behind him. There’s really no one who can reliably play next to him for a full season with first-pair results.

4. New York Islanders: Matthew Schaefer, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Tony DeAngelo, Scott Mayfield, Alexander Romanov, Isaiah George

Astoundingly, Matthew Schaefer was the third-best defenseman in the entire league in terms of total xGAR in 2025-26 (+24.8), with the bulk of his impact coming from the offensive side of the puck (+20.7). He still has a way to go on the defensive side of the puck, but he is still 18 years of age, and thus, that should be of absolutely no concern whatsoever. He’s a bona fide #1, and a high-end one at that. For a player of his age to step into that role and perform as he did is anomalous — there’s a reason some have already given him the “generational” title (though I think it’s likely a bit early for that).

Adam Pelech looked like a low-end #2 defenseman last season, mostly providing the defensive value that his counterpart (Tony DeAngelo) lacked. His +5.9 defensive xGAR was tied for 23rd in the league with Dougie Hamilton, and Pelech was a slight positive offensively as well. He’s the type of defenseman every team needs on their second pair — Pelech deserves his flowers.

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Past those two, though, things drop off pretty significantly. Scott Mayfield is a perfectly fine second-pair defensive defenseman, but he’s such a black hole offensively (-5.4 xGAR) that it’s just about a wash in terms of his on-ice impact. Tony DeAngelo gets treated like a top-four defenseman in terms of his deployment, but he had putrid on-ice results for the vast majority of the season and should be stapled to a defensive stalwart in extremely sheltered minutes at this point in his career. He was given a two-year, $4.5 million AAV extension, though, so it seems likely that those two will make up their second pair.

Ryan Pulock and Alexander Romanov are, outright, two of the worst defensemen in the league at this point. Romanov’s physicality has given some the idea that he’s a capable of playing premier minutes, but the reality is that he has consistently been walloped in his minutes. Almost impressively, he posted a -5.8 xGAR in just 17 games, with a league-worst xGAR/60. Pulock has been competent in the past, but he had an atrocious 2025-26, with a -9.6 xGAR on the season reflective of having little value on either side of the ice despite playing next to Schaefer. Isaiah George is a harmless 7D.

All told, the Islanders’ top pair is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Past them, their defense corps needs a lot of work. Really, they should be committing to rebuilding and adding assets given how bleak it is in the bottom two pairs, but in the meantime it seems as though they’re content to wait for Kashawn Aitcheson and Malte Gustafsson to hit while forcing a try at playoff contention by spending big on veterans with higher perceived value than actual value.

3. Carolina Hurricanes: Jaccob Slavin, K’Andre Miller, Sean Walker, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jalen Chatfield, Joel Nystrom, Juuso Valimaki

The Carolina Hurricanes have inarguably the most balanced defense corps of any team in the Metropolitan Division.

Jaccob Slavin is a true first-pair defenseman, even if he is a tad overrated at this point in his career. There’s no denying his defensive capabilities, with his defensive xGAR ranking ninth in all of the NHL, but he was a bit of an offensive black hole this past season and isn’t getting any younger. In his best games, he certainly chips in offensively and has the capabilities to reach the lofty perception of being a top-15 defenseman in the league, but I think his reputation is doing more heavy lifting than his actual play.

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K’Andre Miller, meanwhile, assumed #1 duties for the Hurricanes through the playoffs, and for good reason. He was their best two-way defenseman in the postseason, and arguably their best all-around defender during the regular season to boot. He was one of three defensemen on the team to have a positive impact on both sides of the ice, with a +3.9 offensive xGAR and a top-20 finish in defensive xGAR as well (+6.8). He’s a fringe top-pair caliber defenseman in my eyes, and it was only his first season with the team. It stands to reason that, with more time to acclimate to the Hurricanes’ demanding system, he can be even better in 2026-27. He’s only 26, after all.

Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere made up the single best second-pair in the entire NHL last season. Gostisbehere was an offensive dynamo, with his +8.6 offensive xGAR handily ranking first on the team and ranking 24th in the entire league. His game will age well, too, considering that he’s not all that physical, so there are no concerns of him having a down year. He played to the tune of nearly a point per game in 2025-26, with 50 points in 55 games, and while I wouldn’t expect that per-game pace again, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him surpass the 60 point threshold once more if he stays healthy. Walker, meanwhile, was an incredible two-way asset for Carolina, leading them in total xGAR (+11.0) while sporting the 21st-best defensive impact (+6.5) and a strong +4.7 offensive xGAR. He, too, should age well relative to the typical age curve, so I would expect another strong season from the perennially underrated defenseman.

Joel Nystrom has been a great story, as a 219th-overall-pick-turned-capable-NHLer. He was the third Hurricane defenseman to put up positive impacts on both sides of the ice, sporting an astounding +4.3 xGAR in just 38 games. That had him pacing for an xGAR of +9.3 for the season, which would have been fourth-best on the team (and above Slavin). Nystrom did put those numbers up while in a third-pair role, but his two-way viability in that context is still excellent. He was rewarded with a four-year, $1.225 million AAV extension, which I see as a bargain for what he is. Expect him to be a mainstay on the third pair for them, and a great one at that. Jalen Chatfield will likely make up the other half of their third pair despite also being a righty, and he had a down year compared to the norm, with an all-position team-worst -4.1 xGAR on the season. It was an anomalously poor performance, though, so expecting a rebound is prudent.

In terms of depth, the Hurricanes added Juuso Valimaki as a 7D, taking into account the likelihood that Alexander Nikishin (who remains without a contract) gets traded. Valimaki’s strengths lie more on the offensive side of things, but as a fringe NHLer, there’s not really much more you can ask of him.

All in all, it’s the Hurricanes’ defensive depth that finds them this high on the list. They have a bona fide top-pair defenseman in Slavin, three fringe first-pair blueliners in Miller, Gostisbehere, and Walker, an excellent third-pair defender in Nystrom, a bounce-back candidate in Chatfield, and a solid 7D to boot. There’s nothing not to like, especially looking at what the rearguards’ contracts look like. Eric Tulsky has done a phenomenal job with this team.

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2. Columbus Blue Jackets: Zach Werenski, Denton Mateychuk, Damon Severson, Ivan Provorov, Dante Fabbro, Erik Gudbranson, Jake Christiansen

The Blue Jackets are benefiting here from having a perennial top-five defenseman in the league and reigning Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski, who deserved the award he was given. His +26.6 xGAR was the best output in the league, with positive across-the-board impacts being buoyed by an other-worldly offensive xGAR of +21.5. He’s the full package, and there’s no reason to suggest that he will be anything but another point-per-game-plus Norris candidate in 2026-27.

Behind him, Denton Mateychuk had a quietly superb sophomore season on the second pair, finishing in the top-10 of total xGAR among defenders in the entire National Hockey League. Given his trajectory so far, it’s certainly possible that he reaches top-pair caliber in 2026-27. He’s played on his off-hand before, too, so playing next to Werenski and getting premier minutes seems like it’s in the cards.

Ex-Devil Damon Severson was fantastic for Columbus this past season as well, with New Jersey sorely missing the type of game he brings to the table at this point in time. He was narrowly behind Mateychuk in the league-wide standings, with his +17.2 xGAR ranking 14th in the league. Perhaps even more baffling was that he ranked in the top-five in defensive xGAR, totaling +8.9 on the campaign. Severson has long been a defenseman who thrives against bottom-four competition and can absolutely dominate those minutes. Assuming he’s in that very same role this campaign, he should be expected to dominate those minutes once again.

Ivan Provorov might be vastly overpaid for the player he is, but he still brings positive two-way value to the table. In a bottom-four role, he has the capability to win his minutes, primarily through some underrated offensive tools. He blocks a ton of shots, gets involved along the boards, and can still chip in 25-plus points. He’s certainly not an $8.5 million defenseman, but he’s fine enough in a bottom-four capacity. Dante Fabbro, meanwhile, is a capable offense-first third-pair defenseman who gets paid a reasonable enough amount for what he is. His +1.7 xGAR on the year was equally due to his offensive impact (+1.4) and penalty impact (+1.1), but he still needs to improve on the defensive side of the puck.

While they do have a strong top five, their remaining defensemen are somewhat putrid. Jake Christiansen is a slight net negative on both sides of the puck, with an equal -0.7 xGAR both offensively and defensively in 40 games. Erik Gudbranson, meanwhile, is in the Romanov category of “completely unplayable.” He only logged 37 games in 2025-26, but had an astoundingly poor -11.2 xGAR in those games. He’s best served riding pine, especially given his nearly-buryable salary of $1.75 million.

The reality is, though, that the Blue Jackets’ defense corps, on the whole, is quite strong. Headlined by a top-five defenseman in the NHL in Werenski, they also have a could-be first-pair talent in Mateychuk, one of the best soft-minute defensemen in the league in Severson, and a solid #4 in Provorov. Fabbro will be the best player on their third pair (and that’s fine), but they would be smart to get a cheap, net-positive defenseman to put alongside him and try and find a suitor for Gudbranson.

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1. New York Rangers: Adam Fox, Sean Durzi, Marcus Pettersson, Vladislav Gavrikov, Braden Schneider, Urho Vaakanainen, Matthew Robertson

The New York Rangers completely redid their defensive corps this summer, and it has genuinely worked out well on paper.

Adam Fox remains the most under-appreciated defenseman in the league, with a real argument that he’s the second- or third-best blueliner in the game (depending on how you view Cale Makar’s dependence on Nathan MacKinnon). Of any defenseman with at least 20 games played, Fox ranked first in total xGAR/60, with arguably the most absurd with-or-without-you numbers in all of hockey. The reality is, Fox transforms the Rangers lineup from the bottom up and makes fourth-line players perform like second-line players. One day, he’ll regain the respect he deserves. For now, he’ll be appreciated a lot more by those in the analytics community than layman watchers.

I’m not sure who he’ll spend time with between Vladislav Gavrikov and Marcus Pettersson, but my guess is that he remains with Gavrikov like he did for most of 2025-26. The now-30-year-old Gavrikov is still a top-four defenseman, with affinities leaning more toward the offensive side of the puck last campaign. His $7 million AAV contract is a bit steep for what he is, but at his best, he is a two-way, top-four defenseman who can eat big minutes and win them.

That would leave Sean Durzi and Pettersson as the second pair, and that should immediately become one of the top middle pairings in the NHL. Durzi has been a premier offensive defenseman in the past, though he was more average than he ever has been last season. He’s still a defensive liability, but can likely rekindle some of that juice while playing alongside a defensive stalwart in Pettersson. Pettersson, who the rangers acquired for a 2030 first-round pick, is a complete black hole offensively but put up some of the best defensive numbers in the league in his last campaign. His +9.2 defensive xGAR ranked fourth in the NHL, which he did while logging big minutes on the worst team in hockey. If he’s playing on the second pair, it stands to reason that he’ll be able to suffocate the opposition entirely and allow Durzi to open up a bit more.

Braden Schneider is in the same ilk as Gudbranson and Romanov, in that he has sported atrocious underlying numbers while getting more respect than is deserved by virtue of his physicality. His -8.6 xGAR was sixth-worst in the NHL in 2025-26, though he was thrust into a role he has never really been prepared for. With third-pair minutes, he could turn into a useful player. Matthew Robertson, meanwhile, has consistently put up sound two-way numbers in a sheltered role, with his +6.0 xGAR being second-best on the Rangers’ blue line in 2025-26. Given his salary, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was used as a 7D, but that shouldn’t be the case whatsoever. Instead, they should probably bench Urho Vaakanainen, who has put up solid defensive numbers but isn’t apt offensively by any means.

Still, the Rangers are poised to have a dangerous top-four and an improved bottom-pair. They constructed a high-end second pair (on paper) through the trade market, and by moving their other defensemen down in the lineup, should afford them better opportunity to improve their impacts. It’s a very, very good group of defensemen.

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Tomorrow’s Metropolitan Division ranking will be the last one, where I’ll be covering each team’s goaltending! Stay tuned.

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Thanks everyone for staying patient for the last few days with respect to content! I was out for a handful of days for a wedding, but we’re back to regularly scheduled programming now.

A couple of days ago, I ranked the Metropolitan Division center groups. Now, it’s time to take a look at the winger groups. This was yet another tough ranking, particularly from slots 7-4.

Asterisks indicate wingers who can, have, or will play center.

Let’s jump right into it!

8. New York Islanders: Mathew Barzal*, Emil Heineman, Kyle Palmieri, Matias Maccelli, Simon Holmstrom, Anthony Duclair, Pierre Engvall, Ondrej Palat, Kyle MacLean, Calum Ritchie*

The No. 8 team in terms of centers also finds itself in last place for wingers. Mathew Barzal is a legitimate, unquestionable top-line player, but things are pretty bleak beyond him — losing Anders Lee to the Utah Mammoth was a big blow for him.

Out of this crop of players, Simon Holmstrom was second in both Goals Above Replacement (GAR), with +7.4, and points, with 41. Those are respectable numbers for a middle-six player, but the reality is that they completely lack another top-six winger outside of Barzal. In theory, Kyle Palmieri could be that player, but he is aging and coming off of a major surgery.

Matias Maccelli, the Islanders’ biggest free-agent addition, is another serviceable two-way, middle-six player and is undeniably well worth the $2.25 million they gave him. Emil Heineman is coming off a 22-goal, 31-point campaign, but his underlying numbers were relatively putrid, and it’s highly unlikely he plays to that production once again. Anthony Duclair is a fine enough third-line player who had a strong offensive GAR output (+5.0) get completely negated by horrendous defensive GAR (-5.0), while the rest of the crop is full of healthily overpaid players in Ondrej Palat and Pierre Engvall, a fringe NHLer in Kyle MacLean, and a young player who has potential but who is coming off of one of the worst underlying statistical seasons of anyone in the NHL in Calum Ritchie.

With just one true top-six winger, a handful of middle-six players, and a bunch of overpaid fourth-liners and fringe NHLers, it’s no wonder that the Islanders are projected to have an 89% chance of missing the playoffs, according to HockeyStats. They’ve got a lot of work to do, and GM Mathieu Darche would have been far better off committing to a true rebuild around Matthew Schaefer and their pipeline than spending their assets on aging veterans.

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7. Pittsburgh Penguins: Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, Evgeni Malkin*, Andrei Kuzmenko, Ville Koivunen, Nick Robertson, Justin Brazeau, Elmer Soderblom, Hendrix Lapierre*

There is a giant gap between the Islanders and the No. 7 Pittsburgh Penguins, and I admittedly had a tough time deciding where to put them before settling on this slot.

Bryan Rust is still a legitimate top-six forward and has consistently produced dominant underlying numbers throughout his career (though, admittedly, they have not been up to snuff the last two seasons). His 65 points in 72 games is par for the course for him, and so long as he continues to play with Sidney Crosby, he will have no issue maintaining that pace. Evgeni Malkin was their second-highest-producing winger in terms of raw point totals and their best in terms of per-game play, with 61 points in just 56 games at 39 years of age in 2025-26. He’s not a center anymore, though I’m sure he can slide there if need be, and he is certainly in the twilight of his career, but he seemed to have found the fountain of youth while playing with Ben Kindel.

Rickard Rakell has proven to be an adequate top-six player as well for them in the past, even if his 2025-26 season was a down year. He was a 70-point player two seasons ago, and if he can rekindle some of that energy, he can be a solid top-nine player for them once again.

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Their mid-season addition of Egor Chinakhov panned out quite well for them, with the 25-year-old producing +5.8 GAR and 36 points in 43 games with his new squad. There is a legitimate chance that he can maintain that production or even build upon it. Elmer Soderblom, another mid-late season add from 2025-26, had 10 points in 20 games in addition to a +3.2 GAR. Their off-season additions were solid, too, having added all of Andrei Kuzmenko (+3.1 GAR), Nick Robertson (+1.6 GAR), and Hendrix Lapierre (+2.9 GAR) to their squad. Kuzmenko is a prime bounce-back candidate, while Robertson and Lapierre are both serviceable bottom-nine forwards who are aiding in giving the Penguins some youth to build around once Crosby and Malkin retire.

Justin Brazeau is an excellent fourth-line player and always has been, with particularly strong offensive underlyings. Ville Koivunen, meanwhile, who just got handed an eight-year, $32 million contract despite having just 47 NHL games to his name, is a complete wild card who put up some stellar defensive numbers but was a black hole offensively in his 39 2025-26 games. He’s well-regarded, though, and will seemingly have a pretty long runway to show his chops from here on out. Perhaps there’s some offensive juice to tap into.

All in all, the Penguins have a well-rounded winger group, with a couple of legitimate top-six wingers in Rust and Malkin, a couple of capable top-nine wingers in Rakell and Chinakhov, and a boatload of serviceable depth, most of whom put up strong metrics under the hood. My concerns are two-fold: 1) their best wingers are on the wrong side of the aging curve and also injury-prone, and 2) they lack a game-breaker on the flanks. Other than that, it’s a good group.

6. Columbus Blue Jackets: Kirill Marchenko, Valeri Nichushkin, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Conor Garland, Mathieu Olivier, Miles Wood, Danton Heinen, Ryan Lomberg

Kirill Marchenko is doing a lot of heavy lifting here as far and away the best winger on this list so far. He’s flirted with being a point-per-game player for two seasons now, most recently scoring 27 goals and 67 total points in 76 games while on a sweetheart of a deal ($3.85 million AAV, which expires at the end of this season). He’s been an offensive monster for quite some time, and there’s reason to believe that there’s much more in the tank for the 26-year-old, especially if he were surrounded with more talent.

Valeri Nichushkin was a solid pick-up from the cap-strapped Colorado Avalanche. He was superb on both sides of the ice in 2025-26, having an offensive GAR of +5.6 and a defensive GAR of +5.5 while being one of the unluckier Avalanche in terms of production (49 points in 72 games despite those underlying numbers). He immediately slots in as their second-best winger, barring a turnaround from Kent Johnson.

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Johnson, still just 23, though he seems to have been in the league forever, had a relatively awful year compared to expectations. In 2024-25, things seemed to have clicked in his first season in a top-six role, as he produced 24 goals and 57 points in 66 games. He wasn’t trusted in that role this go-around, though, and ultimately ended the year with just 22 points in 76 games while playing over four minutes less per game. If he bounces back, the Blue Jackets will have three legitimate top-six wingers.

Dmitri Voronkov is another who has struggled to meet the expectations set two seasons ago, with the 25-year-old producing just 32 points in 63 games in 2025-26, though he posted strong two-way underlying metrics. He, too, was handed fewer minutes than his 2024-25 performance should have deserved.

Conor Garland is a serviceable third-line winger who has consistently won his minutes and produced reasonably well, though he had just seven points in his 21 games with Columbus. He should be expected to bounce back. Danton Heinen’s underlying numbers were strong on both sides of the puck in 2025-26, so he should be an excellent bottom-six winger for them this coming season. Miles Wood, Mathieu Olivier, and Ryan Lomberg are all of a similar ilk, though Olivier stands out as an outlier in terms of underlying numbers (+8.1 GAR in 2025-26) and production (15 goals and 11 assists in 61 games).

A lot is riding on this season in terms of the Blue Jackets’ winger group. Marchenko is already unlikely to re-sign, and he certainly will not if Columbus has another sub-par season. If they’re bad again, I would also question the futures of Kent Johnson and Dmitry Voronkov, who are on expiring contracts (though they are RFAs). They’re banking on a few bounce-back seasons, too, and that’s never a comfortable spot to be in.

5. Philadelphia Flyers: Travis Konecny, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Alex Bump, Denver Barkey*, Christian Dvorak*, Nikita Grebenkin, Carl Grundstrom

Originally, I had Philadelphia one spot higher but ultimately had to talk myself down by virtue of their winger group being somewhat unproven.

Travis Konecny gets a worse rap from Flyers fans than is deserved, in my opinion — he’s still a useful offensive tool despite his defensive deficiencies, having produced a +7.6 offensive GAR and 68 points in 77 games. He won his minutes last year to boot, and though he’ll be 30 by season’s end, he still has more in the tank as a bona fide top-six winger.

Porter Martone only played in nine games, but looks like the real deal. His 0.911 GAR/60 handily ranked first on Philadelphia, and he accumulated 10 points in those nine regular season games. He had an additional five points in 10 postseason games. Martone rightfully enters 2026-27 as the betting favorite for the Calder Trophy — if all goes as planned, he should be a near-or-at point-per-game forward and be handed first-line, first power-play unit deployment.

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Matvei Michkov, meanwhile, gets a worse rap from the coaching staff and some members of the media than is deserved. He should be the focus of the organization along with Martone, but Rick Tocchet and company have done their best to give him as poor a treatment as possible for… some reason. Still, despite getting two fewer minutes per game this year than his rookie season, he put together another 20-goal, 50-plus-point campaign with above-average defensive impacts to boot. He ended the year sixth on the Flyers in total GAR. If the Flyers were competently run, he would be handed top-six minutes like candy and plugged alongside Martone and Trevor Zegras. Alas.

Tyson Foerster was given a $7.1 million AAV extension this summer, and it was well-earned. Despite playing in just 29 games this past season, the 24-year-old was seventh on the team in total GAR, finishing third on the squad in GAR/60. He brings a ton of value on both sides of the puck, using his upper-echelon shot and offensive intelligence to be a threat from anywhere in the offensive zone. In my eyes, he’s more of a second-line talent than a first-line talent, but he has the two-way chops to be extremely effective in that role even if his skating isn’t all that great. Owen Tippett, meanwhile, is another effective middle-sixer who relies more on his speed and physical tools than his mental ones. He put up 51 points in 81 games in that role in 2025-26, and there’s no reason to believe he’ll slow down that pace.

They also have some intriguing depth pieces in Nikita Grebenkin, Alex Bump, and Denver Barkey, all of whom are still young and developing. Grebenkin is a work in progress, but Bump and Barkey are already apt at playing NHL defense and have the room and runway to pitch in more on the offensive side of the puck.

This is a winger group with a ton of depth, and young depth at that. They lack a true game-breaker, though, at least until Martone or Michkov develop into that. Martone is too new to label as such right now, and Michkov isn’t trusted enough by the coaching staff to be that player yet. They have the blueprint, though, for one of the premier winger groups in the entire NHL. That much is undeniable.

4. New York Rangers: Pavel Dorofeyev, Alexis Lafreniere, JT Miller*, Gabe Perreault, Will Cuylle, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Taylor Raddysh, Tye Kartye, Matt Rempe, Jaroslav Chmelar

Adding Pavel Dorofeyev was a great move for the Rangers, who already had a couple of legitimate top-six forwards. The 25-year-old, after being acquired, was then handed an $11 million AAV contract that runs until 2033, so it stands to reason that he’ll be their highest-deployed forward. It’s for good reason, too — despite having okay offensive numbers at 5v5, Dorofeyev has been one of the league’s best power-play forwards and has consistently sported excellent defensive numbers. His defensive GAR in 2025-26 alone was +4.7. He has scored at least 35 goals in two consecutive seasons, and it stands to reason that, despite some questions about who the facilitators are going to be, he can build upon that production simply by virtue of increased deployment.

Alexis Lafreniere has quietly been very good himself, putting up a +16.0 GAR season in 2025-26 on the back of superb two-way numbers. His 57 points in 82 games still didn’t live up to the expectations of a first-overall pick — and a relatively highly-touted one at that — but he has undeniably been improving year-over-year and has looked far better than that production would have you believe. He’s a great player, and one who will be a staple in the Rangers’ top-six for a long, long time.

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JT Miller is positionally fluid, though I think he’s likelier to play down the middle than on the wing. Still, he deserves a shout for being yet another legitimate top-six forward.

Past those three, Gabe Perreault looks primed to take a step forward (especially if he is thrust into a second-line role, as he probably should be). His +5.6 offensive GAR was sixth-best on the entire Rangers’ roster in 2025-26, and he only appeared in 49 games. As a facilitator, he is a special talent — perhaps it will be Perreault feeding Dorofeyev passes at 5v5, which would almost certainly solidify him as a top-six player throughout the year.

Will Cuylle had a down year from an underlying perspective, but he is still a capable defensive forward and, at 24, will almost certainly bounce back offensively. Oliver Bjorkstrand, a bona fide Devil killer, is on the wrong side of 30 now, but still possesses strong enough offensive chops to be a threatening member of their third line. Tye Kartye was undeniably good for New York once he was acquired at the trade deadline, sporting an astounding +4.8 offensive GAR and 14 points in just 24 games, so it’ll be interesting to see what he can do in a full season with the Rangers.

Taylor Raddysh, Matt Rempe, and Jaroslav Chmelar are all fourth-line caliber players, with none of the three being particularly interesting. Chmelar led the group in GAR (+1.9) simply because his penalty differential was so excellent; Raddysh was the best offensive player; and Rempe is genuinely perfectly fine as a fringe NHLer despite being one of the dirtiest players in the league.

It’s tough giving the Rangers any flowers, but they had a genuinely good off-season and have a surprisingly decent forward group, at least on the flanks. Dorofeyev and Lafreniere are bona fide top-sixers. Perreault could get there himself with proper deployment, and their bottom-six seems to be perfectly capable of winning their minutes. It’s going to be an interesting season for the Rangers — my guess is that they fight for a Wild Card spot in the Metropolitan Division, though ultimately a lack of playdrivers may hold them back. The question isn’t whether their players can score, but whether those complementary players (Dorofeyev, Mika Zibanejad) will actually receive passes and have play driven for them.

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3. New Jersey Devils: Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Arseny Gritsyuk, Evan Rodrigues*, Anthony Mantha, Dawson Mercer, Connor Brown, Jesper Boqvist*, Stefan Noesen, Amadeus Lombardi*

The Devils have done a great job of improving their depth this off-season, adding the likes of Swiss-Army knife Evan Rodrigues, top-nine goal-scorer Anthony Mantha, bottom-six speedster Jesper Boqvist, and wild-card prospect Amadeus Lombardi to the mix.

Rodrigues had been a fantastic do-it-all forward for the Florida Panthers for a number of years, and now finds himself penciled into the middle-six of the Devils lineup, where he’ll slot up either alongside Nico Hischier on the second line or alongside Cody Glass on the third. His versatility is his best asset, being able to cater his play to the context in which he is deployed — if he needs to be a shutdown player, you’ll be sure to see his defensive metrics shine. If he needs to produce, he can play that role admirably as well. Mantha, who was inked to a two-year deal in free agency, is coming off a career-best 33-goal, 64-point campaign in which he played in the middle-six all season. He produced those numbers with very limited deployment alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and while still being in the early stages of recovery from his ACL injury, so it’s tantalizing to think of what he could be at full health and alongside better playmakers and facilitators than he has ever played with. I wouldn’t expect him to shoot over 18% again, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he surpassed the 30-goal threshold again.

Jesper Boqvist is extraordinarily fast and has used that to be a nuisance defensively (even though his offense has taken a hit because of that role) since he joined Florida. He will be a staple on the Devils’ fourth line. It’s impossible to predict what Lombardi is, but the organization is undeniably high on him and it seems prudent to pencil him into the lineup as a potential middle-six contributor.

The Devils also have the best winger in the Metropolitan Division in Jesper Bratt, who was snubbed from the NHL’s Top 20 Wingers list and, realistically, is a top-15 winger in the league. He’s a special player who, assuming Jack Hughes is healthy, will push for 90 or more points in 2026-27 while providing the team with slightly above-average defense and plenty of playdriving to boot. He’s been the Devils’ most consistent forward for a number of years, has added a layer of physicality that has rendered the “soft” arguments inept, and is on a bargain of a deal.

Then, there’s Timo Meier, who was a fringe top-20 winger himself when he was first acquired by the Devils back in the 2022-23 season. He hasn’t produced like he did in San Jose, a problem that has been furthered by his forward-best $8.8 million AAV cap hit, but he has inarguably been a playdriving presence whose habits haven’t changed all that much. He’s defensively sound, plays a unique playstyle, and has been extraordinarily snakebitten for a number of years now. There’s certainly reason to believe that, without being bogged down by some of the hardest deployment in the league while playing next to Hischier and with some puck luck, Meier can turn back into the perennial 30-plus goal-scoring, 65-plus point-getting forward he was prior to his arrival to the Devils.

Arseny Gritsyuk was a bit of a revelation in his rookie campaign, being the second-best player in the entire NHL in terms of his individual impact on shot attempts. His with-or-without-you numbers are mind-bending, in the sense that players who played with him typically had about a 7-10% negative swing in terms of their expected goal share (xGF%) when playing away from him. Gritsyuk didn’t produce all that much considering these insane on-ice metrics, with just 13 goals and 31 total points in his 66 games, so there’s reason to believe there will be a good amount of positive regression to hit him this season. He was inked to a ludicrously team-friendly $3.25 million AAV deal earlier this summer.

Rounding out their incredibly deep top-nine will presumably be Dawson Mercer (for now), who has been a consistent complementary player with solid defensive outputs since he was drafted. He has still yet to miss a single game in his career. It should be noted, though, that Mercer generally struggles when not alongside an upper-echelon playdriver, so given that he may not be a mainstay in the Devils’ top six, it’ll be interesting to see how he produces and how his underlying metrics hold up. Connor Brown, then, who meshed quite well alongside Bratt and Hughes to end 2025-26, seems likely to be on the fourth line, barring a trade that sends one of the Devils’ other forwards elsewhere. Brown is another do-it-all forward who can play in any capacity, and ended the 2025-26 season seventh on the Devils’ roster in total GAR.

Stefan Noesen seems like the odd-man out of the Devils’ roster, to be honest, given his declining foot speed, age, and cap hit, but if he stays and rekindles some of what made him a palatable bottom-nine winger two seasons ago, he could be a viable depth option as well.

This Devils winger group has top-end talent with Bratt and potentially with Meier. They also have an absurd amount of depth, with plenty of players who could fight for the remaining top-nine spots. Their fourth line should be vastly improved, too, so there’s a lot to like. I just couldn’t place them any higher given that they still need one bona fide top-six winger to add to the group.

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2. Carolina Hurricanes: Seth Jarvis, Nikolaj Ehlers, Andrei Svechnikov, Jackson Blake, Logan Stankoven*, Taylor Hall, Jordan Martinook, William Carrier, Eric Robinson, Nicolas Deslauriers, Bradly Nadeau

The Hurricanes, to me, narrowly edge out the Devils for the #2 slot in the Metropolitan Division.

Seth Jarvis is a monster on both sides of the puck, though he will be missing the first couple of months of the season. When healthy, though, he’s a consistent shoo-in for 30 goals and 60-plus points while contributing a ton defensively. He was third on the Hurricanes in GAR (+13.8) and second among wingers, but his health undersold how effective he is when he’s firing on all cylinders. At his best, he’s a fringe top-25 winger in the league.

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Nikolaj Ehlers, in his first season with the Hurricanes, led them in GAR (+18.0), being second-best in offensive GAR (+13.9) next to Sebastian Aho. Ehlers predictably had the best season of his career from a points perspective, totaling 71 in his 82 games, by virtue of getting the most deployment he ever has. He was also a candidate for the Conn Smythe trophy (and arguably should have received it), given his 18 points in 18 playoff games. His speed makes him a constant counter-attack and rush threat, and he turned things up defensively this past season.

Rounding out the Hurricanes’ list of three bona fide top-six wingers is Andrei Svechnikov, who had an atrocious start to the season but ultimately ended up being one of their best players. Offensively, he was a dynamo, with a +11.0 GAR (though a lot of that was nullified by his astoundingly poor -6.0 defensive GAR). He had his best year from a production standpoint on both a total points and per-game basis, with 31 goals and 70 total points in 79 games. Did he have a career-best 15.9% shooting percentage and career-high 29 power-play points? Yes he did. Is he still a dynamic 5v5 playdriver who produces a ton of high-danger chances? Yes he is.

Jackson Blake is more of a middle-sixer than top-sixer, but he is on the upper end of that spectrum. He had a career-best 53 points (22 goals, 31 assists) in 2025-26 in his age-22 season, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t continue developing into a perennial 60-point guy. On top of that, he has solid defensive instincts and a penchant for playing the Hurricanes’ patented physical style. Logan Stankoven will likely be playing down the middle like he did for most of last season, but he’s worth mentioning as a two-way middle-six stud himself.

Taylor Hall and Jordan Martinook will likely be the mainstays on their third line, and for good reason. Hall is still an insanely useful offensive weapon, with a +7.0 offensive GAR last season. He produced 48 points while playing under 15 minutes per game, and was a point-per-game player in the postseason as well. He’s 34 now, but looks better than he has in a half-decade. Martinook, also 34, is still a 30-plus point player year in and year out, and has shutdown capabilities as well. If anyone embodies the personality of a Hurricane, it’s him.

For their fourth line and depth, the Hurricanes have two perennially underrated assets in William Carrier and Eric Robinson. Those two have both consistently dominated the game from an underlying perspective and make up one of, if not the single most dangerous fourth line in the entire NHL. Deslauriers is a fringe guy, but he’s a great locker room presence and can play in a pinch. They also have a complete wild card in Bradly Nadeau, who should assume the hole that Jarvis’s injury opens up until he’s healthy. He’s small, but tenacious, and has one of the best shots outside of the NHL.

The Hurricanes have three top-of-the-lineup wingers in Jarvis, Ehlers, and Svechnikov. They have fantastic depth and arguably the two best fourth-line wingers in the league on top of it. Their only “hole” is that they don’t have a point-per-game-plus player in their lineup outside of Aho, but they did prove that a team doesn’t need that to win the Cup this past season.

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1. Washington Capitals: Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou, Tom Wilson, Alex Ovechkin, Aliaksei Protas, Ilya Protas*, Pierre-Luc Dubois*, Ryan Leonard, Ivan Miroschnichenko, Ethen Frank, Anthony Beauvillier, Justin Sourdif*

It was never really a question as to who the top-ranked winger group in the Metropolitan Division would be after the Washington Capitals added Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou to the roster.

Tuch, 30, was given a $10.5 million AAV contract that seems fair right now but will almost certainly age poorly. Still, he’s a legitimate top-six player who has scored at least 33 goals and 66 points in three of the last four seasons. He’s been above a point-per-game once in his career (2022-23), and was a staple on the Sabres’ top line from the moment he was acquired in the trade that sent Jack Eichel to Vegas. Most of his value comes on the offensive side of the puck, with an admittedly middling +0.2 defensive GAR to go alongside his +12.4 offensive GAR last season. He should stay consistent as a 30-goal, 60-plus point-getter in his first few seasons with the Capitals.

Kyrou, meanwhile, was acquired for pennies on the dollar this off-season. The Capitals sent off the 16th overall pick, Connor McMichael, and prospect Milton Gästrin to St. Louis in exchange for his services. That may seem like a high price to pay, but this is a player who had produced at a 34-goal, 74-point pace for the four seasons leading up to 2025-26. In 2025-26, he had an aberrational 18 goals and 46 points while perplexingly taking a backseat to the likes of Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbors in terms of ice time, but he had some of the best defensive metrics in the entire NHL and should have been a candidate for the Selke Trophy.

Tom Wilson has long been one of the best second-line players in the NHL and has seemingly leveled up in the past two seasons, surpassing 30 goals and 60 points in each. He’s defensively elite, physical as can be, and locked up long-term at a reasonable contract, even if he is 32. They also have the Protas brothers (the Protii, if you will), both of whom are lab-grown physical specimens who are both at least 6’5 and 225 pounds and both of whom skate like the wind and have hands as smooth as butter. They’re freaks of nature, and I mean it in the best way possible. Aliaksei has consecutive 25-plus goal, 50-plus point seasons under his belt and was fourth on the Capitals in GAR last season, and Ilya produced four points in the only four games he has to his name.

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They’re also in the last season of Alex Ovechkin, who, despite his nonexistent speed and lackluster defensive efforts, can still score 30-plus goals as he has in all but one of his 21 seasons in the NHL. He’s 40 now and practically stands still on the ice, but with a shot like that, it simply doesn’t matter. Ryan Leonard just completed his rookie season and scored 45 points — 20 goals and 25 assists — in 75 games while playing in a third-line capacity. There’s no reason to believe that he won’t be able to keep that play up and then some, especially with the stacked cast around him. Pierre-Luc Dubois is predominantly a center at this point, but he deserves a shout as a palatable middle-sixer as well.

Justin Sourdif is arguably the league’s best fourth-line center, though he has played on the wing as well. Complementing him will be Ethen Frank, an incredibly fast, incredibly useful two-way fourth-liner, and Anthony Beauvillier, who is still capable of potting 10-15 goals a year in limited deployment.

The Capitals have the best top-nine depth in the league, with Tuch, Kyrou, Wilson, the Protas brothers, Leonard, and Dubois all being top-nine players. Their fourth line looks to be strong as well, particularly with Sourdif down the middle. Either way, their winger group is so strong that they should be a contender for the top team in the Metro.

Next up, I’ll be ranking the Metropolitan Division’s defense groups. Stay tuned!

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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Be sure to check out my recent appearance on The Hockey PDOcast — Dimitri Filipovic had me on yesterday to talk shop about the Devils’ off-season, where they went wrong since 2022-23, and any high hopes and concerns we have heading into 2026-27.

It’s been a quiet August; for the Devils, there have been no trades or signings since they signed Colin White to a one-year, two-way contract on July 30. Given the silence around the league, it’s as good a time as ever to gauge how the Devils stack up against the rest of their division in terms of their forward corps, defensive corps, and goaltending.

First up: the centers.

For this list, if a player has an asterisk next to their name, it means that they primarily play another position but can and have played center in the past. I’ll be taking that into account when doing the rankings, for both good and bad.

Spoiler alert: this is a difficult list (until #1).

8. New York Islanders: Mathew Barzal*, Bo Horvat, Brayden Schenn, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Casey Cizikas, Calum Ritchie*

With Mathew Barzal predominantly playing on the wing in recent seasons (though he admittedly played more down the middle than in previous seasons in 2025-26), Bo Horvat is the Islanders’ bona fide best center. He’s a good enough player, but he’s a low-end 1C. Unfortunately for them, that’s where their talent takes a nosedive.

Brayden Schenn has long been one of the more overpaid pivots in the league relative to his on-ice value. He brings some production, but the reality is that he has lost his minutes more often than not in the last half-decade. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, once one of the better third-line centers in the NHL, had a dismal season and isn’t getting any younger — his Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of -8.2 for the year was the worst of any player on the Islanders. He’s 33, too, so there’s much less hope of a rebound and much more concern of his age curve catching up with him than there ever has been.

Casey Cizikas is a perfectly fine fourth-line center — perhaps even a good one — so he is a plus (even though he is 35 years old and may be on the decline). Calum Ritchie, though very young and still developing, had pretty putrid underlying numbers for the Islanders in 2025-26, sporting the second-worst WAR on the team (-6.3). He’s likely to stay on the wing for now, though, I’d have to imagine.

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7. Philadelphia Flyers: Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, Noah Cates, Sean Couturier, Denver Barkey*, Noel Acciari

In terms of high-end talent, the Flyers are in a similar boat to the Islanders — in fact, Horvat is probably the best center between the two teams and Trevor Zegras is certainly more of a high-end 2C than a 1C. However, when looking at the second line and beyond, Philadelphia has a distinct advantage.

Noah Cates is an excellent middle-six center, somehow ending the 2025-26 season with more WAR than any other forward on the team. Most of that value is on the defensive side of the puck, truly excelling at shutting the other team down. Christian Dvorak is a black hole defensively, but provides legitimate offensive juice, and Sean Couturier, at this point in his career, is a perfectly fine 4C, albeit far overpaid for his role now.

Denver Barkey, who will be entering his sophomore campaign, seems poised to take a step forward next season and has a decent chance to play down the middle. Noel Acciari has been a decent bottom-six center for a number of years at this point.

The biggest problem I see with this center group is that, outside of Zegras and occasionally Dvorak, there’s not a whole lot of playdriving or offensive capability. Most of the value from Cates, Couturier, Barkey, and Acciari comes purely on the defensive side of the puck. In certain environments, that can certainly work, but it puts a ton of pressure on the top-end of the lineup to score and the defense to prevent goals the other way — banking on low-scoring affairs is a high-risk way to play hockey.

6. New York Rangers: JT Miller, Mika Zibanejad, Noah Laba, Joe Veleno

The New York Rangers’ center depth is nothing to write home about, especially considering that they have only four centers on their roster. Mika Zibanejad enjoyed a resurgent season and looked more like the low-end 1C he has been for a number of years. JT Miller had a relatively awful season compared to his standards — his -1.5 WAR was the lowest it has been since 2013 — so I would anticipate he looks more like a top-six player again in 2026-27.

Noah Laba was quietly very good in his rookie campaign, giving the Rangers pretty excellent two-way play in their bottom-six. Given that he is still just 23 and has more acclimation to do at the NHL level, I wouldn’t be surprised if he cemented himself as a strong third-line option this coming season. Joe Veleno is another relatively young player, but he isn’t quite as talented and has struggled somewhat from an underlying perspective throughout his career. Still, there are skills to bank on, even if the likelier route is that he loses his minutes.

5. Columbus Blue Jackets: Adam Fantilli, Sean Monahan, Charlie Coyle, Cole Sillinger, Dmitri Voronkov*, Isac Lundestrom

Columbus will be stuck in the mushy middle here until Adam Fantilli takes the real, tangible step forward that has been expected of him for years. He has all the potential in the world but hasn’t found a way for it to translate to superior on-ice results, having accrued a WAR of just 2.9 last season. He’s going to get paid big-time, and he needs to perform as such, too.

Sean Monahan and Charlie Coyle, though, are a strong middle-six duo. Coyle’s 11.7 WAR was tops among Columbus forwards in 2025-26, with Monahan’s 2.8 being both respectable and a step down from what we saw even one year prior. If he surges back to his normal self and Coyle maintains that level of two-way excellence, they should be in a good spot.

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Cole Sillinger looked pretty good last season as well, tying his career-high of 33 points and having some of the best underlying metrics of his career. If he can take a step forward and push one of the aforementioned names down in the lineup, it’s entirely possible that the Blue Jackets end up higher in the standings than expected.

Dmitri Voronkov’s role has been frustratingly diminished from where it was in his rookie campaign (where he predominantly played center), but he is still a viable two-way player. Isac Lundestrom is defensively excellent as well, even if he’s a black hole on offense, and will provide Columbus with quality fourth-line minutes.

4. Washington Capitals: Dylan Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Boone Jenner, Ilya Protas*, Justin Sourdif

The new-look Washington Capitals saw most of their change on the wings, but they did add a quality center to their deep roster in Boone Jenner, longtime captain of the division rival Blue Jackets. The 33-year-old is on the wrong side of the aging curve, but is still a strong third-line center when healthy, providing his team with apt two-way play.

Dylan Strome is more of a strong 2C than a first-line player, but he has immense offensive value as a facilitator and has quietly been a near-point-per-game player since getting to the Capitals. With increased talent around him, there’s no reason he can’t get back to that threshold. Pierre-Luc Dubois has dealt with some injury troubles, but is an effective second-line center when suited up and should also take a bit of a step forward given the depth of the Capitals’ wingers.

Ilya Protas lined up as a center, next to his brother Aliaksei, in his first four NHL games (where he produced four points, mind you), but given the depth of the roster, it’ll be interesting to see if he stays in that position. Justin Sourdif, meanwhile, was arguably the league’s best fourth-line pivot last season — the youngster took a gigantic step forward in his development and looked the part of a two-way monster in his somewhat sheltered minutes. Kudos to the Capitals’ professional scouting department for seeing that in him.

3. Carolina Hurricanes: Sebastian Aho, Logan Stankoven, Jordan Staal, Mark Jankowski, Jesperi Kotkaniemi

The Hurricanes find themselves above the Capitals simply because they have a legitimate first-line center in Sebastian Aho, who has been a top-20 center for many years now. He’s the best player on this list so far, with unbelievably strong offensive chops (16.7 WAR just on the offensive side of things in 2025-26) and two-way adaptability to boot. Logan Stankoven really came into his own in the postseason, but solidified himself as a solid 2C throughout the year by virtue of his unparalleled work ethic and deadly shot.

Behind those two is Jordan Staal, one of the league’s premier shutdown centers who has long been tasked with some of the most difficult minutes in the league. He’s always seemed to come out on top, and did so while scoring 20 goals for the first time since the 2015-16 season. Mark Jankowski is the prototypical Carolina forward; one who wins his minutes handily, is an avid forechecker, and provides two-way value.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi will find himself riding pine for most of the season, but he isn’t a bad player by any means, either.

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2. Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby, Ben Kindel, Evgeni Malkin*, Tommy Novak, Blake Lizotte*, Conor Dewar, Hendrix Lapierre*

I have the Penguins just above the Hurricanes here, largely in part due to the volume difference between the two teams. Sidney Crosby is still miraculously a top-20 center in the NHL, still never having dropped below a point-per-game after a 74-point, 68-game campaign in 2025-26. Evgeni Malkin slid mostly to the wing last season, but found the fountain of youth at age 39 and had an incredible, point-per-game-plus season last year.

Behind Crosby on the depth chart is Ben Kindel, who already looks like one of the steals of his draft class. He disappeared in the playoffs a bit, but the then-18-year-old did not look out of place whatsoever in his 77 games, perhaps fizzling out over the course of the year due to fatigue, workload, and adaptation to far and away the best hockey league on the planet, but never looking like he didn’t belong. He’s poised to take a step forward — and a big one at that — and ultimately could cement himself as the player ready to take the reins as their 1C when Crosby retires.

Tommy Novak, Blake Lizotte, Conor Dewar, and Hendrix Lapierre all provide positive value in depth roles and will make up one of the more underrated bottom sixes in the league. Each of them is a plus on both sides of the puck, though Lizotte and Lapierre admittedly thrive more on the defense than offense. Still, their fourth line will be made up of three dogs and will be a complete nightmare to play against.

1. New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Cody Glass, Nick Bjugstad, Jesper Boqvist*, Evan Rodrigues*, Dawson Mercer*, Amadeus Lombardi

There was never a question that the Devils have the best center depth in the Metropolitan Division, winning the battle in both high-end talent and sheer volume. Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier are one of two top-six duos in the league in which both players are top-20 centers (with the other, of course, being the Edmonton Oilers). Hughes, when healthy, is a top-seven player in the NHL, and Hischier is a dual-threat, two-way monster. Those two combined for 19.3 WAR, with the former having missed significant time once again and the latter having a monumentally down year by his standards (4.8 WAR). Assuming health and a bit more favorable deployment for Hischier, this duo should rival the best of them.

Behind him is Cody Glass, who shot a surely unsustainable 18.3% but had a career-best 19 goals in 2025-26. On top of being his typically dominant defensive self, he took a step forward offensively and looked like one of, if not the best, third-line pivots in the league last season. There are some who believe he is better suited to be the team’s fourth-line center, but the reality is that he is perfectly fine where he is.

I think it’s somewhat likely that Nick Bjugstad gets shipped off to clear additional cap space and acquire another tradeable asset, given how crowded the Devils’ roster is, but he is a perfectly fine fourth-line center for the most part. He’s undoubtedly declining, but still provides some value.

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The Devils also have a ton of could-be centers in Jesper Boqvist (who mostly played on the wing in his time with the Panthers but was a center in his first go-around with New Jersey), Evan Rodrigues (who played down the middle quite a bit last season but has primarily played on the wing throughout his career), and Dawson Mercer (who has been forced to slide to center at times when the injury bug has hit the team). Of the three, I think it’s likeliest that Rodrigues plays at center, but anything is possible, and having the alternatives does give them tangible depth at the position. Boqvist is a speedy, forechecking, defense-first forward at this point in time. Rodrigues is a jack-of-all-trades who can effectively slot in anywhere in the lineup. Mercer is a complementary player who plays un-maddening, consistent hockey and has been effective in a shutdown role throughout his career.

I think Amadeus Lombardi is another wild card, too — it’s clear he’s a part of the vision moving forward. He’s played mostly center with the Grand Rapids Griffins, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the wing at the NHL level.

There you have it: the centers of each Metropolitan Division team ranked from worst to first. It should come as no surprise that the Devils are at the top of the crop here, given that they have the two best centers in the division and the biggest volume of centers to boot.

Tune in next time, when I’ll be evaluating each Metro team’s winger group.

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The New Jersey Devils, led by new GM Sunny Mehta, have undeniably improved their roster this off-season. Their forward corps is significantly deeper than it has been since their magical 2022-23 season (perhaps even more so), their goaltending room could be a cheap trio that plays well in the aggregate, and their minor league farm system looks to be enjoying a major turnaround.

However, one issue remains of paramount importance, at least on paper, heading into 2026-27: the defense’s ability to move the puck. Sure, they added quality depth in Declan Chisholm and Vladislav Kolyachonok and made an addition-by-subtraction move on the back end by shipping off Simon Nemec, but the problem persists. In fact, puck-moving was the one thing Nemec did well, and he did it at a reasonably high level.

With that in mind, I wanted to re-hash an article from February in which I compared the Devils’ defensive puck-moving statistics to the top 10 Stanley Cup contenders — five from each conference. I’ll be aiming to project how they will perform over the course of the season using prior data in the off-season.

Parameters and Methodology

To come up with the list of the five biggest “contenders” of each conference, I simply used ESPN’s NHL Futures and picked the five best-odds teams in the Eastern and Western Conference. The breakdown is as follows:

Eastern Conference: Florida Panthers (+650), Carolina Hurricanes (+650), Tampa Bay Lightning (+1200), Washington Capitals (+1700), and Montreal Canadiens (+2200).
Western Conference: Colorado Avalanche (+700), Edmonton Oilers (+800), Vegas Golden Knights (+850), Minnesota Wild (+1300), Dallas Stars (+1400).

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I wanted to pick as objective a group of ten teams as I possibly could; thus, the thought of using the public consensus over my own judgment. Are there some questionable calls there in my own mind? Sure — I would probably list the reigning Cup champs as the best-odds team to win, and I wouldn’t have the Wild anywhere near the top five in the West, but I’m again operating on consensus here.

For the statistics being used to determine puck-moving ability, I’ll be using LB-Hockey’s multi-season stat cards (I highly recommend Louis Boulet’s work). I wanted to refrain from using single-season numbers from 2025-26, as that isn’t a measure of future projectability — I wanted this mini-project to be able to predict how apt the respective defenses would perform next season in this regard.

Puck-moving can really be broken down into two areas: in-zone and transitional. In-zone puck-movement is facilitation off the cycle: passing from the point, extending zone time with timely pinches, creating rebounds, etc. Transitional puck-movement is more of the prototypical definition of zone entries and zone exits either with possession or via a pass.

All told, I compiled the multi-season data for eight puck-moving statistics. The in-zone metrics were the following, followed by their definitions from Boulet:

• Chance Generation: “the ability to generate chances for their team when the player is on the ice (adjusted for zone deployment and teammate/opposition strength).”

• Sustained O-Zone Pressure: “the ability to instill & extend offensive pressure, i.e., pouring on shots and holding control in the o-zone, when the player is on the ice (adjusted for zone deployment and teammate/opposition strength).”

• Playmaking: “the ability to create chances for teammates with passing plays (weighed by how dangerous these chances are).”

• Individual Creation: “the ability to create chances for themself off the forecheck and cycle (off in-zone plays).”

The transitional metrics are the following, followed by their definitions:

• Exits: “the ability to break the puck out of the defensive zone (weighed by how likely the attempt is to turn into an offensive zone possession).”

• Entry Volume: “the ability to frequently generate controlled entries through carrying or passing the puck past the blue line.”

• Entry Offense: “the ability to create chances through passing or shooting on transition plays (weighed by how dangerous these chances are).”

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The eighth statistic I wanted to showcase is a bit more abstract, but one I felt would accurately convey the overarching point of the piece: Importance to Teammate Offense, which Boulet defined as the “ability to be an integral part of their team’s offensive network, in other words, having their teammates’ offence flow through the player (measured by how much it would negatively influence their teammates if the player was removed).”

Boulet’s statistics, which are compiled from AllThreeZones and his own xG model, are formatted in percentiles. They are taken from the past three seasons, weighted toward the most recent campaign.

With the contenders and statistics fleshed out — the same way they were last time — we can now jump in to how the Devils stack up.

The Devils

The Devils, as previously mentioned, offloaded Nemec from the team, a prudent decision from an in-totality perspective but one that undoubtedly negatively impacted the puck-moving metrics for the team as a whole. Outside of chance generation and sustained offensive zone pressure, Nemec was a net positive across the board, in particular in transition. Of course, they added Chisholm, who is a balanced, stable two-way presence who contributes meaningfully in puck-moving himself.

Still, the Devils only really have two true puck-movers. Dougie Hamilton is still excellent, particularly from an in-zone perspective, and Luke Hughes is coming into his own as a player with all the tools in the world and a still-developing decision-making head. Beyond those two, Brett Pesce is the closest thing they have to a puck-mover, being more of the perfect complementary piece (alongside Chisholm, who is a third-pair complementary puck-mover). Outside of those four, they have three players who generally struggle to move the puck: Brenden Dillon, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Jonas Siegenthaler. Each of them has their moments, but they are far from puck-moving defensemen.

The Panthers (+650)

The Panthers (re-)added Dmitry Kulikov and Radko Gudas, getting rid of two non-puck-movers in Jeff Petry and Donovan Sobrango in the process. Gudas is a severely underrated offensive tool with genuine utility in the offensive zone, while Kulikov is already likely their weak link in terms of this facet of the game.

They’re a bit anomalous in the sense that they’re a tried-and-true dump-and-chase team with a forward corps so deep that their defensive group matters significantly less. No team in the league has a third line that includes the likes of Anton Lundell, Brad Marchand, and Eetu Luostarainen. It should be noted, then, that their affinities as a defensive group lie more in the in-zone setting than in transition (though they are predictably solid at zone exits).

On the back-end, Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling are both particularly effective off the cycle, while Seth Jones and Uvis Balinskis are their transition-heavy defenders. Niko Mikkola is the perfectly balanced bottom-four guy that every team needs.

The Hurricanes (+650)

The Hurricanes again have an overwhelmingly blue chart. This should be unsurprising — the only difference is the subtractions of Alexander Nikishin (who they seem incredibly unlikely to re-sign) and Mike Reilly and the addition of Juuso Valimaki, who is a pretty sound dual-threat depth puck-mover.

Otherwise, it’s more of the same for them. They’re another dump-and-chase team, so their one weakness is zone entries, but they’re extremely apt at converting their limited number of zone entries into high-danger chances and are easily the most dynamic defensive corps (and system) in terms of moving the puck from the point. Of course, some of their aptitude in this setting is a direct product of the system they run, but it is undeniable that they tailored their roster with players who excel in this part of the game to begin with.

As an aside, is there another defender in the league as underrated as Sean Walker?

The Avalanche (+700)

Admittedly, I’m not a fan of what the Avalanche did to their blue line since the beginning of 2025-26. They went out and swapped Sam Girard, a capable puck-mover who fit their system well, for Brett Kulak, who was on a downhill trajectory and struggles with the type of game the Avalanche want to play. They also added Noah Juulsen, who has been one of the least capable defensemen in the game in this regard, and traded Ilya Solovyov, an effective in-zone creator, to the Penguins.

Still, they’re easily the second-most jarring group of blueliners in the NHL in terms of their puck-moving chops. Cale Makar and Devon Toews are two of the very best in the game (and have been for years), Sam Malinski is an expert puck-mover aching for a bigger role than what he was handed last season, and 41-year-old Brent Burns still has a lot left in the tank from a creation standpoint, even if his legs aren’t what they used to be.

The Oilers (+800)

Just to be clear, there are three reasons the Oilers are this high in the Stanley Cup odds: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and their top pair of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm. Those two defensemen are incredible to watch on the ice in both zones, with Bouchard being one of the most pristine puck-movers — if not the pristine puck-mover — in the game. Ekholm is no slouch himself, though a good chunk of his extremely favorable metrics are a product of playing with his partner.

The Oilers offloaded their third-best puck-mover in the oft-scorned Darnell Nurse, acquiring a raw defensive defenseman in Shakir Mukhamadullin in the trade. They did, however, sign Ryan Shea, who is a strong two-way defenseman who excels at getting the puck out of his own zone and occasionally chipping in with a well-timed pinch. He and Jake Walman should do well enough on their second pair. Connor Murphy, another acquisition, is a purely stay-at-home defenseman, as is Ty Emberson. Spencer Stastney should be a staple on their third pair, as he does possess some puck-moving abilities in sheltered minutes.

The Golden Knights (+850)

Vegas quietly did solid work trimming their defensive group, letting the likes of Kaedan Korczak and Ben Hutton, two non-puck movers, go while acquiring Parker Wotherspoon. Wotherspoon is sound at just about everything in this facet of the game, with the exceptions of creating chances for himself (5th percentile) and zone entry volume (37th percentile).

Past that, they have two bona fide studs in Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore, though the latter has fallen perplexingly into more of a defensive role over the last season or two due to the Alex Pietrangelo injury situation. Still, he’s a superb puck-mover. Rasmus Andersson might be overrated in terms of his on-ice statistics, but he too is an excellent proponent of getting the puck up-ice and into the dangerous areas of the ice. Brayden McNabb and Jeremy Lauzon, despite being two stay-at-home defensemen, contribute effectively in the cycle and in transition, respectively. They’ve got a well-balanced, strong blue line that does just about everything supremely well.

The Lightning (+1200)

The Lightning have an excellent blue line from top to bottom. JJ Moser is their best defenseman in the aggregate, sporting excellent two-way numbers and being a dual threat in terms of his puck-moving capabilities. New addition John Carlson should be a familiar one to Devils fans, with the veteran offensive defenseman getting a shot with a true Cup contender. Ryan McDonagh, Charle-Edouard D’Astous, and Victor Hedman are all excellent puck-movers, too, each contributing heavily across the board in this facet of the game.

The only two rearguards who lack are Emil Lilleberg, their likely seventh defenseman, and Erik Cernak, a stay-at-home defenseman who will likely get sheltered, third-pair minutes. The Lightning as a whole are in a superb spot as far as their defense goes.

The Wild (+1300)

I may not agree with the Wild’s Stanley Cup odds entering 2026-27, but there’s no denying that having the best defenseman on the planet certainly helps their case. Quinn Hughes, who they acquired last year and may or may not be extending, is a legitimate game-breaker who can eat 30 minutes game in and game out while supporting consistently dominant metrics. Brock Faber isn’t too shabby himself, sporting soundly above-average marks across the board.

The rest of their group admittedly needs some work. Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin are okay. While Daemon Hunt, Olli Määttä, and Zach Bogosian are all effective in terms of converting their zone entry contributions into legitimate offensive chances, they struggle in most other aspects of the puck-moving game. Minnesota certainly should invest in some cheap puck-moving alternatives.

The Stars (+1400)

The Stars should do the same, though things are a tad bit more balanced with them than the Wild. Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley are a two-headed monster in terms of their two-way contributions and puck-moving chops, though, and they should be able to provide Dallas with 40-plus minutes of sound hockey. You can get away with middling depth on defense when you have a top-10 and top-30 blueliner in the league.

Nils Lundqvist is their third-best puck-mover, though he can struggle in transition. Kyle Capobianco is in a similar boat; granted, he is marginally less effective than his counterpart. Esa Lindell, Tyler Myers, and Lian Bichsel are purely stay-at-home players who contribute little in terms of getting the puck up-ice.

As a team, they struggle immensely with getting the puck out of their own end. Perhaps that is in part because of the talent factor, and perhaps it is in part due to their system, but it’s a problem they should by trying to fix regardless.

The Capitals (+1700)

The Capitals have the luxury of having one of the best defensemen in the league in Jakob Chychrun, who ranks quite highly across the board in terms of his puck-moving contributions. Outside of him, though, things are a bit bleak in this regard.

Rasmus Sandin is an extremely effective player in transition, racking up zone exits and entries even if they don’t result in much offensively. Martin Fehervary is effective enough, as is Matt Roy, but neither are true needle-movers. New addition Justin Holl, who will primarily be a depth piece for them, can contribute from within the cycle but generally struggles everywhere else. Timothy Liljegren and Vincent Desharnais are purely defensive defensemen (though Liljegren was once an effective puck-mover himself).

The Canadiens (+2200)

For a young, up-and-coming team, the Canadiens should be proud of where their roster is at. Outside of needing a second-line center and some improved depth up front, they’re in a great spot. That holds true on defense, too.

Of course, Lane Hutson is a game-breaking defenseman who is one of the very best puck-movers in the league. Noah Dobson plays behind him, but he is nearly as effective himself in this regard and has no real weaknesses as a player. Mike Matheson, though he is best served in sheltered minutes at this point in his career, is still a minute-munching, transition-forward defenseman who has some neutral zone chops.

In terms of their bottom-few defensemen, Alexandre Carrier is a perfectly capable third-pair puck-mover, Jayden Struble is fine in a cyclical setting, and Kaiden Guhle is mostly focused on the defensive side of the puck. I’d be a bit surprised if there weren’t another addition to this group — Struble seems to be more of a seventh defenseman than a regular, and perhaps David Reinbacher is ready to make the jump. Still, they grade out quite well on the whole in terms of how their defense contributes to the game from a puck-moving perspective.

Comparing New Jersey to the Contenders

The ultimate goal is for the Devils to be a contender, right? Let’s see, then, how they stack up against the best teams in the league:

As you can see above, there is still quite a bit of work to do. Here is how the Devils rank in each category, out of 11 total teams, versus where they were in February of 2026:

Chance Generation: 7th (+3)
Sustained OZ Pressure: 5th (Unchanged)
Playmaking: 8th (Unchanged)
Individual Creation: 8th (-1)
Zone Exits: 10th (Unchanged)
Zone Entry Volume: 10th (+1)
Zone Entry Offense: 4th (+3)
Importance to Teammate Offense: 11th (-2)

Those are definitely improvements compared to where they were even five months ago — as previously noted, Mehta has done a solid job of improving the depth and trimming around the edges.

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It does stand to reason, too, that some predictable development from Luke Hughes, a full off-season of rest and recovery from Johnathan Kovacevic and Brett Pesce, and an increased focus on speed and the rush up front will do them well in terms of puck movement. Still, there are too many grenade handlers on the back-end for them to truly be an effective puck-moving group. The best teams in the league have the best puck-moving defense corps — there is a clear disparity between the upper-echelon contenders and the rest of the bunch here, one that extends far beyond the grasp of systemic differences between the teams.

In particular, supplanting one of Dillon, Siegenthaler, or Kovacevic would do the organization well. It seems to be the writing on the wall, given that they have seven defensemen making at least $1.6 million and eight defensemen on one-way deals (five of whom are left-handed), that one will be moved before the season begins. That would be a sensible action plan, in my opinion.

Marginal improvement is marginal improvement, but there is always more work to be done.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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In the last couple of days, on both Pucks & Pitchforks and Infernal Access, I mentioned Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Chaz Lucius as a potentially interesting target for the Devils. Lucius let the Penguins know that he would not be signing a contract with them at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline for reasons unknown to the public, according to Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas. Given that he spent four years in college and seemingly wants a shot at an NHL lineup as soon as possible, Lucius will become an unrestricted free agent when his rights expire on August 15th.

Today, I wanted to dig a little bit deeper and explain why I’m high on the 22-year-old forward.

Lucius, a 2022 fourth-round pick by the Carolina Hurricanes, has spent the last four seasons in the NCAA — two with the University of Wisconsin and two with Arizona State University. His first two seasons, spent mostly in a middle-six capacity, were point-per-game campaigns, a jarring jump in development given his pedigree as a 124th overall selection. He transferred to Arizona in his junior campaign, but never settled into the new system and dealt with a couple of injury setbacks, resulting in just 10 points in 19 games.

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In 2025-26, though, his senior season, Lucius stayed healthy, settled into a top-six role, and produced with the best of them. His 46 points in 36 college games were good for 11th-best in the entire NCAA. His 1.28 points per game were ninth-best, above first-round names like Charlie Stramel, Dean Letourneau, William Horcoff, and Lucius’s own teammate, Cullen Potter. Sure, Lucius is older than the names on that list, but the point stands that he has far outproduced and outperformed his fourth-round pedigree.

Production aside, the underlying numbers should be of interest to a New Jersey Devils front office that is keen on prospects sporting strong numbers:

The above card, via Gabriel Foley, uses InStat data to create a Game Score model for prospects at most levels. His work is excellent, and I highly recommend giving his page a look for prospect insights.

For Lucius, the bulk of his value comes on the offensive side of the puck. He ranked in the 97th percentile for his impact on actual goals, the 94th percentile for his offensive impact on expected goals (xG), and in the 99th percentile for individual offensive creation. Though he was just barely above average in defensive zone breakouts (51st percentile), he was a stellar zone enterer, placing in the 86th percentile for that metric. Entries are inherently more valuable for forwards than breakouts are, especially given the archetype of player Lucius is (which we will get into momentarily).

Even defensively, I think Lucius gets sold a little short metrically, by virtue of his 7th percentile finish in impact on actual goals against. Given that he ranked in the 56th percentile for his impact on xG against, it stands to reason that his puck luck was a bit lacking on the defensive front for 2025-26. A near-50-point disparity between his xGA impact and his actual GA impact seems anomalous.

Statistically, then, Lucius looks like a player who excels on the offensive side of things — particularly from within a cyclical setting — and who is still working on his defensive game. I’ve spent some time watching him over the course of 2025-26, mostly as a byproduct of watching Samu Salminen (whose rights also expire on August 15th), and I have to come to that very same conclusion.

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Within the offensive zone, Lucius is a dynamic playmaker. He scans the ice incredibly well, almost seeing the game in slow-motion at times as he threads passes through sticks and legs en route to creating a high-danger look. He lets the play develop in front of him while calculating the best path forward, be it drawing in defenders, firing off a pass, or rifling a shot himself. He is an expert in drawing attention from the defense, using head and body fakes to open up space, and punishing the opposition with a tape-to-tape pass to the slot.

Lucius’s shot is better than his production would make it seem — his 15 goals in 36 college games in 2025-26 are nothing to scoff at, to be clear, but it certainly took a backseat to his playmaking game. As such, it flew a bit under the radar. His release is deceptive, though, despite being a bit drawn out. He can toe drag mid-release to change the angle of his attack, and he has a one-timer that is a threat from odd angles and distance alike.

There’s an interesting dynamic between Lucius’ skating ability and his motor, in the sense that his top-end speed and acceleration aren’t anything to write home about but he is constantly playing with pace and has strong explosiveness within his game. It’s part of the reason why the young forward is more effective from within a cycle than off the rush, or at least is far more reliant on give-and-goes, one-touch passes, and being the F3 shooter in transition. Lucius is a true workhorse in battles, winning a good proportion of them through willpower and burst acceleration despite not being a particularly physical player.

At times, when he does have the puck in the neutral zone, he finds seams to deliver a perfect pass to streaking linemates:

I’m not wholly convinced that Lucius is an NHL-caliber player quite yet — I felt through watching him that he’s a bit too reliant on staying to the perimeter of the ice himself, even if he is an effective facilitator at the college level from that spot. There were also stretches in games where he wasn’t noticeable, blending into the background by virtue of being more effective on-puck than off it. If he improves his willingness to cut to the middle of the ice and improves his off-puck habits, there’s a bottom-six winger here at the NHL level.

Moving up to the AHL is paramount, though he was seemingly unwilling to do so with Pittsburgh after his NCAA season ended. Lucius is not an NHLer right now, but he has the playmaking skeleton to be one. His deception and manipulation of space is a legitimately appealing quality, and his lacking top-end speed is counteracted by his burst skating, a much more important skill given the role he’ll likely cap out at in the big leagues.

It’ll be interesting to see which team Lucius signs with next week — I can’t imagine it will be a very long wait to see where he ends up. The Devils have put a concentration on improving their pipeline and the Utica Comets, and adding talent like this in a year where there are very few genuinely palatable players who become available through this path would be a smart move. Lucius needs work, but is a low-risk gamble worth taking.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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You’re about to embark on a 37,041-word journey, a volume large enough to fill a ~148-page paperback book. As you can imagine, this project was a huge undertaking, with hundreds of hours spent watching each and every player within the Devils’ prospect pool, taking notes, recording and editing clips, and, of course, writing. Consider supporting my work with a free or paid subscription — it means a lot and will aid quite a bit with the Substack algorithm.

Sit down, relax, and enjoy your new nonfiction book.

Over the last month or so, I put out an eight-part series detailing and ranking the entire New Jersey Devils’ pipeline — all 38 prospects aged 25 and younger. It’s the second such installment of the series, with the first happening one summer ago.

I wanted to put it all in one place and segment it a bit more, thus resulting in this article. While the order in this ranking is my personal placement of each different prospect, the tiers themselves are somewhat interchangeable. For example, if Anton Silayev and Alexander Command are both Tier 1, there’s a reasonable argument for each player as the best in the pipeline. Any player within Tier 2 can be switched around and argued for at any spot within that tier.

With that in mind, let’s get into the entire breakdown.

Departures from 2025:

Traded: Simon Nemec, Thomas Bordeleau, Angus Crookshank
Unsigned: Calen Addison, Nathan Légaré, Jonathan Gruden, Dylan Wendt, Tyler Brennan
Unlikely to Stay: Samu Salminen (his rights expire August 15)
Retired: Viktor Hurtig
Became Full-Time NHLer: Arseny Gritsyuk

Tier List

As promised, here is the six-tier tier list of the Devils’ pipeline that includes where I ranked them:

I see the tiers under the following lenses:

• Tier 1: Sure-fire difference-makers. They’re shoo-ins to major NHL minutes, will likely have long and fruitful NHL careers, and will be impact players in the big leagues.

• Tier 2: High-upside players. They’re likely to make the NHL to begin with, but they have the capabilities of being difference-makers, but it’s less of a guarantee.

• Tier 3: High-floor players. They’re likely to make the NHL, but have limited upside. Bottom-sixers, bottom-four defensemen, and backup goalie potential prospects.

• Tier 4: Lottery tickets & depth options: Either boom-or-bust prospects with legit upside but no floor or players who are already or will be fringe NHLers.

• Tier 5: Low-floor lottery tickets: Boom-or-bust prospects whose “booms” are low-in-the-lineup ceilings and are far more likely to bust to begin with.

• Tier 6: Longshots: Complete shots in the dark; players with extremely low NHL probabilities.

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Methodology & Number System

This project includes every player within the Devils’ prospect pool — either under contract with the Devils (i.e., no AHL-only deals included) or with rights owned by the team — aged 25 and younger. My thought process is that, if a player is not in the NHL by age 26, their chances of ever making it are slim to none. Of course, prospects get less and less likely to make the show as they get older without garnering more experience, but that’s the name of the game as far as age curves go. Goalies typically take the longest to get ready, but even they are typically in the NHL by age 26 if they’re ever to make the jump.

For these prospects, I broke down the individual skillsets of each player. For skaters, they’re graded on their skating, hockey sense, puck skills, shot, defensive awareness, and physicality/size, each on a scale from 1-10. Goaltenders are rated on their athleticism, mobility, positioning, and puck tracking.

The number system is based on how strong I think each player’s specific attribute can be at their prime relative to other NHLers based on their current play. For example, Anton Silayev has a 10 out of 10 in skating — with that in mind, I think he can be one of the very best-skating individuals in the NHL at his peak. Jeremy Hanzel has a 4.5 for hockey sense, meaning that I think he’ll cap out as slightly below NHL-average in terms of his offensive IQ. All of these numbers are based on what I have seen so far — with development, any player can see a rise in their overall number for any attribute next summer. With regression, any player can see a fall in the same number.

Honorable Mention: Charlie Leddy

Charlie Leddy is another one whose rights technically expire on August 15th, so I’m tentative to include him on the main list despite him being signed with the Utica Comets on an AHL-only contract through 2027-28. The 22-year-old exhausted his stay in college, producing a modest seven points in 29 games but leveling up his defensive game quite a bit in the process. He’s going to be making his AHL debut in 2026-27, so that’ll be exciting, but I’m not sure he’s going to get signed by the Devils before his AHL contract expires.

The gist of it all for Leddy is no-nonsense play. He is unassuming offensively, providing his team with practically nothing in that regard. He’s defensively stalwart, though, with reliable positioning and excellent stick checking. He’s physical, too, not shying away from any sort of contact and throwing the odd open-ice hit to boot. If I were to rank him on here, he would likely be between Barabosha and McKenzie. There’s a slim chance he ends up as an injury call-up for the NHL with a playstyle similar to that of Colton White, but again, he isn’t technically going to be a part of the Devils organization after his rights expire on August 15th.

If Leddy were an entry on the list, I’d have him somewhere in Tier 5.

Tier 6

No. 38: Sigge Holmgren (RHD)

Last Ranking: N/A

6th Round, 2025 (178th Overall) — 34 Games Played | 0 Goals | 7 Assists | 7 Total Points | Brynäs IF U20 (U20 Nationell) | 19 Years Old | 6’1 & 181 Pounds

When he was drafted, Sigge Holmgren was a solid shot-in-the-dark choice by then-GM Tom Fitzgerald. He hadn’t played a game in his draft year, but led all draft-eligible defensemen from the J18 Nationell in points the year prior, playing to the tune of nearly a point per game. After a disappointing season in the U20 Nationell this past season, though, it appears as though he isn’t going to be the steal that some hoped.

The reality is, the U20 isn’t a very good league; Holmgren was handed first-pair minutes and significant time on both the power play and penalty kill, and he still only managed seven assists. To say the least, it’s a disappointing output, especially given that he was on the very same team as a player we’ll be getting to much further down the list.

Skating: 3.5/10

Holmgren is a fine skater relative to his U20 peers, but he still projects as below-average across the board. His top speed is fine enough to keep pace with other players in his league, but he has a bit of a hitch in his stride and can take a while to get to that top gear. His best asset, skating-wise, is his four-way mobility, which is a legitimate plus. He is mobile enough to keep directional pace with oncoming rush attackers, being a stout neutral zone defender. He will certainly need to add more power and explosiveness into his straight-line stride, though, if he wants any hope at becoming an impact player at any professional level.

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

I do think Holmgren’s best asset on the ice is his offensive brain. His passing chops themselves are okay, but he knows how to scan the ice before the puck gets onto his stick so that he can catch and release the puck. He generally makes the right decisions pass-wise in any zone of the ice — in the offensive zone, he is patient in finding the right lanes; in the neutral zone, he finds the obvious breakout play; and in the defensive zone, his short-term passing generally finds a stick that is poised to get the puck out of the zone.

His off-puck offensive positioning is pretty standard and inoffensive. He’s relatively stagnant at the point, not pinching all that much and offering his teammates a consistent outlet at the top of the zone.

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Puck Skills: 3/10

For a defenseman of his archetype, Holmgren has fine hands. He isn’t going to pull out a fancy deke or anything of that ilk, but he can execute simple lateral dekes if it makes sense and he can get the puck around coverage when faced with pressure. It’s nothing special, of course, but his puckhandling abilities are alright enough. Where they are solid is in his ability to silkily catch a pass and release the puck nearly instantaneously — that soft-touch ability is a legitimate skill.

Shot: 2/10

As you might be able to tell from Holmgren’s zero goals, his shot isn’t anything to write home about. He brings out both his wrister and slap shot often enough, with 56 shots on goal across those 34 games, but they’re both largely inaccurate and lacking in power. Shooting to score is not his goal by any means, and shooting for a rebound or tip-in only really results in a point for him when things bounce his way:

Defensive Awareness: 4/10

There’s a reason Holmgren is deployed on the penalty kill with heavy usage in the U20, but that again needs to be taken within the context of his league. His positioning is a bit sketchy at times, sometimes shying away from getting into blocking lanes and sacrificing his body for the sake of stopping a puck. His stickwork is better than his positioning, as he can intercept passes and knock a puck loose using his stick with solid timing.

Holmgren is also a surprisingly decent neutral zone defender relative to his peers, knocking pucks free or swatting them out of mid-air to ensure that the other team doesn’t get possession. That aforementioned four-way mobility certainly helps in this regard.

Physicality/Size: 2.5/10

Holmgren is not a physical player by any means. He can hold his own well enough in board battles (again, relative to his league level), but shies away from open-ice contact or sealing players off to loosen a puck. It’s just not his game, despite his stocky frame. He would do well to add a physical element to his toolkit.

NHL Comparable: Jacob Bernard-Docker

Ceiling: Middle-Pair AHLer

NHL Likelihood: Slim

It’s unlikely that Holmgrem ever even comes overseas, let alone plays any time in the NHL. He’s likely going to cap out as a career professional over in Europe. Again, it’s truly tough to complain about his trajectory given that he took an entire year off to recover from injury and was drafted in the sixth round. Perhaps, after another off-season of recovery and getting into hockey shape, he’ll be able to take at least a step forward in his development.

No. 37: Jeremy Hanzel (LHD)

Last Ranking: 37 of 40

6th Round, 2023 (187th Overall) — 72 Games Played | 8 Goals | 41 Assists | 49 Total Points | Adirondack Thunder (ECHL) | 23 Years Old | 6’1 & 201 Pounds

Jeremy Hanzel was acquired in the trade that sent Erik Haula to the Nashville Predators and has been in the ECHL with the Adirondack Thunder ever since. His 49 points in 72 games are respectable, ranking eighth in the entire league among blueliners, but let’s be clear: it is still the ECHL, and despite that production and status as Adirondack’s bona fide #1 defenseman, he never garnered a call-up to the Utica Comets.

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Skating: 2.5/10

Hanzel’s skating is still what holds him back from making it to the Comets, with a clunky stride that limits his acceleration, speed, and agility. He isn’t fleet of foot by any means, which results in downhill attackers blazing right by him with some consistency. His acceleration lacks, giving him limited recovery ability, and his edgework and four-way mobility don’t give him any leg up on matching attackers who are changing their angles of attack.

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

I do think Hanzel is a relatively savvy player from within the offensive zone. He knows how to find difficult-to-spot passing lanes and thread the puck through those lanes, even if there is traffic. He can sauce passes, use the boards, and he generally hits his marks when facilitating. I also think he has a pretty solid understanding of when to shoot the puck and, more importantly, where to shoot it in order to get a tip-in or rebound chance for his teammates:

Hanzel does rove a bit from within the offensive zone, which is both a blessing (in the sense that it opens up more opportunities for himself and his teammates at times) and a curse (in the sense that he doesn’t have the recovery ability if things go awry). He puts himself in shooting position well, too, particularly when on the man advantage.

Puck Skills: 3/10

Hanzel’s puck skills are predictably nothing to write home about. He can, very occasionally, manipulate the blue line while the puck is on his stick in the offensive zone, but those moments are few and far between and can certainly end up in a turnover. His moves to create time and space are limited to simple dekes and toe drags, but he can certainly pull those off.

Shot: 3.5/10

It’s clear that Hanzel worked quite a bit on his shot, as, though it is still nothing special, it is significantly improved from what it was last season. In particular, his one-timer is much heavier and more effective. It’s powerful, and he can get it through multiple layers of traffic and screens. His wrister is subpar, with a predictable motion that allows defenders and goaltenders to get set before it is fired off, so that certainly needs a good bit of work.

Defensive Awareness: 4.5/10

Hanzel has always been a fine defender at the ECHL level, and that was no different this season. He gets deployed in the tough minutes for a reason, using sound positioning and an active stick to take away space from his opponents. He gets in passing and shooting lanes, can win puck battles in his own end, and has a strong enough first pass from the defensive zone to be considered a solid puck-mover relative to his peers. In his previous AHL experience, he struggled against that level of competition, but it’s tough to say how he would handle it now because he spent the entire year in Glens Falls.

Physicality/Size: 4/10

I don’t think Hanzel is a prototypical “physical” defenseman by any means, in the sense that he doesn’t throw hits a whole lot (though he did seem more physical this year than last in my limited viewings of him). He can handle a ton of pressure, though, taking cross-checks and slashes comfortably without losing the puck. He’s sturdy on his skates, too, making him a tough beat along the boards. He gained a few pounds since last season, so he’s only gotten more difficult to knock off the puck and knock down.

NHL Comparable: Dmitry Kulikov

Ceiling: Middle-Pair AHLer

NHL Likelihood: Slim

Hanzel is extremely unlikely to make any serious impact above the ECHL level. He’s a pro player, but I have a hard time believing he’ll even make it to a middle-pairing AHL role, let alone make it as a potential NHL injury call-up years from now.

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No. 36: Trenten Bennett (G)

Last Ranking: 36 of 40

4th Round, 2025 (99th Overall) — 27 Games Played | .896 SV% | 3.93 GAA | 9-10-2 Record | 0 Shutouts | Owen Sound Attack (OHL) | 20 Years Old | 6’8 & 207 Pounds

I was certainly not a fan of Trenten Bennett’s selection in the fourth round of the 2025 NHL draft at the time, and I’m not any more of a fan now. He got off to a blisteringly hot start to the OHL season, with a 6-1-0 record and .914 SV% through his first seven games. He tempered off significantly throughout the course of the campaign, though, letting in goals in bunches and ultimately ending the season under .900 and winning three of his subsequent 20 games. He was playing behind a poor defense, to be clear, but those numbers are staggeringly dismal compared to how he began the year and a likely signal that he still needs quite a bit more development.

Athleticism: 3.5/10

For a goalie of his stature, I suppose Bennett is athletic enough, though I still wouldn’t call him an “athletic goalie.” He can be a bit slow to react to the puck, and his movements look a bit clunky in net. He can make the odd miraculous save, but those moments are few and far between and are more of a result of his reach than his movement. He does have a penchant for giving up on a play as well, almost seeming defeated rather than determined on occasion.

Mobility: 3.5/10

Bennett is a big goalie, and that means that physically, it’s harder for him to be explosive in his movements. His lateral movements can look almost slow-mo, even if he does sprawl across to make a cross-ice save. Out of the net, he is a confident puck-handler, but I earnestly didn’t see him get up and out of the crease all that much with that purpose.

Positioning: 4.5/10

I was more a fan of Bennett’s positioning last season than this one, employing the ideology that he knows his size is enough to take up the majority of the net and that he didn’t need to move all that much to be effective. That last part may be true, but I felt like Bennett was flailing in the net more than I had seen of him beforehand. Perhaps that was just a limited sample size of viewings either before or after, but there were far too many moments when it seemed like he was swimming out there.

I absolutely maintain that his best path towards relevancy is to rely more on that size, hopefully allowing the play and puck to get to him rather than overextending himself.

Puck Tracking: 3/10

Bennett can struggle to protect the net when he is faced with a screen, so it’s a good thing he is a gigantic human being. When the puck has an unimpeded path to him and he isn’t out of position, he scarcely (if ever) gets beat. When there is legitimate traffic, however, he can struggle to see the puck through bodies. He can panic — it’s clear that he isn’t wholly comfortable when there is a screen against him.

NHL Comparable: Mads Søgaard

Ceiling: Injury Call-Up

NHL Likelihood: Slim

Goaltenders are incredibly difficult to predict, so it could just be that he isn’t getting the nurturing and development opportunity he needs in the OHL, but I have a hard time thinking that Bennett will turn into anything but a potential ECHL/AHLer. His frame is an obvious plus and gives him a legit advantage if he puts the tools together, but that’s a big if and seems relatively unlikely at this point, even if he is still just 20 years of age. You never know, though, and I would be insane not to trust Martin Brodeur’s goalie judgment more than my own. Bennett is going to be in a different OHL environment in 2026-27 and committed to St. Lawrence University the year after, so we shall see how he develops in time.

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No. 35: Josh Filmon (LW/RW)

Last Ranking: 28 of 40

6th Round, 2022 (166th Overall) — 31 Games Played | 4 Goals | 2 Assists | 6 total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 22 Years Old | 6’3 & 170 Pounds

Josh Filmon has had quite the fall from grace, formerly being a hyped-up potential sixth-round steal after his electric D+1 season. Since he went pro, though, it’s been a bit of a slippery, downhill slope, and he no longer looks like a fraction of the player he was once thought to become.

Skating: 3.5/10

Filmon is a bit deceiving as far as his skating chops go — he has clearly trained this part of his game pretty hard and no longer looks quite as rigid, but he isn’t as speedy as he could or should be. He still doesn’t shift as much weight as you’d like to see onto the ball of his foot during his strides, which has admittedly improved over time but still looks to be detrimental to his development. His edgework is nothing to write home about, but he has developed a bit more acceleration and explosiveness by virtue of improved mechanics. He does have cutback ability too, which helped him score his prettiest professional goal:

Hockey Sense: 4/10

Filmon is much more of a complementary player than a driver, so his offensive hockey IQ mostly lies in his off-puck positioning. He thrives much more as an F3 or F2 on an odd-man rush, allowing his linemates to do quite literally all of the legwork while he floats into open space and sits on a pass opportunity. He does so both on the rush and in the cycle, and it should be noted that he is quite good at finding gaps in coverage.

I certainly think he needs to add even an iota of dynamism in his playdriving game, but he is a bit averse to having the puck on his stick when he isn’t on a breakaway.

Puck Skills: 4/10

Filmon does have a decent array of tricks up his sleeve as far as puck manipulation goes. He can implement toe drags to make his shots more dangerous, can put the puck between legs, and can get out of pressure very occasionally. He receives passes well, too, gathering the puck and ripping a shot in an instant. His hand-eye coordination is solid as well, batting pucks out of mid-air and having the capabilities to change the direction of an incoming shot from the point.

Shot: 5.5/10

Filmon’s shot is definitely the most projectable asset of his game — nothing has changed on that front. His wrister is deceptive and accurate, and he can very easily pick corners from distance and beat goalies clean. He can fire pucks mid-stride, instantly after receiving a pass, and on a one-timer, all of which add an element of surprise to his already dangerous shooting game. There were many moments I thought Filmon was deserving of a goal that didn’t end up going in, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him with double-digit goals next year in Utica.

Defensive Awareness: 2.5/10

It improved from “complete detriment” to “liability,” but Filmon’s defensive game still needs a lot of work. His positioning is more geared toward creating counter-attack opportunities than stifling the opponent, which inherently results in more high-danger scoring chances against his team and, subsequently, more goals against. There are far too many games where it feels as though Filmon is completely invisible on the offensive side of things (a product of being a passenger player), and his defensive game isn’t nearly mature enough to offset that problem.

Physicality/Size: 2.5/10

Filmon still hasn’t improved his physical game much or filled out, either. He’s generally averse to contact (though, if anything has improved, it’s his willingness to establish body positioning) and is still quite skinny for his 6’3 height. He was skinny when he was drafted, with the mentality that he’ll add power in his skating, an edge, and a willingness to engage along the boards as he fills out. That hasn’t happened, though, nor has much development in any of those facets of the game.

NHL Comparable: Daniel Sprong

To be clear, Filmon is only like Sprong in the sense that both are mostly unengaged defensively and that their shot is their best asset. Sprong is much faster and has a higher offensive IQ. There aren’t a whole lot of slow, complementary players who have significant defensive struggles but who have a heavy shot.

Ceiling: Top Six AHLer

NHL Likelihood: Slim

Filmon is getting more reps as an AHLer as time goes on, but he still has spent far too much time in the ECHL for him to be considered anything but a potential scoring winger at the AHL level. He was once a boom-or-bust potential third-liner, but it seems as though that projection is slimmer than it ever has been.

No. 34: Luke Wilfley (C)

Last Ranking: N/A

6th Round, 2026 (172nd Overall) — 66 Games Played | 9 Goals | 6 Assists | 15 Total Points | Portland Winterhawks (WHL) | 18 Years Old | 6’1 & 179 Pounds

Luke Wilfley was a bit of an anomalous pick for Sunny Mehta in the 2026 NHL Draft, in the sense that his underlying profile and production bucked the trend of drafting a bunch of “stuff-doers.” I’ve come around on him a bit, though, after watching a good few of his games, and I see the vision even if I think it was still a subpar pick. There are some projectable tools in here, and it should be noted that he was still 17 when he was drafted, so there is more developmental runway to be had.

Skating: 3.5/10

Wilfley is a fine skater, though it should be said that his legs’ strengths lie more in his motor than his speed and edgework. He has a seemingly bottomless tank of energy, which is fantastic for being a nuisance on the forecheck who pounces on loose pucks like it’s his purpose. His edges are unrefined, being much more of a downhill skater than a finesse player, and his top gear isn’t spectacular, but he does possess explosiveness.

Hockey Sense: 5/10

With Wilfley, it’s more of what can be than what is. After a half-dozen or so viewings of him, I felt as though he displayed a somewhat surprising level of willingness to explore creative plays with the puck, dole out high-danger passes, and playmake effectively from behind the net.

Off the rush — likely because of that motor-oriented play — Wilfley is a big fan of give-and-goes, quick-touch passes, and extending the cycle through tenacity.

When he doesn’t have the puck on his stick, Wilfley is still a plus, knowing where to be in order to pounce on a potential rebound. He has a legitimate nose for the net and small areas of the ice, anticipating the play fairly well en route to retrieving a puck off the walls after a shot attempt.

Where things lack for Wilfley are both in consistency and in patience. He’s a bit too quick-triggered with the puck, occasionally trying to force things that simply don’t make sense because he doesn’t want to hold on to the puck for very long. His flashes are great, but at times they feel accidental and are not regular within his game whatsoever.

Puck Skills: 3.5/10

When Wilfley is alone in a one-on-one situation with the goaltender, I actually quite like how he is able to manipulate the goalie one way or another — he doesn’t have the strongest hands, but he is a good manipulator through body language and can cause goalies to bite because of it.

In part, I think Wilfley relies on motor and give-and-goes because he isn’t super skilled at soft-touching the puck. He’s a bit rigid on his stick, and that causes the puck to bounce right off at times and ultimately end up with the opposition. His toolkit deke-wise is somewhat limited too, simplifying things even when the play calls for something a bit more refined.

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Shot: 4.5/10

I do think Wilfley has a projectable shot, if anything because he’s so opportunistic. That off-puck positioning of his is a real strength, and he leans on it as well as his anticipation of the play to get a quality shot off. His one-timer is a bit more potent than his wrist shot, and he is able to fire it through a crowd to put it in the back of the net:

His wrister needs a bit more oomph behind it, but I don’t think it’s bad by any means. Wilfley’s release is deceptive enough, but I think he can certainly work on the sharpshooting part of things as well as adding a bit more power in his shot through shifting weight in his lower body.

Defensive Awareness: 4.5/10

I like Wilfley’s defensive game in concept more than I do in practice. He’s an exorbitantly hard worker, which is excellent in board battles and when the puck is loose, but it can occasionally pry him out of position. Involvement in the play is a fantastic trait, but there does come a point where it is detrimental rather than helpful. His stick checks are fantastic, though — poking and lifting the opponents’ stick is the name of the game for Wilfley, and he is quite effective in doing so. Again, though, he can become a little too eager to make a difference this way, ultimately taking a lot of penalties by involving his stick a bit too much.

Physicality/Size: 5/10

Especially for his size — Wilfley is an adequate but not world-beating 6’1 and 179 pounds — he is a physical player. He frequents reverse hits along the boards and near loose pucks to establish body positioning, is strong on the puck and handles physical play well when he has possession, and is nothing short of a menace on the forecheck. The last part of that is in part due to his willingness to play in the grimy areas of the ice, in part because of his work ethic, and in part to that relentless energy. It’s a real treat to watch him act as a sort of pinball along the boards.

NHL Comparable: Noel Acciari

Ceiling: Fourth Line Center

NHL Likelihood: Unlikely

Wilfley is a raw prospect, and one who needs to be shaped a bit more toward the “what if” player rather than refining the “what is” player. Instead of forcing him into being that physical grinder it seems like he was forced to be as a fourth-liner in the WHL, it would likely be beneficial to explore what he can do in a scoring role. Wilfley does have flashes of brilliance, but never seems to string those chances together by virtue of 1) his linemates and 2) his role. I rated his skills a bit higher than should be expected from a 35th-best prospect in the Devils’ pipeline, but it’s simply because he hasn’t found a consistent way to put it all together for even a full period.

No. 33: Étienne Morin (LHD)

Last Ranking: N/A

2nd Round, 2023 (48th Overall) — 42 Games Played | 1 Goal | 6 Assists | 7 Total Points | Calgary Wranglers (AHL) | 21 Years Old | 6’1 & 185 Pounds

The Devils acquired 21-year-old lefty defenseman Étienne Morin in the trade that sent Simon Nemec to the Calgary Flames. Morin, far eclipsed in value by the haul of draft picks the Devils acquired in the deal, spent most of his 2025-26 season in the AHL with the Calgary Wranglers, though he played a handful of games in the ECHL as well.

Skating: 4/10

Morin is a perfectly fine skater with typical downhill mechanics — his acceleration and top-end speed are both average. As such, he’ll occasionally break the puck out of his own end with the puck on his stick rather than relying just on passes. Where Morin lacks in terms of skating is his four-way mobility. He doesn’t shift weight or drop back onto his heels particularly well, resulting in some struggles in defending against the rush.

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Hockey Sense: 4/10

As far as offensive hockey sense goes, Morin is an average defender who shone more in this way in the QMJHL than he does now. He sees the ice fairly well and mostly finds the right passing lanes in all three zones. From within the offensive zone, he knows when to activate up the ice and take advantage of time and space and when to sit back and let the play unfold in front of him. In his own end, while he typically resorts to short-distance passes to the F3 on the breakout, he can very occasionally chip in a stretch pass that crosses multiple lines on the ice, though those moments were fewer and further between than you’d like to see.

Morin’s passes themselves are fine; he doesn’t necessarily snap the puck off his stick and can be prone to telegraphing his movements but generally gets the puck where it needs to be. He intelligently uses the boards to make bank passes if the obvious lane isn’t attainable via tape-to-tape pass, even if it’s at distance. Away from the puck, his offensive positioning is pretty standard — waiting at the blue line for the most part unless there’s a very obvious place to float to.

Puck Skills: 2.5/10

Morin can execute simple dekes and very occasionally get out of forechecking pressure with his hands, but he is not skilled with the puck by any sense of the word.

Shot: 3.5/10

When Morin was drafted, he was a bit of a volume shooter, and though he still has his moments of putting the puck on net at every chance he gets, I think that has tempered off a bit. At the AHL level, he went through stretches of games without a shot on goal, though I should mention that his mechanics themselves are solid enough. His one-timer certainly still needs a bit of work, and it would be nice to see him drive a little bit more power through his legs when gearing up for one, but his wrist shot is solid for the type of player he is. I wouldn’t call his release particularly deceptive or his shot speed particularly quick, but he knows where to place the puck, either for a rebound, tip-in, or shot on goal of his own:

Defensive Awareness: 4/10

I think Morin has okay defensive instincts for the most part, particularly positionally when playing against the cycle. He knows where to be in order to block passing and shooting lanes, has a decent reach that allows him to find the puck when the other team is trying to move it around, and clears the crease pretty well. He takes charge in board battles, outmuscling the opponent en route to getting the puck back for his team.

Where Morin needs the most defensive work is in transition, where he doesn’t have the best gap control (a product of somewhat limited four-way mobility). He still attacks downhill rushers head-on rather than allowing the play to come to him, which sometimes lets those rushers skate right by him in the neutral zone or at the blue line. Improve the four-way mobility, and this habit will change for the better.

Physicality/Size: 5.5/10

Morin is pretty physical — it’s how he prefers to make defensive stops in his own end, how he earns his pay in board battles, and is a big part of why he’s gotten this far as a prospect to begin with. He throws the occasional open-ice hit, scarcely turning down an opportunity to lay the body to free up a puck for his teammates to recover. In board battles, he’s very physically engaged — he throws cross checks, presses the opposition into the walls, slashes them, and is simply unpleasant to battle against.

NHL Comparable: Ben Chiarot

Ceiling: Top-Pair AHLer

NHL Likelihood: Slim

It’s unlikely that Morin ever pans out as an NHLer — even in call-up capacity — at this point. Playing ECHL games as a 21-year-old in his D+3 season isn’t encouraging. I do think he can end up being a mentor-type defenseman at the AHL level, though. He has professional habits, a good head on his shoulders, and can certainly teach youngsters how to play with their body to get the job done. Some reported that Morin was a top-15 or so prospect within the Flames’ system, but I just do not see it in any capacity.

No. 32: Aryom Barabosha (RHD)

Last Ranking: 33 of 40

7th Round, 2022 (198th Overall) — 52 Games Played | 2 Goals | 2 Assists | 4 Total Points | Zvezda Moskva (VHL) | 22 Years Old | 6’2 & 198 Pounds

Artyom Barabosha has gotten KHL action in each of the last three seasons, though this was the season he was most heavily kept out of the big leagues and put in the VHL farm league. He only got two games in the KHL this season with the main squad, down from 12 games in 2024-25 and 21 games the year prior. Funnily enough, despite his very limited production at the VHL level — he is and always has been a stay-at-home blueliner — he did produce an assist in his two KHL games despite averaging five minutes per game.

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Skating: 3/10

Barabosha is an upright skater, resulting in less power generation in the aggregate and lessened acceleration and top-end speed because of it, ultimately resulting in him getting caught by forecheckers with some regularity and being the second one to a loose puck. His ability to shift weight is solid, though, allowing him to capably defend the rush and follow puck carriers from within the defensive zone.

Hockey Sense: 2.5/10

Stylistically, Barabosha is a stay-at-home defenseman, meaning that he very much does not want the puck on his stick in the offensive zone, or, really, at all. He is pretty stagnant from within the offensive zone, receiving the puck if it happens to come to him but wanting it off his stick relatively immediately, either by ripping a shot or by passing it to his partner. He isn’t one for scanning the ice, holding on to the puck to open up passing lanes, or anything of that ilk.

When the puck gets on Barabosha’s stick in the defensive zone, with any pressure applied by forecheckers, he can panic and tend to throw the puck off the boards for the sake of getting it out rather than maintaining any sort of composure. With time and space, he generally just gives the puck to his partner unless the course of action is very obvious:

Puck Skills: 1/10

Barabosha does not possess an iota of puckhandling ability within his game. He doesn’t execute dekes or toe drags, and generally tries to steer clear of having the puck on his stick to begin with.

Shot: 2/10

For a player who, from within the offensive zone, often tries to laser the puck at the net if and when it gets to him, I’m not a fan of Barabosha’s shot at all. His wrister is rarely brought out, has a telegraphed release and limited power, and isn’t wholly accurate. His one-timer, though concise in its mechanics, lacks the power one would expect from a player of his archetype and is quite erratic.

Defensive Awareness: 5.5/10

I quite like Barabosha’s defensive habits, both from within his own end and against the rush. Starting with the latter, that aforementioned four-way mobility generally lets him keep pace with changing angles of attack from his opposition. He controls his gaps quite well, too, ultimately ending up sealing off an opponent along the boards rather than letting them blow by him.

From within his own zone, things are a bit murkier, but I do genuinely believe he is a plus. Barabosha can — and does — chase hits and pull himself out of position at times, but when he is set and thinking, is typically in the right spot. His stick is active and useful; he blocks shooting lanes, and he wins battles where he is tied up along the boards through sheer strength.

Physicality/Size: 8/10

Physicality is the name of the game for Barabosha, doling out bone-crunching hits several times per game and employing an insatiable need to play the body. He’s mean, he’s aggressive, he’s powerful, and he’s stocky. He’s not necessarily the biggest guy on the ice — 6’2 and nearly 200 pounds is decent but nothing crazy — but he is almost always the strongest. He uses that strength in board battles, throwing open-ice checks, toeing the line between clean and dirty, and isn’t afraid to drop the mitts when called upon.

NHL Comparable: Jeremy Lauzon

Ceiling: Top-Four KHL Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Slim

While the neutral zone defense, physical tools, and willingness to battle project to the NHL (though his skating, IQ, and passing chops definitely do not), I find it hard to believe he’ll ever make the jump from Russia to North America, let alone ever make it to the show. His KHL time has been downtrending in recent years, going from 21 to 12 to just two games in the last three seasons, so his professional career is dwindling even in his home country. At this point in time, it seems like he’s going to be a middle-pairing KHL defenseman at best.

Tier 2

No. 31: Kasper Pikkarainen (RW)

Last Ranking: 25 of 40

3rd Round, 2024 (85th Overall) — 45 Games Played | 2 Goals | 4 Assists | 6 Total Points | TPS (Liiga) | 19 Years Old | 6’3 & 198 Pounds

Kasper Pikkarainen had a bit of a fall from grace in my eyes, though I admittedly can’t really say it’s his fault, per se. The professional European leagues are notoriously difficult for young players and drafted prospects to garner playing time in, and predictably, Pikkarainen logged fourth-line minutes for the most part this season in Liiga. He got a game or three where he was deployed and kept in a third-line role throughout the course of the season, but the vast majority of his time was spent in grinder minutes. He played that role well enough, but it came at the expense of some development.

Skating: 3/10

What has always been the issue for Pikkarainen and what still holds him back from being further up the list is his skating. He has a choppy stride that limits power generation and stands further upright than you would want to see from a player whose archetype should mean he thrives at puck retrievals — his acceleration is poor and, as such, he is rarely the first one to a loose puck unless his positioning beforehand was impeccable. His edges are fine, though, and he is strong on the puck, which means that his power move execution is quite solid. One would think, then, that he drives the net more than he does in practice.

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Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

I think Pikkarainen is a bit underrated in terms of offensive hockey sense in that conventional watching makes one believe that he is purely just a forecheck-heavy grinder. I think he has legitimate off-puck smarts, though, with strong complementary positioning and a good understanding of how to orient his body beside the netfront to best ensure a chance at a rebound.

Pikkarainen, once he does retrieve a puck after a board battle, has fine vision and can playmake from behind the net to open teammates. He tends to get the puck off his stick a little too quickly for my liking, either shooting the puck when he scans the ice and doesn’t see anything immediately, or finding the nearest pass outlet and taking it. A bit more patience would do him well, because he does have the passing capabilities to make plays happen.

I would like to see more of a concerted effort in driving the net when he has possession of the puck, though. As I mentioned, his edges are the best part of his skating toolkit, and he is strong on the puck, so there’s no reason for him not to. Perhaps when he isn’t bogged down in fourth-line minutes, he’ll gear his game more toward offensive creation than purely energy.

Puck Skills: 3/10

Pikkarainen’s hands are fine for a fourth-line guy — he can corral pucks from weird angles along the boards and make the occasional side-to-side move to elude pressure. I also think his hand-eye coordination is strong, making him an effective netfront presence even when he isn’t stuffing rebounds.

Shot: 3.5/10

From in-tight, Pikkarainen sports a solid shot. He can lift the puck well, has a strong enough backhand, and has a nose for rebounds. His one-timer is solid enough, too, driving a good bit of power into every opportunity that presents itself. Where his shot is severely limited, though, is at distance. He doesn’t really snap the puck off his stick, capping the amount of power that comes off of it and ultimately making every far-away shot look like a muffin:

I don’t care for Pikkarainen’s shot selection, either. For a player with weak at-distance mechanics, he shoots the puck from beyond the circles quite a bit rather than driving into the middle of the ice to get closer to his target.

Defensive Awareness: 4.5/10

There is never a defensive shift that I question Pikkarainen’s efforts — he is constantly aiming to do the right thing within his own zone. The issue with his defensive game lies in decision-making — effort is a great thing, but when it pulls him out of position, it can result in chances against him. He tends to get drawn to the perimeter because he wants to engage physically or with his stick so badly that it opens up passing lanes for the opposition. Still, even when he is pinballing around the defensive zone and reacting to the play rather than being proactive with positioning, he finds a way to make an impact, blocking lanes, flailing his stick around, and engaging along the boards.

Physicality/Size: 6.5/10

There’s no denying the physical prowess Pikkarainen does possess — there’s a reason he has been a fourth-liner in Liiga and was a fourth-liner at the U20s. He’s big, strong, and uses force to bully the puck free if he is able to catch a defender. He can throw the odd open-ice hit to free up the puck for his teammate to retrieve and throws reverse hits when going for a loose puck himself. I just wish he had more explosion in his skating game to make his physicality even more of an asset.

NHL Comparable: Nathan Bastian

Ceiling: Fourth Line Checking Winger

NHL Likelihood: Unlikely

I find it hard to believe Pikkarainen will make the NHL at any point, mostly by virtue of his skating holding him back tremendously. He has the physical aspect and size of a fourth-line checker down pat, but he won’t be able to get there without improving his legs tremendously. Who knows, though — perhaps with a bit more deployment over in Liiga, he will take some steps forward in other facets of his game to compensate.

No. 30: Quinn McKenzie (C)

Last Ranking: N/A

7th Round, 2026 (222nd Overall) — 65 Games Played | 21 Goals | 30 Assists | 51 Total Points | Soo Greyhounds (OHL) | 18 Years Old | 5’9 & 176 Pounds

With their final selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, the New Jersey Devils took 5’9, 176-pound Quinn McKenzie out of the OHL. It was another typical analytics selection to cap off a draft full of such picks, with the 18-year-old being one of the biggest drivers of play on his team. His size is the predominant reason for his drop in the draft, though his lack of dynamic skill also held him back from being picked up earlier.

Skating: 4.5/10

If there were a standout quality for McKenzie, it’s his quick-step acceleration. Though he does not possess high-end or really even above-average top speed, he gets to that gear in a hurry and can leverage that ability in all three zones on the ice. He’s the first to loose pucks, can burst to the inside with a quick step from within the offensive zone, and he leverages that explosiveness on the rush:

McKenzie’s edges are strong enough, too, particularly when he’s really feeling his motor. His compete level, mixed with his strong acceleration and fine edges, will occasionally result in a sequence like this:

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

I wouldn’t call McKenzie’s vision a strength, though I don’t think it’s bad either. Most of his playmaking — most of his strengths, period — comes off the rush, where he flawlessly executes give-and-goes, quick-touch passes, and usage of the boards. From within the offensive zone, he’s somewhat trigger-happy, firing off a puck before he even gets a chance to view the landscape in front of him.

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McKenzie’s offensive off-puck positioning is solid, though, in all three zones. In the defensive zone, he knows how to time his breakout attempts and knows how to position himself to receive a pass; in the offensive zone, he surprisingly thrives in a netfront capacity, not as a screen option but as a rebound hound; and in the neutral zone, when he doesn’t have possession of the puck, he knows how to elude vision and sneak into open ice unaccounted for:

Puck Skills: 4.5/10

For his frame, one would expect McKenzie to have better hands than he does in traffic, but he does have one-on-one capabilities against both defenders and goalies. His lateral movements are quick but not lightning-fast; he can and does toe drag before shooting, and when put out in the shootout, can execute a string of moves like this to bait the goaltender:

Shot: 4.5/10

I’m not a fan of McKenzie’s one-timer at all, but he also doesn’t use it all that much. His wrister, though, is a bit underrated in my book. His release is tight, and he can thread it through legs with some heft behind it. The best part of it, though, is that he can — and often does — fire it mid-stride without losing any of its velocity or accuracy. He thrives in being the shooter in an odd-man opportunity, and will scarcely turn down an opportunity to release the puck when he has space to do so.

Defensive Awareness: 4/10

McKenzie’s defensive game is fine for the kind of counter-attack-oriented player he is. His positioning is where it needs to be for the most part, and he’s extremely quick to turn a puck retrieval into a zone exit by virtue of that quick acceleration. He has an active stick and a need to get the puck out of the opponent’s possession, so he frequents jumping into passing lanes to try and generate a breakaway or odd-man rush the other way. While he doesn’t facilitate board battles, he does thrive in being the F2 in them, jumping on loose pucks the moment they become freed up.

Physicality/Size: 3/10

McKenzie is diminutive; there’s no escaping that reality. At 5’9, he is a stocky 176 pounds, but that doesn’t prevent him from getting knocked out of puck battles (before he inevitably jumps right back into them because his work ethic is non-stop). I do wish he were able to handle physical defense a bit better, because he does tend to get pushed off the puck with regularity even when he isn’t along the boards. I don’t doubt McKenzie will be able to develop that ability in college, though — his motor is nonstop and you can see just how much he wants to be the most impactful player on the ice every time he’s out there.

NHL Comparable: Blake Lizotte

Ceiling: Top Line AHLer

NHL Likelihood: Slim

It’s going to be a long development path for McKenzie, even if he’s an incredibly likable player. His tools are pretty blah across the board — something that ultimately held him back from getting drafted higher and will hold him back from getting legitimate runway in a pro environment, but the work ethic and small-area game are absolutely there. He’s likely going to cap out as a top-line AHLer if he hits his ceiling (barring some unforeseen development), but he’s a fun player nonetheless and so, so easy to root for. He’ll be with Penn State University in 2026-27, so perhaps he has some positive developments in the NCAA that will elevate his outlook.

No. 29: Cole Brown (LW/RW)

Last Ranking: 34 of 40

6th Round, 2023 (164th Overall) — 35 Games Played | 6 Goals | 15 Assists | 21 Total Points | University of Notre Dame (NCAA) | 21 Years Old | 6’3 & 190 Pounds

Former sixth-round selection Cole Brown — who was a superb pick when he was drafted — has had a bit of an up-and-down run over the past three seasons. He stagnated pretty significantly in the OHL before making the jump to the University of Notre Dame in 2025-26. There, he was thrust into a middle-six role and produced somewhat admirably, accruing six goals and 21 total points in 35 games in his rookie campaign in college.

Skating: 3.5/10

Brown’s biggest drawback is his skating, though he did take some strides (pun intended) in that facet of his game over the course of 2025-26. It’s clear that eliminating some of the clunkiness in his stride and improving on his skating posture were a focal point for him, though he still struggles to get power and explosiveness in his movements. This generally means he isn’t the one driving play at the college level, rather blending into the background as a complementary winger rather than one who facilitates play.

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

With that lack of playdriving ability comes some compensation in the sense of his off-puck rush positioning and passing. He can occasionally find cross-ice seams that others cannot see, and thread passes that others cannot execute, though those moments do come with some infrequency.

While his in-zone off-puck positioning still leaves a bit to be desired — Brown still stagnates sometimes in the offensive zone, and that subsequently stifles some offensive generation for his team — his off-the-rush positioning has improved tremendously, and he has learned how to excel as an F3 off the rush. He allows his linemates to do the majority of the legwork in transition, ultimately hanging back as a pass outlet for them and getting into prime scoring chance location:

I’d still definitely like to see him move a bit more in the offensive zone and feel as though it could make him a bit more of a dual-threat player.

Puck Skills: 5/10

Brown has solid hands, especially relative to his 6’3 stature. His hand movements are explosive, and he can put the puck through defenders in many ways, getting it around them with simple dekes or threading it through their legs. He also has the patience to bait or outwait his pressurers or goalie, which only further exacerbates how useful his hands are. To add to his dynamism as an F3 in rush opportunities, if a defender is in his way, he can toe drag around them to still get a shot or pass off.

Shot: 5/10

I was higher on Brown’s shot before than I am now, though admittedly that is perhaps because of his production rather than his mechanics. His wrist shot release is still strong and deceptive, and he can still fire away mid-stride, but I have questioned his accuracy more as time has gone on. Again, perhaps that is simply due to puck luck, but it seems as though he hasn’t quite figured out how to solve NCAA goaltenders quite yet. His one-timer wasn’t used as much this season, either — at least in my viewings of him.

Defensive Awareness: 3.5/10

If there is one thing Brown improved on at the collegiate level this past season, it was his defensive game. He’s much more interested in this side of the game than he was even a year ago, now focusing more on positioning and stickwork and watching the puck much, much less. I still wouldn’t call his defensive game a strength, to be clear, but there has been development.

Physicality/Size: 4/10

Brown uses power moves with solid success rates, but I still would like to see him use his 6’3, 190-pound frame a bit more to create proactive contact and establish sound body positioning. He lacks an edge for the most part, and can sometimes show some passivity in board battles, but when he is engaged in them, he usually comes out on top by virtue of his strength. He won’t throw hits, but has no issue taking punishment (cross checks, slashes, etc.) if it makes his team more able to create offense.

NHL Comparable: Morgan Geekie

Ceiling: Third Line Scoring Winger

NHL Likelihood: Unlikely

Having a sixth-round boom-or-bust player still maintaining that trajectory three years later is undeniably impressive. His stagnation in the OHL followed by a strong rookie campaign in the NCAA is perplexing, though his trajectory still hasn’t changed: either he ends up a third-line passenger NHL winger with a finishing touch, or he ends up with that same role in the AHL. There’s pretty much no in-between. I would be a bit surprised if he didn’t spend the full four years in college.

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No. 28: Daniil Rusakovich (G)

Last Ranking: N/A

5th Round, 2026 (149th Overall) — 20 Games Played | .913 SV% | 1.94 GAA | 10-7-2 Record | Dinamo-Shinnik Bobruysk (MHL) | 18 Years Old | 6’4 & 183 Pounds

In the fifth round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, the Devils selected Belarusian goaltender Daniil Rusakovich, who most recently put up admirable box score statistics while in a backup role in the MHL. The Devils’ scouting department raved about their opportunity to draft him, to the point where it seems as though they had to alter their draft strategy altogether. Just after the draft, I spoke to some evaluators in the industry, and while most were somewhat unfamiliar with his game — he flew under the radar for quite a few folks — others noted his athleticism and mobility as strengths. That makes sense why Mark Dennehy, the Devils’ head scout, thinks he can be a starter someday.

Athleticism: 6.5/10

Rusakovich is a pretty athletic goalie, especially for a bigger body. He has strong independence between the lower half of his body and the upper half, being able to drop into a butterfly in anticipation of a play only to windmill a moment later because he guessed incorrectly. His reflexes are pretty strong, too — a boon considering his poor puck-tracking abilities (which I will get to momentarily) — which allow him to make desperation saves from in-tight as the play calls for it.

Mobility: 7/10

Equal to Rusakovich’s athleticism is his mobility — he is very explosive on his edges and has near-perfect technique when it comes to controlling his movements. His lateral movement is spectacular, being able to push off with a ton of power in order to move post-to-post extremely quickly without necessarily sacrificing body control. This makes him an excellent reactor to the play, darting from side to side as is needed. It also gives him a bit more leeway to make mistakes, allowing him to push out of his crease a bit more without sacrificing his ability to make a save in the event it goes awry.

Positioning: 3.5/10

From a positional standpoint, Rusakovich is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, he squares up to shooters quite well in odd-man situations or breakaways, being able to keep pace with changing angles of attack by virtue of confidence in his edges. That said, he can draw himself out of position a little too much at times when defending the cycle, a likely result of a blend of overconfidence in his mobility and under-confidence in his puck-tracking talent. This makes him look as though he is swimming in moments that don’t necessarily call for it; I noticed several times in my viewings that he would push his way far out of the crease when he would have been far better off squaring up within the blue paint.

Puck Tracking: 2.5/10

Rusakovich needs to improve his puck-tracking capabilities quite a bit, in my opinion. He struggles to keep mental pace with the play unfolding in front of him, too often losing the location of the puck and having to scramble to recover. He also fails to see through screens well, sometimes not even attempting to fight through vision issues.

Rarely, but still on several occasions, Rusakovich loses the puck underneath himself after making a save. For the most part, when this happens, he stumbles over it and accidentally lays his body down on top of it, but there are times when this has real consequences:

Perhaps my biggest gripe with Rusakovich’s puck tracking abilities lies in his post-rebound vision. Expecting a goaltender at this level — really any level — to have perfect rebound control is a fast track to disappointment, but what negatively separates him from the average goalie (or even the average draft-age goalie) is that he loses the puck extremely consistently after giving up a rebound. He can play capably in scramble situations by virtue of that superb mobility, but boy is it frustrating to see him chaotically unaware of where the puck actually is.

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NHL Comparable: Artūrs Šilovs

Ceiling: NHL Starter

NHL Likelihood: Slim

Rusakovich’s ceiling certainly seems to be that of an NHL starter, though the likelihood of him hitting that potential is very much up in the air. As with all goalie development, it’s a crapshoot. His physical traits — athleticism and mobility — are perfectly fine, if not quite good relative to other goaltenders in this class. The mental side of things, though — play and puck tracking as well as positional decision-making — need great improvement. If he can hone those mental skills, gain a bit more confidence in his physical tools (because they are immaculate, especially relative to where he was drafted), and sharpen his reads, there is a legit goaltender here.

No. 27: Veeti Louhivaara (G)

Last Ranking: 33 of 40

5th Round, 2024 (146th Overall) — 22 Games Played | .905 SV% | 2.86 GAA | 12-6-4 Record | Chicago Steel (USHL) | 20 Years Old | 6’4 & 207 Pounds

Veeti Louhivaara started the 2025-26 season where he ended 2024-25: in the U20 SM-sarja with JYP. In nine games there, he was excellent, with a save percentage (SV%) of .917 and a shutout. He went stateside midway through the season, signing with the Chicago Steel of the USHL. It turned out to be a great decision for the 20-year-old, performing to solid counting stats while earning himself a commitment within the hardest division of NCAA hockey.

Athleticism: 4.5/10

I wouldn’t call Louhivaara’s athleticism a calling card to his game — while not unathletic, there are times he doesn’t have the reflexes to make a desperation save. I didn’t see too many times where he actually needed to make those types of saves in my viewings, to be fair to him, but it’s certainly not his calling card, and I can see it becoming an issue at higher levels.

Mobility: 6.5/10

Where Louhivaara does shine is in his mobility. Moving side-to-side is his biggest strength, possessing an extremely wide butterfly that covers the vast majority of the bottom of the net without him having to move his upper body all that much. In theory, this would hinder some of his five-hole coverage, but his edges are so strong that he can instantaneously close that opening when he needs to. Louhivaara drops down in a split second and can absolutely explode from side to side if he needs to, though he scarcely does.

Positioning: 5/10

The last time I ranked Louhivaara, I must admit I misjudged his positioning a bit. What I failed to mention, conflating it instead with his puck tracking abilities, was that he follows the play and anticipates puck movement relative to where the opposition is on the ice quite well. Though he was fine enough at it after 2024-25, I thought there was a good bit of positive development in this regard this season too and now looks like a legitimate strength. Look at how easily he understood where the puck was going in the clips below, ultimately ensuring that he had to move his body very little to make the save:

In one-on-one situations, Louhivaara can still play a bit too deep in the crease for my liking, not pushing out to cut down on the angle as I would hope. He also still needs to work on his upper-net coverage — as excellent as his butterfly is, he still has a bit of a hunch in his stance when dropping down into it, opening up some pretty wide shooting lanes in the corners.

Puck Tracking: 5/10

Louhivaara’s puck tracking is still just fine, being able to fight his way through screens and follow passing plays. He can struggle with it when he is in his butterfly, almost hyper-focusing on covering the bottom of the net and letting the other aspects of his game fall by the wayside. Otherwise, I have a limited number of complaints about this facet of his game.

NHL Comparable: Ville Husso

Ceiling: NHL Backup

NHL Likelihood: Unlikely

I’m excited that Louhivaara decided to matriculate to the University of Connecticut for 2026-27. There, he should fight for the full-time starter role, which would do wonders for his development. At this point in time, it’s obviously tough to tell what he will turn into in net, but the fact that he has such a good opportunity ahead of him is awesome. I’m not sure his athleticism is high enough for him to turn into an eventual NHL starter, but his solid puck and play tracking capabilities combined with an excellent butterfly very well could make him a capable AHL starter or even NHL backup.

No. 26: Daniil Karpovich (LHD)

Last Ranking: 22 of 40

6th Round, 2023 (186th Overall) — 18 Games Played | 0 Goals | 1 Assist | 1 Total Point | TPS (Liiga) | 19 Years Old | 6’3 & 198 Pounds

Back when he was drafted in 2023, I was extremely high on Daniil Karpovich — he produced insanely well in the MHL in his draft season (35 points in 45 games while wearing an ‘A’) and had a lot of traits that seemed to be translatable to the big leagues. He took a perplexing move to the Belarusian pro league afterwards instead of following the natural trajectory of playing in the KHL, ultimately stagnating his development because of it. 2025-26 was his best season as far as playing time goes, with 18 games in the top Russian league to his name, though this is steps behind where he was anticipated to be by now.

Skating: 5/10

Especially relative to his size, Karpovich is a strong skater, at least while moving forwards. He has good acceleration and a top-end higher than peers of his with similar statures, and can shift weight while inertia is moving him forwards just fine. The problems arise when he drops back onto his heels — his backward skating is a problem, and he tries to avoid it at all costs, ultimately turning to skate forward and keep pace with an oncoming rusher rather than facing the play itself. It’s not a huge issue, and is counteracted by his aptitude when facing the right way, but should be pointed out nonetheless.

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

With Karpovich, while I think he has the makings of someone who can contribute well through his IQ, he struggles with consistency issues, and you currently need to take the good with the bad. He has the subtleties down, pushing the puck up-ice with little body and head fakes, creative usage of the boards and chip-outs, playing off of his teammates on the breakout, etc. However, he can make snap decisions without scanning his options a bit too often for my liking, especially from within the cycle. Check out the below sequence, where Karpovich sandwiched one good play with two bad ones:

Obviously, Karpovich rushes at times, especially when faced with pressure in the offensive zone. Above, you can see him scan for a good pass opportunity when presented with time and space but aimlessly throw the puck around twice when given pressure. I find that he’s a bit more composed in that regard from within the defensive zone, being able to roll off of forecheckers and make deliberate passes to break the puck out — it’s an interesting dichotomy, and one Karpovich will most certainly need to improve on.

Off-puck, I do like how eager Karpovich is to activate into the play. He will occasionally join in on the rush, and when he sees an opportunity to include himself in a passing play, he champs at the bit:

Puck Skills: 3/10

Karpovich doesn’t have great hands by any means, but it is notable that he corrals loose pucks and difficult passes pretty well. While there may not be dekes that he pulls out to elude pressure, he does absorb passes relatively softly and can leverage body fakes to escape at times.

Shot: 4.5/10

Karpovich has a heavy slap shot. He generates a ton of power from his lower legs in his windup and follow-through, having arguably the fastest shot in the VHL and certainly grading out as above average in that regard in the KHL. Accuracy is an issue, to be clear — he is prone to being erratic and missing the net even when presented with an obvious lane — but the power is not.

His wrist shot is fine. In many ways, it is the opposite of his slap shot. It’s more deliberate, more accurate, more refined, and far less zippy. He has good wherewithal of when to use it, too, factoring in on a good few tip-on and deflection opportunities.

Defensive Awareness: 5/10

Karpovich is generally a non-issue defensively, with sound positioning, an active stick, and solid enough composure under duress. While defending against the cycle, he scarcely leaves his post to chase physicality or overcommit to a board battle, and he clears the crease well.

When defending the rush, Karpovich is again a mixed bag. When skating in tandem with a downhill attacker, he does well in driving them to the boards and sealing them off with a well-timed check. When on his heels, though, he can get blown right by, which is something he desperately needs to improve.

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Physicality/Size: 6.5/10

Karpovich is quite physical. When he can, he crunches opposing forwards into the boards, particularly while defending the rush. While open-ice hits aren’t commonplace for him, he does execute them every now and then. Karpovich is strong, too, making him an asset in board battles, especially when considering his high work rate.

NHL Comparable: Darnell Nurse

Ceiling: Third Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Slim

Ever since Karpovich decided to leave the Russian development route to play in Belarus for a year, his trajectory has plateaued more than expected. He is still only 21 years old and played in more KHL games than he ever had before in 2025-26, so there is certainly still hope that he can become what he was thought of potential-wise when he was drafted. There are certainly some projectable skills, and his combination of skating chops, physicality, and a heavy shot very well could make waves in Russia. In the unlikely event he comes overseas after his KHL contract expires in May of 2027, he’ll need to put it all together for me to really think he has a legit shot of making it.

No. 25: David Rozsíval (RW)

Last Ranking: 27 of 40

6th Round, 2025 (161st Overall) — 57 Games Played | 23 Goals | 14 Assists | 37 Total Points | Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) | 19 Years Old | 6’1 & 187 Pounds

David Rozsíval was a strong bet at the time he was drafted — he never should have fallen to the sixth round, and I think that still holds true. He put up a solid enough 37 points in 57 USHL games this past season, though I must admit I kept wanting to see more. I feel like the skillset is better than the production, and while that argument has a lot of merit in the NHL, it holds less true in minor leagues where skill generally directly translates to production.

Skating: 5/10

Rozsíval is a bullish skater with strong acceleration and straight-line speed. His crossovers generate a lot of power — it’s clear that this was an area that he wanted to become more consistent in his training over the last year or so — and he can make something out of nothing because of it. While his edgework lacks refinement and I certainly wouldn’t call on him to be in a finesse role, he has excellent counter-attack capabilities at the USHL level because of that explosive straight-line skating:

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

Rozsíval’s hockey sense lies more in off-puck positioning than dynamism while he has possession. He isn’t a great passer, nor is his vision advanced, but he does have an excellent understanding of how to orient himself relative to the play around him. Despite his somewhat bulky playstyle, he knows how to float into open space off the rush and how to position himself to make the most of a pass opportunity, particularly off the rush.

In the cycle, Rozsíval should be categorized as a cerebral net crasher. He has the capability to just bull-rush the net when a rebound is there, but he makes the most out of those opportunities by his pre-planned, anticipatory positioning. He has a sense of where the rebound will pop out to before it comes to fruition, working smarter rather than harder (though that isn’t to say he isn’t a hard worker — he is).

Puck Skills: 4/10

Rozsíval has decent enough hands, though they’re nothing special. His bag of tricks is somewhat limited, not necessarily having a high-difficulty deke in his toolkit, but his quickness is sharp enough for his archetype. Where he does excel is in tight; he can bait and manipulate coverage and goaltenders from right outside of the crease, using that to further exploit his prowess in crashing the net.

Shot: 5/10

Rozsíval has a projectable shot, with a snappy release that he can bring out mid-stride, giving him some dynamism off the rush in that regard. His wristers are accurate and somewhat powerful. He has a decent one-timer, too, with a concise wind-up that produces more power than one would expect — he has strong legs and leverages them to put a speedy shot on net. As with his wrist shot, perhaps the best part of it is that he can capably bring it out while in position off the rush.

Defensive Awareness: 5.5/10

I think Rozsíval has a mature defensive game built on work ethic rather than smarts or skill. His positioning is sound enough, but he excels in creating turnovers by virtue of an active stick and a need to get the puck out of danger. Counter-attacks are a forte.

Where that can sometimes bite Rozsíval is in overcommitment. He can occasionally get too drawn towards the puck carrier in an attempt to force a turnover. That’s just fine if it’s successful, but he can get drawn out of position and capitalized on in that capacity.

Physicality/Size: 4.5/10

Despite playing a sort of power forward game, I wouldn’t necessarily call Rozsíval a “physical” player. He’s physically engaged along the boards, to be sure, and isn’t afraid to start up a power move, but he does try to avoid contact a bit more than expected. In my viewings, I didn’t see him throw an open ice hit. Most of his “toughness” comes in his strength on the puck — he absorbs contact and cross checks well while carrying the puck, but is more comfortable playing away from the body than playing to it.

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NHL Comparable: Mark Jankowski

Ceiling: Fourth Line Checking Winger

NHL Likelihood: Unlikely

I don’t think it’s likely that Rozsíval makes the jump to the big leagues, though it should be noted that he is committed to play with the University of St. Thomas in 2026-27. That matriculation will serve him well in developing the physical tools his archetype should have, and playing against tougher competition — even if it’s in a fourth-line role (which is likely) — will serve him well. In time, he will likely develop into a top-six power winger at the AHL level, and he does have enough projectable talent to play in a fourth-line capacity in the NHL if things pan out developmentally.

Tier 4

No. 24: Xavier Parent (LW/C)

Last Ranking: 21 of 40

Undrafted — 63 Games Played | 20 Goals | 19 Assists | 39 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 25 Years Old | 5’8 & 170 Pounds

Xavier Parent first popped onto my radar when I had the opportunity to watch him live at the 2022 Devils’ Development Camp. It was my first exposure to him, and he immediately caught my eye as a legitimate game-breaker among his peers there. He’s been one of my very favorite players to watch by virtue of his unbeatable work ethic and translatable enough skill. However, his ceiling remains limited because he doesn’t have a real standout ability.

Skating: 5.5/10

Parent lacks a true separating top gear, but he does generate a ton of power with his individual strides and has quick feet when starting up. This explosiveness gives him a good bit of ability to separate from a standstill, create counter-attacks, or pounce on loose pucks. His edgework is also a strength, with the ability to dance around multiple defenders using his feet and play a finesse game along the perimeter before using that quick-burst ability to drive to the inside.

Hockey Sense: 5/10

I think the best term to define Parent’s offensive hockey sense is “adequate.” He plays a somewhat simple game, relying more on short-distance passes and his motor to make plays rather than playing creatively or deceptively. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t find the obvious plays, though, even if they are difficult to execute — his cross-ice passes off the rush are typically tape-to-tape and result in high-danger chances for his team:

From an off-puck perspective, Parent does think quite well. He understands where everyone on the ice is and leverages his diminutive frame to sneak into open ice unnoticed. More noticeably, he knows exactly where to put himself in order to pounce on a rebound — for a smaller guy, playing a netfront game is surprisingly common for him, even if it isn’t the prototypical big guy, screen-heavy role. It’s more about perfect positioning and play reading to get the job done:

Puck Skills: 4.5/10

While I don’t think Parent’s dekes are spectacular, he does have the simple moves down pat. His hands are quite quick in terms of getting the puck from side to side, being able to bait a defender one way before making them look silly. Complex dekes are rarer, though I do think he is capable of doing them — his “problems” there are more in consistent confidence to pull them off.

Shot: 6.5/10

Parent’s most translatable and dynamic skill is his shot. His one-timer is fine — it’s powerful for his size, and he can execute it mid-stride — but his bread and butter is his wrist shot. His release is fantastic; it’s deceptive, quick, and accurate. He can beat goaltenders from any distance. Parent can change the angle of his release through subtle draw-ins or toe drags, too, further fooling goalies. There’s a reason he broke Utica’s goal-scoring streak in 2025-26, after all.

Defensive Awareness: 4/10

Parent’s motor and work ethic are high, to be sure, but his strengths defensively are limited to counter-attacking capabilities. His positioning is a bit erratic, a likely product of that need to keep his legs churning, and he does get drawn in to puck carriers a bit too frequently. That said, though, there is no forward on Utica I would rather have engaged in or around a board battle — he has a fantastic motor that just never, ever stops.

Physicality/Size: 4/10

Despite that motor, Parent isn’t really all that physical. He’s a pest, to be sure, and does his due diligence in puck battles, but he gets knocked off the puck when presented with a one-on-one defender or when operating from behind the net. He will never throw an open-ice hit, even if you can tell he wants to.

NHL Comparable: Logan Stankoven

Ceiling: Bottom-Six Energy Winger

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

Parent has already gotten NHL opportunities — he logged his first five career games in 2025-26, where he logged zero points in a purely fourth-line capacity and held some pretty rough underlying numbers — but I’m not sure how much runway he’ll get from here on out. The work ethic is undeniable there and could afford him some call-ups in and of itself. That said, Utica is deeper than ever, so he may have his work cut out for him in making a legitimate case, especially given that he doesn’t really have a true dynamic quality. He will always be a fun watch at any level, though.

No. 23: Gustav Hillström (C)

Last Ranking: 20 of 40

4th Round, 2025 (114th Overall) — 25 Games Played | 13 Goals | 18 Assists | 31 Total Points | Brynäs IF U20 (U20 Nationell) | 19 Years Old | 6’2 & 181 Pounds

Gustav Hillström’s “fall” from the previous iteration of this pipeline breakdown is less about him actually plateauing and more about an influx of talent ahead of him after the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Hillström himself had a strong enough D+1 season in the admittedly weak U20 Nationell, playing well above a point-per-game pace and consistently acting as his team’s best player when he was there. He was awarded some SHL time, though his 27 games are a bit misleading. He didn’t appear in many of them, and the ones he did play in, he was bogged down in fourth-line minutes, playing fewer than 10 minutes in almost all of them.

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Skating: 5.5/10

Hillström is a decent skater, with solid acceleration leading the way in terms of his chops. His top-end speed is alright — he could still use to add another gear to his game — but he generates good power with each stride and can reach that average-ish top speed pretty quickly. Hillström’s legs never stop churning, either. He leverages that burst ability on the forecheck and uses it to pounce on loose pucks with efficiency. While his edgework is admittedly a bit choppy, he can still get the job done for his role with relatively quick turns and weight shifts. He’s not a finesse player by any means, and thus does not need to rely on agility as much as others. Would it be nice to see him add a bit more maneuverability in order to further develop his forechecking chops? Absolutely, but it’s not a necessity.

Hockey Sense: 5.5/10

While he is more of an energy-type winger, Hillström still possesses above-average brains on the offensive side of the puck. He sees the ice well and can manipulate time and space with and without the puck on his stick. While in possession, he draws in defenders before exploiting passing lanes, and while off-puck, he can identify how to exploit defensive positioning to get into open lanes himself, both in the cycle and off the rush.

As a passer, Hillström is just alright. He doesn’t always dole out what he wants to, somewhat inconsistently executing his plays and occasionally flubbing them. That said, his intentions are almost always the right ones, even if he needs to work on delivering them better.

Hillström, on the breakout, generally positions himself as the F3, staying back as a defensive pass outlet while his wingers streak up the ice. This makes him far more of a proponent of setting up lead passes through the neutral zone than being on the receiving end of them.

I noticed a legitimate improvement in his ability to handle the pressure he draws in as compared to last season, making him more of a threat off the cycle than he previously was, at least in terms of offensive generation. He has always been a strong forechecker, but it was refreshing to see him add more confident facilitation.

Puck Skills: 3.5/10

Hillström’s hands aren’t great, admittedly. He can sometimes corral difficult pucks and will very occasionally perform a side-to-side deke but doesn’t have quick-twitch or high-difficulty moves in his arsenal. That isn’t his game, though, and isn’t how he is going to make an impact at any level.

Shot: 4.5/10

Watching him last season, it was clear that Hillström needed to improve on his medium-distance shooting — from in-tight, he has always been a stud (mostly due to his off-puck reads and nose for rebounds) — but has struggled with power and accuracy at range. He has seemingly worked on it, though, and while I still think his release is a bit too predictable, he has certainly improved on his shot speed and corner-picking abilities.

Defensive Awareness: 6/10

Hillström is most definitely a mature two-way player. His defensive positioning is strong, constantly getting into passing and shooting lanes and preventing the puck from getting to high-danger areas of the ice when his man has possession. He supports his defenders well, too, allowing them to pursue board battles without the fear of getting exploited by leaving their post. Hillström’s stick is active, and he generates a good few defensive zone turnovers because of it.

As mentioned above, he also excels in breaking out of his own end, knowing when to time his movements to best get the end result of a zone clearance.

Physicality/Size: 6/10

I wouldn’t say Hillström is as physical as he could be, but he certainly isn’t shy in facilitating contact. He forechecks and battles hard within the offensive zone, doling out reverse hits and establishing body positioning along the boards within every shift. He shrugs off cross-checks and slashes and is more than comfortable holding his own against a player bigger than he is. He isn’t a pest by any means, but he is feisty enough to give what he receives in that regard.

NHL Comparable: Lars Eller

Ceiling: Bottom-Six Center

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

I’m excited to see what Hillström has to offer with a full season of SHL play. It was clear that he was too talented for the U20 level, dominating it at every turn, but not trusted enough for a legitimate SHL shot. If he can play at the same level in arguably the second-best league in the world, there’s a good shot he’ll be much higher on this list next year. There is most definitely a path in which he can eventually lock up a bottom-six center role at the NHL level, but he needs to get opportunity against SHL competition first.

No. 22: Cam Squires (RW)

Last Ranking: 13 of 40

4th Round, 2023 (122nd Overall) — 47 Games Played | 5 Goals | 11 Assists | 16 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 21 Years Old | 6’1 & 176 Pounds

I was excited to see what Cam Squires had to offer at the AHL level this season after he lit up the QMJHL and had four points in his first three games in Utica in 2025-26. A full season later, though, and his production was slim compared to what the expectation was heading into the campaign. Furthermore, he actually spent a few games (eight, to be exact) in the ECHL, which is generally never a good sign for a player his age. Sure, it was his first true professional campaign, but you’d generally like to see a step forward in development and not a step backward.

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Skating: 4/10

While I do think that Squires has improved mechanically and minimized the hitch in his stride somewhat, which has marginally increased his top speed, he still has work to do to eliminate it altogether and become even an average skater. Right now, he lacks separation speed and can get caught up to by trailing backcheckers a bit too easily. His edgework is perfectly capable, though, and he can occasionally get around defenders using agility, a definite plus considering he cannot do so with outright speed.

Hockey Sense: 6.5/10

Squires is undeniably smart offensively. His vision is well above-average, and he can find lanes that others simply wouldn’t think of. Off the rush, he excels in getting cross-ice passes out, threading passes through defenders’ legs, under or over their sticks, and directly onto the stick of his teammates.

He boasts similar qualities from within the cycle, though I do think it’s important to note that his lack of burst ability can sometimes hinder his desire to get to the interior of the ice. Perimeter playmaking is a forte, though, being able to locate teammates streaking to the slot and find them with a pass. Still, adding that extra layer of dynamism to his game will go a long way in projecting him to the next level.

While he doesn’t have possession of the puck, Squires has excellent positional awareness. He knows where to be and when to be there, seemingly never being out of position both within the cycle and off the rush. Because of his lack of footspeed, he typically thrives as the F2/F3 trailer to a playdriving linemate, shooting off of a quality pass by virtue of his strong positional wherewithal.

Puck Skills: 6/10

Squires has great hands and a wide collection of dangles to pull from. In some ways, this was seemingly developed as a compensatory skill to his speed, as his edges and hands in tandem can combine for some pretty plays to get around defenders. He has a soft touch when receiving passes without one-timing them, and though he did not perform one in 2025-26, has the chops to execute a Michigan move. Those are always fun.

Shot: 4.5/10

I took myself back down to Earth on Squires’ shot over the course of 2025-26. While I still think it’s better than he gets credit for or his production made it seem, I perhaps gave too much of a commendation to his exploitation of his playmaking game when shooting off the rush — that falls more under his hockey sense than his shooting itself. That said, I do like his release and think that, when given time and space to operate, he can pick his spots well enough. When under duress, it doesn’t look quite as pretty, and he could use to quicken up his movements.

Defensive Awareness: 5/10

Squires is a competent two-way player, with his defensive positioning being nearly as strong as his offensive IQ. He orients himself to the play, has an active stick, and supports his board-battling teammates well enough. I think his skating kills him a little bit here, though — he can get blown right by while attempting to defend the neutral zone and doesn’t have the explosiveness to reach loose pucks first. He’s also somewhat averse to taking contact, so I wouldn’t trust him much as a battler from within his own zone.

Physicality/Size: 3.5/10

I don’t think Squires is all that physical. Similarly to the way Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt approach forechecking, Squires is more reliant on baiting the opposition into turning the puck over than he is crashing and banging his way to generating a loose puck. While I think he’s sturdy on his skates, he could certainly use a bit of an edge to his game and should be looking to add it to his skillset.

NHL Comparable: Teuvo Teräväinen

Ceiling: Third Line Playmaker

NHL Likelihood: Unlikely

I think Squires’ skating will hold him back more than anything, though there are plenty of examples of high-IQ playmakers with poor skating mechanics making it (Tyler Bertuzzi, Mark Stone, and Teuvo Teräväinen to name three). As good as I think Squires is between the ears, he isn’t quite as intelligent as his NHL comparables, and thus I do think the lack of speed and separation ability will bite him more than it did them. If he takes a step forward in that regard, though, there is a chance he could be an NHLer. Even if it’s an unlikely bet that he turns into a full-timer, I think he can make it as a future injury call-up.

No. 21: Topias Vilén (LHD)

Last Ranking: 22 of 40

5th Round, 2021 (129th Overall) — 61 Games Played | 4 Goals | 23 Assists | 27 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 23 Years Old | 6’1 & 194 Pounds

Topias Vilén is a bit of a cult fan favorite. This status began after he played a 50-game Liiga season in his D+1 season and followed it up with an electric 18-game playoff run in the league a year after, before subsequently moving stateside. In the three seasons since, he has consistently been given middle-pairing, second-special-teams-unit minutes with the Comets and was ultimately given two games of NHL play as an injury call-up in 2025-26.

Skating: 5/10

Vilén is a perfectly average skater in all regards. His speed is average, his acceleration is average, and his edgework is (mostly) average. If he has an above-average trait, it’s four-way mobility — he can blend crossovers and weight shifts into stout neutral zone coverage and keep pace with rushers who are trying to beat him with direction changes.

Hockey Sense: 6/10

I do think Vilén is a smart defenseman, offensively speaking, though, particularly when it comes to his playmaking choices and vision from within the offensive zone itself. He is a scanner from the point, watching as the play unfolds in front of him and getting into intelligent positioning to both receive and dole out pucks. He knows when to compress the ice, shifting his positioning toward the goal en route to creating a bit of chaos.

In breakouts and the neutral zone, Vilén does use some unorthodox techniques to get the puck out of the zone and onto the stick of a breakout forward. It isn’t just the occasional stretch pass or short-distance breakout pass — he utilizes head fakes, his own legs, and the boards to get the puck up the ice.

I saw Vilén more comfortable making risky plays than he has ever been in 2025-26 — he had previously been somewhat averse to doing so but developed some confidence and poise with the puck on his stick.

Puck Skills: 3.5/10

As one would expect from a defenseman, Vilén’s hands aren’t anything to write home about. That said, his body fakes make up for that, and he receives passes with a soft touch, being able to blend those catches into releases. He did score a shootout goal this past season, though it should be noted that it was more a product of a head fake and shot than any deke.

Shot: 4.5/10

I grew to like Vilén’s shot much more over the course of the season than I ever have, though I still don’t think his one-timer is a strength whatsoever. Instead, he is far more reliant on using a wrist shot from all distances, even if the course of play would traditionally dictate a slap shot. His release is solid — it’s deceptive, quick, and he can drag it around the opposition. With that, he also understands how to place a shot through traffic. He understands timing and places the puck on the stick of his teammates with consistency:

Defensive Awareness: 6.5/10

Vilén’s two-way game has always been a strong suit, with stalwart positioning in his own end. He takes away time and space from the opposition without sacrificing his area of coverage. While defending against the cycle, he gets in the way of passing and shooting lanes, and while defending against the rush, his aforementioned four-way mobility allows him to prevent the opposition from entering the zone to begin with. His defensive stick is active and controlled, and he can poke the puck away from danger easily.

Where I think he lacks, if anywhere, is in his assertiveness — I think he could use an increased element of physicality along the boards.

Physicality/Size: 5/10

That doesn’t mean he isn’t physical — he is comfortable playing the body when the situation calls for it, even if it’s not necessarily his bread and butter. While engaged along the boards, he takes punishment well, but he doesn’t necessarily dole it out in return. Still, despite that, he does come out with the puck more often than not.

You will never see Vilén throw an open-ice hit; that aspect of the game is not within his toolkit. I do think he would be well-served adding a bit more of a bruiser mentality, throwing reverse hits, establishing body positioning, et cetera — he is a stocky kid after all.

NHL Comparable: Sean Walker

Ceiling: Third-Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

Vilén got his first taste of the NHL in 2025-26, getting a whopping two games of play as an injury call-up option. The thing is, I’m not wholly convinced he’ll be able to make it as a full-timer — can he survive as a seventh defenseman who plays a handful of games a season in the NHL? Sure, but I’m not sure I would count that as “being an NHLer.” I think the likeliest route for his career is a sort of 2025-26 Colton White role, which isn’t a bad thing, to be clear, and is undeniably a home run result for a former fifth-round pick.

No. 20: Chase Cheslock (RHD)

Last Ranking: 26 of 40

5th Round, 2023 (154th Overall) — 38 Games Played | 1 Goal | 23 Assists | 24 Total Points | University of St. Thomas (NCAA) | 21 Years Old | 6’3 & 205 Pounds

No prospect within the Devils’ pipeline enjoyed as big a rise as Chase Cheslock did in 2025-26, where he turned into the University of St. Thomas’ bona fide, all-situations #1 defenseman. Playing well over 22 minutes a night and, as the games got more competitive and higher stakes, upwards of 30 minutes, Cheslock took a huge step forward in his puck-moving aptitude. This was exactly what I was looking to see from the now-21-year-old over the course of the season, and he delivered hugely. The result was a nomination to the All-CCHA Second Team and a St. Thomas record season for both points (24) and assists (23) from a defenseman.

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Skating: 5.5/10

Cheslock is a smooth skater — he has fluent strides and generates more power than it appears. With that comes surprising explosiveness and an ability to keep pace with the play quite well. Whether it is a race to a loose puck or angling his approach against the rush, he is more than comfortable testing his legs against the opposition. His edgework is fine enough, though I certainly wouldn’t refer to it as a strength. On occasion, he has been caught trying to walk the blue line only to get caught shuffling his feet awkwardly and giving up a chance the other way. He certainly could use some refinement in his agility.

Hockey Sense: 5.5/10

If there is one thing that I was hoping to see out of Cheslock over the course of the season, it was an improvement to his puck-moving capabilities. Suffice to say, he delivered. I still wouldn’t say that he is a great facilitator from within the offensive zone, though he does have his moments:

Where Cheslock did elevate his game in a big way was in his transition play. From his own end, he was a surprising proponent of stretching the ice and manipulating the other team as a product of that. He constantly kept the opposition on their toes, not knowing if he would execute a short-distance breakout or an attempt at springing someone on a breakaway. When his team was playing catch at their own blue line, he would constantly scan the ice for potential odd-man rush-generating plays:

This is exactly what he needed. Cheslock will never be a game-changing facilitator from the offensive zone, but adding an element of puck-moving from the other two zones was a must for his upward trajectory. Oftentimes, too, he was under pressure while making these plays, certainly upping his confidence with the puck over the last campaign.

Puck Skills: 3/10

That said, Cheslock is still lacking in terms of his ability to shake pressurers with his hands. Instead, he relies on his quick thinking and vision to elude discomfort, giving the puck off to a teammate instead of handling it by himself.

Shot: 3.5/10

Cheslock is still not much of a shooter to score, generally lacking power and accuracy on his slapshots from the point. Where he did level up a bit is in his seeing-eye wristers — he was much more of a threat to shoot for a tip than he was in previous seasons. Many of his 23 assists came in this fashion, being deployed on the second power play unit to further exploit that vision. Still, it would be nice to see him pose a bit more of a threat himself.

Defensive Awareness: 7/10

Cheslock’s game has always been predicated on strong defensive outputs, both against the rush and against the cycle. While his weight shifts while skating backwards certainly still need some work (hence why he is more comfortable skating at rushers than with them), his stick is strong enough to compensate to some extent. He knows how to activate forward while facing an oncoming play, and further knows how to dispossess a rusher:

While established in his defensive zone, Cheslock has always excelled as a crease-clearer. He swipes sticks and the puck away from the goal mouth with great success, protecting the sanctity of a puckless net with all his power. Furthermore, he takes offense at other netfront presences, doing his very best to shove them out of relevant positioning. Once the game compresses to around his goaltender, he becomes mean.

Physicality/Size: 6/10

From around the net, Cheslock is certainly a physical player. Shoves, cross-checks, stick whacks, and slashes — nothing is off the table. I would like to see that forcefulness along the boards, too, though. It’s not that he isn’t physical; it’s that he isn’t as aggressive in getting the puck out of the zone as he is getting it away from the net. He should be that insistent on using the body everywhere — he’s 6’3 and 205 pounds, after all.

NHL Comparable: John Marino

Ceiling: Third Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

Cheslock’s defensive abilities have never been in question — he’s always been a stalwart presence whose crease-clearing chops would translate to the NHL. After adding a good bit of puck-moving ability to his game, though, I had to bump his NHL likelihood from “Unlikely” to “50/50.” It’ll be interesting to see how he develops at the professional level after his senior season — one I’m optimistic he’ll carry a leadership role in — but I wouldn’t be surprised if we look back on this in a year or two and think that his chances of being a full-time NHLer are even higher than that. I like what he turned into and am looking forward to seeing what he further develops into throughout the course of 2026-27.

No. 19: Ethan Edwards (LHD)

Last Ranking: 16 of 40

4th Round, 2020 (120th Overall) — 69 Games Played | 10 Goals | 13 Assists | 23 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 24 Years Old | 6’0 & 194 Pounds

Ethan Edwards logged his first full professional season in 2025-26 with the Comets after four seasons at the University of Michigan. It was a fine performance, ultimately putting up a one-third-point-per-game rookie campaign while playing mostly middle-pair minutes. The expectation should be that he wins his minutes a bit more in 2026-27, but he will be admittedly playing in a more diminished role with the addition of Anton Silayev to the Comets’ roster.

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Skating: 7/10

Edwards’ skating is his best asset and always has been. His edgework is the flashiest bit of business there, walking the blue line with the confidence he did in Michigan at the professional level and shaking coverage while in possession of the puck quite frequently. His speed is a major plus, too, being able to explode to his top gear in but a few strides and skate right by defenders like they’re standing still, making him a real perimeter end-to-end threat:

Hockey Sense: 5/10

Edwards is smart enough, with most of his utility in this regard being a product of his penchant for drawing coverage in to himself before eluding that pressure with his skating chops. Creating the space for himself and his teammates has never really been the issue, rather what he does once that space is open. His distribution game can still use some improvement, as Edwards doesn’t necessarily get the passes to the location he wants them to be all the time.

In transition, as I said last year, he is at his best when he is using his own legs to do the majority of work. He’s not a horrid passer by any means in this facet of the game, but you can tell he is far more comfortable dancing through coverage with the puck on his stick than he is trying to thread passes through said coverage.

In many ways, this is Luke Hughes-esque — a player who has the physical tools to create space for his teammates but doesn’t necessarily have the mental tools to capitalize.

Puck Skills: 5/10

Edwards has pretty nice handles. He has no issues finding a puck in his skates and making something out of it, nor does he have a problem losing coverage in a one-on-one situation while trying to make a play. As with just about all of his skills, I’d like to see that translate to a bit more real, tangible production.

Shot: 5/10

I think Edwards has worked on and improved his shot over the last year or so, upgrading his accuracy and power en route to capitalizing on the lanes he creates for himself a bit more. In fact, his 10 goals this past season were the most of his career at any level, and though I would be gobsmacked if he shot 10.9% again, the habits were genuinely better. His wrist shot was far more zippy, and he picked corners with consistency.

Defensive Awareness: 5.5/10

Edwards’ defensive positioning is pretty strong, especially when taking into account that that isn’t something typically seen of defensemen with his stature and mobility. He’s poised in his own end and unafraid to block shots from getting to the net. He has an active stick and the explosiveness to pounce on the loose pucks he creates, and he uses multiple methods of attack to regain possession. Whether it’s playing shockingly physically, well-timed poke checks, or baiting the puck carrier into giving him the puck, he can execute defensive stops.

Physicality/Size: 5/10

I didn’t see it quite as much at the AHL level as I did while he was in Michigan, but Edwards is physical enough to shock those initially taken aback by his 6’0 stature. He’s stocky for his height, to be sure, and uses that strength and low center of gravity to fend others off while he carries the puck. Soul-crushing hits weren’t in his repertoire this past season, but I do think he still has that capability once he gets more comfortable in the professional ranks.

NHL Comparable: Gustav Forsling

Ceiling: Third-Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

The problem with Edwards’ projection is more about the timeline than the skillset — he has plenty of projectable traits that should do well at the professional level. The issue is that he is (crazily) entering his D+7 year, and the likelihood a player suddenly jumps to being an NHL-caliber player at that point is historically slim. It may just be that he turns into a top-pair AHLer or call-up option, but I still have hope he can be more than that.

No. 18: Shane Lachance (C)

Last Ranking: 12 of 40

6th Round, 2021 (186th Overall) — 62 Games Played | 10 Goals | 15 Assists | 25 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 22 Years Old | 6’5 & 218 Pounds

One of ex-GM Tom Fitzgerald’s sneakily best-value moves was acquiring Shane Lachance from the Edmonton Oilers for retaining a smidgen of salary on Trent Frederic’s contract when he was originally dealt to the organization. A year and a half later, Lachance endured his first full AHL season, putting together a sub-half-point-per-game campaign but garnering his first cup of coffee in the NHL in the process. That said, I was somewhat disappointed in the point totals despite the call-up, though Utica as a whole struggled immensely for the majority of the campaign.

Skating: 3.5/10

Relative to his size, Lachance is a decent skater. The problem with that, though, is that relative to the typical NHLer, he doesn’t grade out very well. His top speed is average, but he takes quite a bit to get there. He has somewhat limited ankle flexion and a shorter stride, both of which hinder lower-body power generation. He also has the agility one would expect out of a player with his frame. The good news for Lachance is that his game is not reliant on skating whatsoever.

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Hockey Sense: 5/10

Lachance is smart without the puck on his stick, particularly from around the net. He is an expert puck retriever, mostly in part to superb positioning. Rather than being the archetypal stay-in-front-of-the-net-and-don’t-move power forward — a role he can certainly provide value in — he positions himself well in relation to the play. If the puck is at the point, he will certainly provide a screen. If it’s down low and has a chance for a rebound at an odd angle, he will position himself accordingly, not necessarily screening anyone but providing an outlet for said rebound.

I don’t think Lachance is the best facilitator by any means, but he can find the obvious outlet pass. His vision is alright, and he can make plays when given time and space, but can struggle when handed pressure from backcheckers. When he does have the opportunity to create a chance from the cycle, it is almost always after retrieving the puck from behind the net and churning around the perimeter of the ice. He typically follows that up by beelining it right back to the net for a potential rebound opportunity.

The vast majority of his offensive value comes from in and around the crease — Lachance certainly isn’t a driver off the rush. Instead, he is a play extender and crease crasher.

Puck Skills: 4.5/10

Lachance has good hands for his size, particularly from in tight. While he won’t beat a defender one-on-one, he has the soft skill to corral loose pucks quickly and turn those into rebound shots. He can occasionally pull out a deke to outwait a goalie if he has the time to do so, but he almost always does not, and thus his dangles are rare sights to see. In 2024-25, though, I distinctly remember him pulling a puck between his legs to get a shot off from in tight, ultimately ending up in a goal.

Shot: 4.5/10

I think Lachance is a good enough shooter for what he is, but the vast majority of his goal-scoring capabilities come from playing in the netfront, crease-crashing role. He sniffs out rebound opportunities quite well, having an eye on the loose puck at all times. More than that, though, his hand-eye coordination is legitimately great. Nearly half of his goals in 2025-26 came off of tipping the puck from a point shot.

From distance, I don’t think he’s all that threatening. His release is relatively slow and predictable, he doesn’t pick corners, and his shot itself isn’t overwhelmingly zippy.

Defensive Awareness: 7/10

Lachance is very defensively responsible. He is always in the right position, always keeping play to the outside, and always using his long reach to put pressure on puck carriers. Though he doesn’t have the speed to be a counter-attack aficionado, his poke checks cause a number of turnovers, and he is comfortable enough contributing on the breakout. In board battles, he is persistent as can be, coming up with the puck more often than not by virtue of his tenacity, strength, and willingness to engage.

Physicality/Size: 7.5/10

As one would expect from a player of his size, Lachance is physical and uses his physicality in several different ways. In battles along the boards, he cross-checks, shoves, and shoulders others until they tire out and lose the puck. When going for a loose puck, he establishes body positioning through reverse hits or well-timed shoulder checks. When on the forecheck, he acts like a pinball, crashing and banging his way to forcing a turnover. He isn’t necessarily one for big, open-ice hits, but he will seal opponents off and isn’t afraid whatsoever to mix it up.

NHL Comparable: Nathan Bastian

Ceiling: Fourth-Line Winger

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

Lachance’s skillset is that of someone who could be a viable defensive fourth-line option. In many ways, he is the quintessential low-scoring, net-crashing, possession-extending depth power forward. That said, his path forward to playing consistently in the NHL could be impeded by the vast improvement the Comets have endured this offseason — instead of being the second or third call-up option, he now looks like the fourth or fifth.

No. 17: Ben Kevan (RW)

Last Ranking: 8 of 40

2nd Round, 2025 (63rd Overall) — 34 Games Played | 4 Goals | 6 Assists | 10 Total Points | Arizona State University (NCAA) | 19 Years Old | 6’1 & 179 Pounds

When Ben Kevan was drafted, I was ecstatic — at the time, he was a consensus early second-round pick who lit up the USHL by virtue of his game-breaking speed and hands off the rush. In his freshman season with Arizona State University, though, things did not pan out as well as they were slated to. He put up just 10 points in 34 games, enduring a 15-game point-less streak in the middle of the season. In fact, six of his 10 points came in a five-game stretch at the tail end of the season — he otherwise put up just four points in the other 29 games of the campaign while mostly being bogged down in a fourth-line role.

Skating: 7.5/10

Kevan’s most dynamic attribute is his skating. He’s blisteringly fast and accelerates extremely quickly, giving him true one- or two-step separation skills. He has quick and powerful crossovers and is always operating at Mach 10 (something that is both a blessing and a curse). While I don’t think his edgework is as spectacular as his downhill speed, it’s still better than most. Most of his skating value, though, will always come from his ability to blaze right by the defense.

Hockey Sense: 5/10

Evaluating Kevan’s hockey sense is still a bit of a mixed bag, as it always has been. On one hand, his IQ is immaculate off the rush. He knows he is a dual threat in odd-man situations and plays to that strength, noticing the orientation of the defender and goaltender and making the best play accordingly. He can thread passes through sticks and under bodies while operating on the rush. He plays off of turnovers similarly well, creating something out of nothing once he retrieves a loose puck within the offensive zone:

From within the cycle, though I do genuinely think Kevan took tangible steps forward, I still think he keeps too much to the perimeter and can still panic with applied pressure. Those issues subsided a little bit over the course of the season, particularly when he was given the deployment runway and responsibility of a player that generates offense rather than one who is forced to play the typical bottom-six shutdown role. His playmaking game from behind the net took a step forward, too, being able to quickly scan the ice and quickly make a play off a retrieval.

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Puck Skills: 6/10

Kevan has excellent hands, though he featured them as a part of his game a bit less in college than he did at junior levels in and before his draft year. He has a deep bag of tricks to pull from, and, most impressively, is able to execute them while operating at full speed.

Where Kevan still lacks at times is in how soft his hands are while retrieving the puck. He can be somewhat rigid in holding his stick, and that can cause the puck to bounce right off of it rather than being absorbed to make a play. That too showed some improvement in 2025-26, but he still certainly has a way to go in that facet of the game.

Shot: 5/10

Kevan didn’t do himself any favors in terms of evaluating his shot, putting either zero or one shot on goal 11 times in his 15-game point-less streak and having a number of other games without any sort of volume. Even the shooting attempts were way down, a symbol of a lack of confidence in that part of his game for much of the season.

When he does shoot, though, his mechanics are pretty solid. His release is deceptive and zippy; he can shoot accurately, and he has the vision to place a puck through traffic if need be. While off the rush, he can take a quick shot mid-stride.

Defensive Awareness: 4.5/10

I think Kevan was forced to adapt more to the defensive side of things over the course of his freshman campaign, if anything, as a byproduct of getting the fourth-line deployment he was peppered with for most of the year. His positioning improved, though he still overextends himself in the name of creating a turnover and rush opportunity the other way at times. When those moments go right for the teenager, they result in a breakaway. When they don’t, they result in a high-danger chance against by virtue of the opposition having significantly more open ice to play with.

Physicality/Size: 3/10

Kevan is not a physical player outside of the occasional attempt at extending a cycle possession. He typically tries to avoid contact, even in forechecking contexts — there, he relies more on sound positioning that allows him to pick up loose pucks than forcing a turnover using his body. He would be wise to add an element of physicality to his game moving forward.

NHL Comparable: Daniel Sprong

Ceiling: Third Line Complementary Winger

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

The good news about Kevan’s lackluster production in his first college year is that, once he was given a true middle-six role rather than being bogged down in the lineup, he produced. Once Cullen Potter went down with injury and Kevan was thrust in his place, he put up six points in nine games to end the season. That’s the trajectory that I’m keen on focusing on and part of the reason why I still think he can turn into something. He’s going to have a better role for the entire 2026-27 season, and very well could turn his projection right around to what it was prior to getting drafted.

No. 16: Mason Moe (C)

Last Ranking: 18 of 40

3rd Round, 2025 (90th Overall) — 33 Games Played | 6 Goals | 6 Assists | 12 Total Points | University of Minnesota (NCAA) | 19 Years Old | 6’2 & 192 Pounds

Mason Moe took a different approach to his freshman season than Kevan did, starting out in a lesser role than what he grew into over the course of the 2025-26 season. His 12 points — six goals and six assists — in 33 games was a modest output compared to what he actually did on the ice. Starting in a fourth-line role, he worked his way through the middle six and ultimately ended the season playing back-to-back 16-plus minute nights.

Skating: 5/10

Moe is the quintessentially average skater. His speed and acceleration are perfectly typical for his stature and archetype, as are his edges. He’s stocky and heavy, and looks it while skating. He is strong on his skates, though, being able to execute power moves to the net and being extremely sturdy and difficult to knock down off-balance.

Hockey Sense: 5/10

Moe’s offensive hockey sense lies more in his off-puck play than his play with possession. He understands positioning and timing quite well, placing himself in perfect orientation to receive a pass in a high-danger area of the ice. For a bigger guy, he has an astounding way of staying out of the view of defenders, or at least positioning himself in a way that defensemen don’t have the time to react to him once he does receive a pass.

With the puck on his stick, I don’t know if I would call Moe a savvy playmaker or visionary. I find that he doesn’t scan the ice to the fullest, instead opting for the first pass outlet he sees. This holds especially true when he is under duress, doling out a pass to his nearest teammate or the point when met with adversity. Off the rush, though, he can manipulate defenders to draw them close before firing off a pass to his linemate.

Puck Skills: 4.5/10

I think Moe’s puck skills have improved pretty drastically, though he is still more of a no-nonsense, straightforward player who doesn’t rely on those skills to get the job done. Still, when faced with a play that necessitates a move, he has the lateral quickness to get by without getting the puck poked off his stick. Better yet, he can string multiple simple dangles together in quick succession to best execute a play:

Shot: 5.5/10

Moe’s shot has improved as well. Last year, I noted that he could be a middle-distance threat if he increased the speed of his shot, and sure enough, he became more of a middle-distance threat over the course of 2025-26. His release is deceptive enough, and he has the capabilities to fire off a shot while spinning around while still picking a corner. Even if his bread and butter as a shooter will always be in-tight finishing, he has evolved his game quite a bit in this regard.

Defensive Awareness: 7/10

As a draftee, Moe’s defensive play always stood out as his best asset. That still holds true now. When he isn’t overcommitting to the play — which happens more infrequently than it used to — he exhibits flawless defensive positioning and takes away any and all lanes to the interior of the ice. He added a bit more discipline and deliberation to his game in this regard, evolving his understanding of timing his pressures.

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What hasn’t changed, and for good reason, is how active Moe is with his stick. He is constantly waving it toward the puck, forcing turnovers with consistency and using those to facilitate odd-man rushes.

Physicality/Size: 5.5/10

Moe was more physical than he was at the junior level in his freshman year of college, though I still wouldn’t call him a bull by any means. He still doesn’t go out of his way to engage the body, something I was hopeful he was going to strive towards doing, but he was more assertive on the forecheck and in board battles than he previously was.

NHL Comparable: Aatu Räty

Ceiling: Bottom-Six Center

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

Moe most definitely has the defensive chops to make it in a fourth-line capacity at the NHL level, especially if he ends up playing top-six minutes all season for Minnesota. I do still think he needs to develop more oomph on the offensive side of things before making that jump, though. Adding even one standout skill would be a big, big plus for the 19-year-old. One can’t necessarily thrive on defensive chops alone.

No. 15: Lavr Gashilov (C)

Last Ranking: N/A

4th Round, 2026 (119th Overall) — 51 Games Played | 16 Goals | 53 Assists | 69 Total Points | Avto Yekaterinburg (MHL) | 18 Years Old | 5’11 & 185 Pounds

The Devils selected who very well may end up being the steal of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft in due time in the fourth round with Lavr Gashilov. The 18-year-old lit up the MHL in his draft year, becoming the very first draft-eligible player to lead the entire league in assists. While some attributes within his game are… less than ideal, the parts of his game that translate well are special.

Skating: 4/10

Gashilov’s edges are solid, and he uses them in conjunction with his brain to draw in defenders before peeling off and leaving them in the dust before executing a pass. He also uses those edges to execute power moves — he’s difficult to knock out of possession despite his somewhat small stature (5’11, 185 pounds).

That said, his speed and acceleration lack. His posture seems off when skating, hunching his back but not bending his knees as much as perhaps he should. This limits his per-stride power and thus limits his top gear and how quickly he can get there.

Hockey Sense: 8/10

Brain-wise, though, Gashilov is special. His vision is dynamic, being able to quickly scan the ice and either firing off a tape-to-tape pass that others simply wouldn’t be able to execute or patiently waiting until a lane opens up. He keeps his head up at all times and knows how the defense is going to position themselves before they do. He is often steps ahead of everyone else. Furthermore, he is able to elude pressure using his hands, which he uses to draw in multiple defenders before exploiting the open lanes that he creates.

With space to work with, Gashilov is extremely patient. In keeping his head up, he is able to survey the ice for any and every possible lane before choosing the one that objectively has the highest probability of success. It’s as if he has a calculator in his head that automatically computes the likelihood of each of his passes resulting in a high-danger chance.

Without the luxury of time, Gashilov still has split-second full-ice vision, doling out a perfect tape-to-tape pass to the slot even while under duress. There is a reason he led the MHL in assists, after all. Even his secondary plays were incredible to watch.

Puck Skills: 6.5/10

Gashilov’s hands are great as well, giving him the ability to toy with the opposition easily. As much as he does execute simple dekes to get around others and manipulate the defense, he has the capabilities to pull out complex moves — between-the-legs plays, mohawk dekes, and the like are well within his capabilities. The combination of his hands and edgework makes Gashilov a threat to drive to the interior of the ice at any time. Expectedly, he is a mainstay in the shootout.

Shot: 4/10

I would argue that Gashilov’s 16 goals were more a product of his brain than his shooting mechanics. I’m not overly impressed with his release, his accuracy, or his shot speed (though he does have his moments). That said, he understands that he is an expert distributor, and plays that to his advantage. Off the rush, the expectation is that he passes the puck; sometimes he does, and sometimes he exploits that belief with an unexpected shot attempt. That’s where many of his goals resulted from, though of course he had his moments of picking a corner.

Defensive Awareness: 4/10

Gashilov definitely tries on defense. His legs are constantly moving, and his stick is very active. That said, there’s certainly a line between moving and overcommitting, and I don’t think he has found that line yet. He wants to do well, but is ultimately pulled out of position and punished for it too often. That said, he’s always been an excellent F3 in the sense that he positions himself perfectly for breakout passes before subsequently turning those breakouts into zone entries.

Physicality/Size: 3.5/10

Gashilov is also not one for playing physical hockey. He generally tries to avoid contact, even if he handles slashes and cross checks well while possessing the puck. Along the boards, he is best suited for being the F2, relying on smart positioning to regain possession of the puck rather than physicality to free it up. I think he would be well-suited to add an element of physicality to his game, even if it’s seldom used.

NHL Comparable: Mats Zuccarello

Ceiling: Top-Six Playmaker

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

Gashilov is a legitimate boom-or-bust prospect at this point in time. Given his smaller frame, lack of physical edge, and middling defensive game, he must improve his skating a good amount to actually make the show. If he does make it, his playmaking game and vision are special enough that he could be a top-six piece, even if it is perhaps more likely that he ultimately ends up in a third-line capacity.

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Tier 3

No. 14: Ben Steeves (LW/RW)

Last Ranking: N/A

Undrafted — 72 Games Played | 23 Goals | 22 Assists | 45 Total Points | Charlotte Checkers (AHL) | 24 Years Old | 5’9 & 170 Pounds

A few days after NHL and AHL free agency opened up, Sunny Mehta and the New Jersey Devils signed 24-year-old minor leaguer Ben Steeves to a one-year, two-way contract worth $850,000 at the NHL level. Steeves spent the last two seasons with the Charlotte Checkers, accumulating 33 goals and 73 total points in 132 games in a middle-six role. 23 of those goals and 45 of those points came in 2025-26, when he really came into his own in his sophomore AHL season.

Skating: 6/10

Steeves, as one would expect from a player of his stature, is speedy and agile. He possesses above-average acceleration and edgework, even if his top speed itself is just okay. He uses those tools, though, to create separation between himself and the defense, being able to diversely create detachment from coverage through quick-step explosiveness or peel-offs. He also has a way of streaking up-ice unnoticed by virtue of that shiftiness and burst skating ability, making him a constant breakaway threat.

Hockey Sense: 5.5/10

I think Steeves is smart enough both on- and off-puck. With the puck on his stick, he sees the ice solidly and generally does what it takes to get the puck to the inner slot, be it on his own stick or through a pass to a teammate. His passes themselves are fine; they’re accurate but sometimes lack in power and get intercepted as a result.

Steeves’ off-puck smarts are slightly better than his on-puck hockey sense, relying more on his positioning than dynamism with the puck to be productive. He constantly keeps his feet in motion until he’s in the right spot, doing what it takes to get into the interior of the ice unseen before capitalizing on a one-time pass or net-crashing opportunity. Despite being diminutive, he finds himself right around the net quite often and generally positions himself in the right spot to bang home a rebound.

Puck Skills: 5.5/10

Steeves’ hands are solid enough, though he doesn’t have the quick-twitch capabilities many others with his size have. That said, he does have the ability to get around one defender after another in quick succession using simple moves, cutbacks, and head fakes. Very occasionally, he can pull out a more advanced move.

Shot: 6/10

Steeves’ release is solid — he scored 23 goals against AHL goalies for a reason — and he gets quality shots off mid-stride. He drives a good amount of power through his stick with his hips, transferring energy through the puck and getting a surprising amount of speed on his shots because of it.

Tight to the crease is where Steeves is most threatening from a shooting perspective, if anything, just because he is so persistent. He has a real nose for the net, doing what it takes to get to a rebound, having strong hand-eye coordination, and being able to lift the puck from right at the netfront.

Defensive Awareness: 4.5/10

Steeves’ defensive game is fine for the most part, mimicking many of the issues other hard-working prospects have in that he can occasionally get drawn too far out of position while trying to make a play. His stick is active — perhaps too active (he does often get it tied up in the opposition’s skates) — and he uses it to try and create turnovers constantly. Board battles are his best defensive attribute; if he includes himself in a scrum, chances are that he’s coming out with possession, or at least that he frees up the puck for a teammate.

Physicality/Size: 6/10

Simply put, Steeves is a pest. He’s not the biggest, but he is the most tenacious at all times and will be sure to lay a hit if he can. He loves to cross-check, slash, shoulder check, reverse hit, et cetera — nothing physically is out of his toolkit. Where he lacks is simply in his size. Regardless of how hard he works and how much he wants to be a physical presence, he can get knocked off the puck by big, strong defensemen. Still, there are so many times I can’t help but say, “Wow, he forced himself into that position just by being a dog on a bone.”

NHL Comparable: Zach Benson

Ceiling: Third Line Winger

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

I think Steeves has the capacity to play at the NHL level, though time is admittedly running out for him in that regard. 24-years-old isn’t necessarily the be-all-end-all for aging curves, but historically speaking, time is running out. He has the motor to jump right into an NHL lineup as an injury call-up, though. The real debate is whether or not he will make it beyond that role.

No. 13: Jakub Málek (G)

Last Ranking: 14 of 40

4th Round, 2021 (100th Overall) — 31 Games Played | .895 SV% | 2.75 GAA | 13-14-5 Record | 3 Shutouts | Utica Comets (AHL) | 24 Years Old | 6’4 & 190 Pounds

After playing extremely well in Liiga for three consecutive seasons, now-24-year-old goaltender Jakub Málek made his North American debut in 2025-26, playing predominantly as a 1B to Nico Daws with the Utica Comets. Though by season’s end he played well enough, he struggled at the beginning of the season, getting sent down to the Adirondack Thunder for two games to shake off some nerves before jumping back to the AHL level and performing quite admirably. His full-season box score statistics don’t jump out at you by any means, but he went through a number of stretches with excellent numbers, including a six-game span from late January to February in which he had two shutouts and a .921 SV%. He ultimately was given the “Most Improved Player” award by the Comets.

Athleticism: 6.5/10

Though Málek’s athleticism doesn’t necessarily shine through often — a product of his sound positioning in net — he is undeniably athletic. He’s explosive in his movements and can drop down to a butterfly in an instant. He recovers quickly in the unlikely event that he is drawn out of position, but those moments are fewer and further between than many by virtue of Málek’s positioning.

Mobility: 7/10

From a technical standpoint, Málek is an excellent skater. His post-to-post movements are immaculate, and his butterfly is wide, digging his skate into the ice before pushing with tremendous power to give him net-wide coverage.

Málek’s micro-shuffles are controlled and allow him to stay square to the shooter at almost all times, barring a rare poor read of the play.

Positioning 7/10

From within the net, Málek lets his frame do a lot of the work, understanding that he doesn’t necessarily need to overcommit in order to cut down on a shooter’s angle. In one-on-one scenarios, he doesn’t get taken advantage of by dangles or fakes, and he lets the rusher come to him, always giving him an advantage and typically resulting in a save unless he misreads a shot with his hands.

When tending the twine against the cycle, Málek follows the play well and has an intrinsic understanding of where the puck is likeliest to go depending on the positioning of the opponents in front of him. His brain is a great asset, and allows him to minimize the amount of work he needs to do in order to make a save.

Puck Tracking: 6.5/10

I think Málek has good puck tracking habits as well, even beyond just his reads on plays. He battles screens well and generally follows quick passes too. If there’s anywhere his puck tracking lacks, it is perhaps with his hands, though I don’t think that he’s poor in this regard either — just average. He can occasionally get beat by rapid shots, but it’s something I noticed improvement on as he got more acclimated to the AHL.

NHL Comparable: Darcy Kuemper

Ceiling: 1B Goaltender

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Málek signed a two-year, two-way extension this summer, presumably to take the reins as Utica’s bona fide starter while Daws gets a somewhat significant role in the NHL. With the lion’s share of starts in the AHL, Málek should be able to take some tangible steps forward and become more comfortable with North American ice and pace. I would be a little surprised, then, if he never made the jump to playing in the NHL, especially given that he has the well-balanced toolkit to be successful at that level.

No. 12: Nico Daws (G)

Last Ranking: 15 of 40

3rd Round, 2020 (84th Overall) — 44 Games Played | .892 SV% | 2.78 GAA | 17-16-11 Record | 2 Shutouts | Utica Comets (AHL) | 25 Years Old | 6’4 & 205 Pounds

Nico Daws has long been thought of as the goalie within the Devils’ system most ready to play in the NHL. He’s gotten a handful of call-ups throughout his career, with 55 games to his name (nearly enough for me to consider not including him in the list, though I made the executive decision to keep him here considering he has played just eight NHL games in the last two campaigns), and has performed as expected for a youngster getting acclimated to the show. Interestingly enough, he performed better from a box-score statistic perspective in the NHL than in Utica, with a .908 SV% in his three games with New Jersey compared to an .892 SV% in 44 Comets games.

Athleticism: 6/10

As with Málek, Daws is more reliant on his positioning to make saves, but he is still adequately athletic and more than capable of making show-stopping, reactionary saves when called upon. His movements, though typically reserved, can be explosive, and he has the mental fortitude to stick with plays that some would give up on and can make a desperation save in those moments. He drops down pretty quickly, he moves somewhat explosively, and he doesn’t give up — that’s a pretty solid recipe.

Mobility: 6.5/10

Daws is also mobile and possesses strong edges. His edges allow him to square up to shooters and the play and allow him to be aggressive if he so chooses. He typically prefers to be reserved, though. He pushes off with a ton of power (sometimes too much, to the point that it becomes a somewhat uncontrolled movement) and can move from post to post quite well.

Positioning: 7.5/10

Positioning is where Daws has always shined. With the sole exception of when he is forced to be reactionary to a quick pass, he is always square to the shooter, using those aforementioned edges to micro-shuffle constantly and stay facing toward the puck carrier. He follows plays quite well to boot, giving him less of a reason to showcase that athleticism and mobility. The only times you will see him overcommit is when he pushes off one foot to explode laterally and doesn’t recover quickly, and those moments aren’t frequent at all.

Puck Tracking: 6.5/10

Daws’ puck tracking is sound, too. He can see through multiple layers of traffic to swallow point shots and can follow passes quite well to boot. If there’s anywhere that he struggles in this regard, it is following the puck while behind the net — he can occasionally get bested by a wrap-around that he was not prepared for, and I can see him getting beaten by a Michigan attempt.

NHL Comparable: Robin Lehner

Ceiling: 1B Goaltender

NHL Likelihood: Certain

Daws inked a two-year, $1.1 million AAV contract this summer, with a clear intention of playing him as much as he is able to earn. Sunny Mehta himself said that Daws will have an opportunity to solidify himself as an NHL-caliber goaltender during the 2026-27 season, and he has the support system to do so. A new goaltending staff, two veteran netminders to share the load with and learn from, and confidence from the fanbase and GM alike is a pretty great foundation for taking the next step.

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No. 11: Daniil Orlov (LHD)

Last Ranking: 23 of 40

4th Round, 2022 (110th Overall) — 66 Games Played | 10 Goals | 18 Assists | 28 Total Points | Spartak Moskva (KHL) | 22 Years Old | 6’1 & 196 Pounds

I’ll be the first to admit that I was too low on Daniil Orlov last year, putting him as the 23rd best prospect in the pipeline. One year of development later, and the 22-year-old has turned himself into a legitimate top-pair, two-way threat in the KHL. He’s trusted by his coaches in all situations, and though his production tempered off over the course of the season, his habits did not, and he was still given major minutes on a nightly basis. By season’s end, he played in games where his total ice time was upwards of 28 minutes — if that isn’t a token of confidence for a young defenseman in the KHL, I don’t know what is.

Skating: 7/10

A lot of Orlov’s tools are a direct product of his skating ability. He’s very mobile and possesses excellent mechanics that allow him to generate a ton of power with each and every stride. His burst skating ability often lends itself to getting to a loose puck first and creating one- or two-step separation from anyone trying to pressure him into a turnover. His top-end speed is above-average, allowing him to breeze right by flat-footed defenders, and his edges are strong to boot.

Where his four-way mobility truly comes into play, as I’ll get to in just a little bit, is in his neutral zone defense.

Hockey Sense: 5.5/10

Orlov is a smart defenseman with the puck on his stick. He keeps his head up and scans the ice well, finding outlet passes on the breakout and facilitating play from the blue line while established in the offensive zone. His mobility allows him to draw in defenders, and his passing capabilities allow him to exploit the newly-created space. It’s a dangerous combination.

He’s an incredibly fun player to watch through the neutral zone — he loves joining the rush and knows he has the recovery capabilities to get away with it if things go awry. He understands risk calculation, sometimes making a play that seems ill-advised but almost always coming out having made the correct call. He pinches well, too, constantly extending his team’s possession time from the cycle.

Puck Skills: 5/10

When really keying in on Orlov over the course of the season, I was much more impressed with his handles than I previously was. He genuinely has some puckhandling chops that he pulls out on a semi-regular basis. Whether it’s to elude pressure while retrieving the puck in the defensive zone, while maneuvering the offensive blue line and exploiting pressure, or playing off the rush, he has several moves to pull from to get into open space.

Beyond just that, I’m always impressed with his hand-eye coordination. He tips pucks out of danger and can bat it out of mid-air to prevent the other team from getting a chance in the neutral zone.

Shot: 5.5/10

I like Orlov’s shooting mechanics themselves. His wrist shot is zippy and deceptive, and he can shoot across his body to pick an opposite corner while on the rush. His slap shot is better, though, having a ton of power to it — enough to beat a goalie clean from distance without them ever having seen it in the first place.

Where I think Orlov lacks in this facet of the game is in his shot selection. He’s a bit too eager to rifle a shot from pretty much any area of the ice, showcasing a bit of impatience in his decision-making when he receives the puck with space. Instead of playing patiently and scanning the ice for high-danger pass options, Orlov is very quick to put the puck on net.

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Defensive Awareness: 7.5/10

Orlov’s transition defense game is incredible — he’s outright one of the best rush defenders in the entire KHL. His four-way mobility directly leads to him being a stifling presence against downhill attackers from his opposition. He controls his gaps extremely well, knows when to shift his weight and change his direction of attack, chooses his angles perfectly, and has a disciplined stick that pokes pucks away with ease. Those four tools make him a constant shutdown defender and will translate extremely well to the NHL if he ever makes the jump.

From within the defensive zone, his play turns from “spectacular” to “good.” His positioning is generally fine, though he can sometimes get baited into a particular direction from a nice move or head fake. He does have the burst speed to recover well enough, but it’s a habit that should be improved on regardless. Along the boards, he is a strong retriever, but scarcely boxes opponents out and relies more on the puck being in open space when trying to regain possession.

Physicality/Size: 4/10

I was wrong to give Orlov a 6 in last year’s iteration of this project. He can handle being checked, but he isn’t one for physical play himself. He will never hit in open ice, doesn’t really establish body positioning on loose pucks, and is better served as a complementary retrieval tool along board battles instead of being the one squished against the wall.

NHL Comparable: Jonas Brodin

Ceiling: Middle-Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

For Orlov, his projectability to the NHL hinges much less on his skillset and much more on whether or not he actually ever comes stateside. He very clearly has the tools to be a meaningful player in a big-league lineup, with excellent mobility giving him neutral zone shutdown capabilities and the ability to contribute meaningfully in getting the puck up-ice. While I think he could add more physicality to his game and improve his shot selection, my qualms with his play are limited, and I truly do hope he comes over to North America after his contract ends after 2028. In the meantime, expect him to continue to quietly be one of the Devils’ best defense prospects.

No. 10: Conrad Fondrk (C)

Last Ranking: 7 of 40

2nd Round, 2025 (50th Overall) — 25 Games Played | 3 Goals | 5 Assists | 8 Total Points | Boston University (NCAA) | 19 Years Old | 6’0 & 203 Pounds

Conrad Fondrk is a near-impossible one to evaluate, and thus I have a hard time moving him up or down in the ranking. Without knowing the context of his 2025-26 season, it’s easy to assume that he had a putrid year and should have fallen far past the 10 slot in this project. However, his eight points in 25 games must be taken in context. Three months prior to his selection in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, Fondrk broke his femur, resulting in him sliding in the draft and having a lengthy recovery in front of him. In fact, his recovery spanned through the beginning of the 2025-26 season, starting the year “healthy” but ending up missing a handful of games in November and December from nagging pain from the break, noting himself that he was playing at half-health. He was injured again — separately — in late February, and was unable to finish the season. As such, the whole season should be considered a wash. For many of the skills, I’ll be operating on prior numbers because of it.

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Skating: 6/10

Fondrk was noticeably slower and less agile for the first few months of the season, which again are a direct product of not fully recovering from his femur injury. Instead of his typical fast, explosive, and nimble self, he was below-average across the board when it came to mobility. In 2026 and beyond, he looked more like himself (though admittedly still not 100%), having moments of legitimate explosiveness and top-end speed that helped him create separation and be an asset on the breakout.

Hockey Sense: 5.5/10

Fondrk is a pretty smart player with and without the puck on his stick, but I wouldn’t call it a standout asset. His passing skills themselves are top-notch — he can put passes through legs and under sticks with consistency, and can fire off high-danger looks from the perimeter to boot. Where it lacks sometimes is in his vision; too often did I see him opt for the first pass he saw over the right pass. Patience is a skill that can be taught, though, especially when someone has the passing aptitude Fondrk does. Even with the vision sometimes being inconsistent, there were times where he executed plays like the following, where he performed a perfect, tape-to-tape, no-look pass leading to a one-time goal:

Puck Skills: 6.5/10

Fondrk is an adept stickhandler, with a wide array of tricks and the wherewithal to use different moves in different settings to stay unpredictable. He was a bit more reliant on this side of his game in transition in 2025-26 than he previously was by virtue of his limited mobility, so it was nice to see it hold up at the NCAA level. He can escape pressure using soft hands and head fakes and has no problem drawing in coverage to exploit it in this way.

Shot: 6/10

Another byproduct of Fondrk’s injury was that fans didn’t get to see his shooting chops in action much over the course of the year, but I would be a little surprised if he didn’t end up a half-goal-per-game-plus player in the NCAA. He has the mechanics to make that happen — his wrister is accurate and can be threaded through screens and traffic, and I have a hard time thinking his excellent one-timer has diminished at all. Just because I didn’t see him pull it out all that often doesn’t mean it’s any less threatening than it was just a year ago.

I did see him improve his hand-eye coordination a bit with BU, though, being more of a proponent of tips and deflections than I expected him to be.

Defensive Awareness: 5.5/10

College hockey has a way of teaching defensive responsibility, and I thought there was a noticeable improvement in Fondrk’s in-zone positioning than pre-draft. He was previously a bit of a puck-watcher at times, but I think that aspect of his game was erased for the most part while playing under Jay Pandolfo. His stickwork is tidy, and he forces a lot of turnovers because of it. When his legs aren’t hindered by injury, I would expect him to be a bigger proponent of counter-attacks.

Physicality/Size: 5/10

Despite his stocky, 6’0 and 203-pound frame, Fondrk isn’t overwhelmingly physical. He’s strong on the puck and takes punishment without losing possession, but I’d like to see him be a bit more assertive without the puck. Making proactive contact, establishing his positioning along the boards, and being more of a nuisance on the forecheck should be primary areas of focus for him in 2026-27.

NHL Comparable: Pius Suter

Ceiling: Middle-Six Center

NHL Likelihood: 50/50

I’m giving Fondrk a clean slate entering 2026-27. His injuries were the primary reason for his lack of production and perceived lack of development, and I’m sure he’ll have a hunger to buck that consensus next season. I would imagine that he will be entering 2026-27 fully healthy, perhaps being healthy for the first time since he was drafted. We will all get a good idea of just what he’s capable of. Maybe he did, in fact, stagnate, but I would be surprised if that were the case. He looked like a could-be middle-six NHL forward prior to getting drafted, and I think he still has the capabilities to be a skilled, playdriving player in that role.

No. 9: Matyas Melovský (C)

Last Ranking: 10 of 40

6th Round, 2024 (171st Overall) — 55 Games Played | 10 Goals | 16 Assists | 26 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 22 Years Old | 6’1 & 190 Pounds

My favorite pick from the 2024 NHL Entry Draft is and always has been their sixth-rounder, Matyas Melovský. He was an overager at the time of his selection, but lit up the QMJHL in the subsequent season before making the jump to professional hockey with the Comets. In his very first season as an AHLer, he put up 10 goals and 26 total points in 55 games while playing in a middle-six role. On a disappointing Comets team, this was tied for eighth-best in scoring. While he isn’t the flashiest player by any means, there is certainly reason to believe he can contribute to an NHL lineup in the next couple of seasons.

Skating: 5.5/10

Melovský is an average skater in terms of speed, acceleration, and edgework. Where he separates from the bunch is in his motor, which simply does not turn off. His legs never stop churning, and that bottomless tank of energy lends itself well to contributing on the forecheck, backcheck, and in getting to loose pucks. It’s a trait every fourth-line player should have.

Hockey Sense: 6.5/10

I think Melovský is smarter than he gets credit for. He keeps his head up while he has the puck on his stick, constantly scanning the ice for outlet options, and knows where his teammates are at all times. His passes themselves are just alright, occasionally flubbing an attempt, but his brain operates quickly, and he can make adjustments on the fly if something goes awry. He does a surprising amount of facilitation from the half wall on the Comets’ power play, something you wouldn’t necessarily expect given his archetype, but finds success by virtue of making passes that may come off as unexpected.

From an off-puck perspective, Melovský knows where to be and when, seamlessly floating into open ice for a quality shot attempt. He knows how to manipulate time and space against both defenders and goaltenders without the puck, allowing his teammates to either find him with a pass or take advantage of the newly-created open ice.

As we’ll get into a bit more later, Melovský is an adept playmaker after engaging physically along the boards. As much of that comes from his ability to involve himself in the play and come out with the puck, a lot of it has to do with his snapshot vision of the ice and his ability to quickly make a pass while within coverage.

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Puck Skills: 4/10

Melovský’s hands aren’t necessarily anything to write home about in the sense that he doesn’t have many complex dekes in his arsenal. Simple moves are his preference, and he executes them well enough. Where his puck skills are solid, though, are in his ability to catch and corral pucks. He has a soft stick and, as such, can immediately fire off a shot or rifle a quick-touch pass.

Shot: 5.5/10

I like Melovský’s shot quite a bit. He is a wrist shot threat from distance, being able to see the puck through defenders and his teammates en route to picking a corner. His release itself is somewhat un-deceptive, but he is accurate enough and drives enough power through his hip rotation that it doesn’t really matter all that much.

I didn’t see Melovský unload a one-timer all that much, and thus have very little to say about it. I will note, though, that he drives a lot of power into them.

Defensive Awareness: 7/10

Melovský has always been regarded as a two-way asset, and for good reason. His positioning is excellent, scarcely overcommitting to the play and taking away any and all passing and shooting lanes in the process. As a center, he does an excellent job of supporting his defensemen when that is necessary and rotating coverage without losing his man. I would like to see him be a bit more aggressive with his stick and in generating turnovers, because he has the motor to turn those loose pucks into counter-attacks the other way if he really puts his mind to it.

Physicality/Size: 6.5/10

Melovský is physical, but not in the conventional sense of throwing hits and dropping the gloves. Instead, he is a big proponent of being a nuisance along the boards and is an expert in freeing pucks up using his body. Preemptive shoulder checks, reverse hits, pinballing around from defender to defender, throwing cross checks, and slashes are all within his arsenal in battles, and they oftentimes lead to him getting the puck back on his stick and getting a quick pass to a teammate. It’s a treat to watch him play along the boards. In open ice, he doesn’t really throw hits, but he absorbs contact quite well and can make a play while getting hit.

NHL Comparable: Casey Mittelstadt

Ceiling: Third Line Center

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Sunny Mehta has spoken highly of Melovský in press conferences, giving credence to the belief that he will find himself in an NHL lineup within the next couple of seasons if he continues developing along this trajectory. His skillset is built for a bottom-six center role, and though I think he has the capabilities to play in a third-line capacity eventually, I think he is far more likely to make it as a fourth-line pivot. Look for him to have a meaningful impact in Utica in his sophomore campaign, and it’s entirely possible we see him in the NHL in 2027-28.

Tier 2

No. 8: Seamus Casey (RHD)

Last Ranking: 4 of 40

2nd Round, 2022 (46th Overall) — 29 Games Played | 1 Goal | 18 Assists | 19 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 22 Years Old | 5’10 & 181 Pounds

It’s become increasingly difficult to truly evaluate Seamus Casey as a prospect, given that he has been so injured over the last couple of seasons. He missed significant time yet again in 2025-26, only suiting up for 29 games for the Comets. He produced well enough in those 29 games to earn a nod to the 2026 AHL All-Star Game, but was ultimately unable to participate and ended up missing the remainder of the season. Apparently, it was a nagging injury that had been plaguing him since before the campaign even began — Casey ended up having surgery and will hopefully be 100% come 2026-27.

Skating: 7.5/10

Casey is a fantastic skater. I think he has just an average top speed, but he reaches it in just a couple of strides and has incredible edgework. His acceleration gives him the ability to get to loose pucks first, allows him to have immediate separation speed from pressure, and gives him excellent recovery ability if he makes a bad pinch or read. His edges, meanwhile, give him the agility to get past multiple defenders with the puck on his stick in all three zones, allow him to maneuver the blueline and manipulate time, space, and the defense in front of him, and give him the chance to peel away from pressure if he doesn’t like what he sees.

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Again, his top speed is just alright, but the other two aspects of his game are so excellent that it doesn’t matter. Casey had 17 speed bursts of 18-20 mph in his two NHL games, which, extrapolated to a full 82-game season, would have been first in the entire NHL (697), 45 more than Matthew Schaefer.

Hockey Sense: 8/10

Casey is an extremely intelligent defenseman in terms of facilitating play. From within the offensive zone, he is constantly looking for the highest-danger play and has an inherent ability to force the puck into the slot. His passes are tape-to-tape, and he can thread them through multiple layers of sticks and legs en route to executing high-danger plays.

Casey is an expert manipulator, too, drawing in pressure while he has possession of the puck before exploiting the opponent trying to force a turnover with his legs, hands, and brain. He can escape a jam like very few in the AHL, sometimes eluding multiple players along the blue line.

He makes the subtle plays, too; little chip passes to the right areas, usage of the boards to execute a pass to the right spot, head fakes to feign going in one direction before moving the other, et cetera. He constantly knows how to get the puck to an open teammate, even if the method of getting the puck there is a bit unconventional. For example, a poke-pass in the offensive zone:

Without the puck on his stick, Casey is still an asset in the offensive zone. He loves to activate into the play, timing his pinches well more often than not and roving throughout the zone to give his teammates a constantly-moving pass outlet.

In transition, Casey is constantly scanning the ice for outlet passes upon retrieval. Opposing players know he has the skill to break the puck out himself, and they’re forced to respect that, giving him multiple ways of contributing to zone exits and entries. It’s that variability that makes him dangerous.

If there are any gripes with Casey’s offensive hockey sense, it’s that perhaps he is too eager to jump into the play. At times, this leaves his defensive partner in poor position; even though he has great recovery abilities, if he’s playing deep in the zone there’s nothing he can do about preventing an odd-man rush the other way. I think he would also be served well to improve upon his playmaking from the defensive zone while under duress from forecheckers — he doesn’t handle pressure very well, even if he’s working on it.

Puck Skills: 8.5/10

For a defenseman, Casey has excellent hands. He has quick-twitch ability on his lateral dekes, a deep bag of tricks to pull from, and the wherewithal to use certain dekes in certain situations. Oh, and he can string together multiple moves while skating at top speed, eluding multiple defenders en route to creating a chance for himself and his teammates. That skillset is just so atypical for a defenseman.

Shot: 5/10

I don’t think Casey’s shot is spectacular by any means, and I think he would be well-served to improve it. He is constantly getting himself in open shooting lanes with the puck on his stick and is always trying to present himself as an open option for his teammates, so one would think that his wrist shot is dangerous. It is, but not to the extent it should be. His release is deceptive enough, and he can toe drag around defenders to change the angle of attack, but he struggles to put power and accuracy on his shots for the most part. Casey’s one-timer is scarcely used, being far more of a proponent of using that wrister or a snap shot instead. I don’t think he’s confident with the amount of power he generates on his slapshots.

Defensive Awareness: 5/10

I do think Casey put in effort to improve his defensive game in Utica this past season. He understood that it was a major deficiency within his game, and now, at least, looks serviceable in this regard at the AHL level. His positioning improved in terms of getting into shooting and passing lanes and preventing the puck from getting to the slot. He can still struggle with pressure from forecheckers, though, once he does retrieve a loose puck. He turns over the puck too much for my liking, and most of it is a direct product of handling in-your-face opponents. If he were turning the puck over trying to execute high-reward plays, that’s something that can be coached out — I’m not sure his ability to handle pressure can be.

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Physicality/Size: 3.5/10

Casey is small; there’s no doubt about that. As much as he wants to involve himself in the play, he frequently finds himself getting pushed off the puck and shoved out of board battles. I must admit, though, he has improved his feistiness a bit. He had his first professional fight in his second-to-last game this season and has made a concerted effort to involve himself more in the dirty areas of the ice. He’ll have to develop a bit here before or while playing in the NHL, as NHLers are only stronger and faster than the competition he’s facing now.

NHL Comparable: Torey Krug

Ceiling: Middle-Pair, PP2 Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Casey still has high upside as a potential #3/4 defenseman, but the truth is that time is running out a bit for the youngster. Yes, he is only 22 years old, but his injury history has held him back from developing as much as he should have, and history says that first- and second-rounders usually make the NHL by now if they ever become mainstays in the league. I like Casey a lot, and I think he has the skillset to succeed in the NHL as a puck-mover, but he needs to be able to handle pressure better (which, to his credit, he has worked on in Utica) and be more difficult to remove from the play with physicality.

No. 7: Lenni Hämeenaho (RW)

Last Ranking: 6 of 40

2nd Round, 2023 (58th Overall) — 33 Games Played | 2 Goals | 6 Assists | 8 Total Points | New Jersey Devils (NHL) | 21 Years Old | 6’1 & 198 Pounds

Lenni Hämeenaho began the year in the AHL, where he admittedly had a slow start (zero points in his first nine games) while self-proclaiming that he was simply getting comfortable with the defensive side of North American professional hockey. I’m taking his word for it, though, because he produced 27 points in 28 games once he was able to focus on producing offensively.

He was rewarded with his first taste of the NHL this season, logging a surprising 33 games from January until the end of the 2025-26 season. He got off to a scorching start, with two goals and two assists in his first six games while showing fantastic chemistry with Arseny Gritsyuk and Cody Glass, but ultimately tapered off over the remainder of the year, producing just four points in his last 27 games. Still, he took a big jump (his moving down in the ranking from last year is simply a product of more talent in the pipeline than anything he didn’t develop himself).

Skating: 4.5/10

Typically, skaters who have below-average skating ability can only ever increase their chops to average, and that is the case with Hämeenaho. As great as it is that he has shown tangible improvements since being drafted in this facet of the game, he still certainly lacks a top gear and some acceleration. His top speed of 21.03 mph in the NHL last season was over one full mile per hour lower than the NHL average, and he was pacing for just about half of the NHL average for speed bursts of 20-22 mph. He just doesn’t have that gear in his game, and that’s perfectly fine for the type of player he is.

Hämeenaho’s edgework is fine, though — it’s absolutely the best part of his skating game. He shifts weight fairly well, being able to turn quickly and elude some pressure using agility.

Hockey Sense: 8/10

Hämeenaho’s skating chops don’t matter as much because he’s such a cerebral player, particularly off-puck.

While in possession, though, he certainly isn’t a slouch. He has solid vision of the ice and understands how to get the puck to his teammates even if there are defensemen in the way. He became more of a proponent of rifling off cross-ice passes as the season went on, being more and more confident in his tape-to-tape facilitation abilities. He has creative ideas with the puck, all with the goal of putting his teammates in the best area of the ice possible for a high-danger look.

Hämeenaho’s smarts will always be best off-puck, though, in my opinion. He has a penchant for being in the right spot at the right time all the time. He has superior timing on his activations into gaps of open ice, with perfect instincts that allow him to receive the puck in high-danger areas of the ice consistently. This holds true no matter where the puck is on the ice — in the defensive zone, he always seems to be a magnet for turned-over pucks; in the neutral zone, though he prefers to be the one facilitating to a streaking teammate, he always seems to be in the right spot to execute a give-and-go; and in the offensive zone, he always seems to be in the right spot for a high-danger pass or rebound opportunity.

Puck Skills: 6/10

I won’t call Hämeenaho an expert stickhandler, but he does possess some surprising chops in this facet of the game — particularly while on the move — considering how clunky a skater he looks. Sure, he can toe drag and use simple moves, but I’m impressed by his ability to occasionally pull out the unlikely move to get around a defender or two. In fact, we saw him execute such a move on what was inarguably his prettiest assist during his time with New Jersey:

Shot: 6.5/10

A little-known fact about Hämeenaho is that he’s always been a bit of a volume shooter. Given that he’s typically in the right spot at the right time to take a shot from within the offensive zone, I wouldn’t necessarily call this a shock. We saw that even at the NHL level — he was fourth among Devils forwards in shots per hour and fifth in shot attempts per hour. Seeing that type of confidence in a rookie is abnormal.

Hämeenaho’s mechanics are solid, too. His wrister, though predictable in terms of his release, is zippy and accurate, and as such he can find twine from a distance. His one-timer is electric, driving a ton of power through his hips and dropping down to one knee to get as much juice on it as he physically can.

Defensive Awareness: 7.5/10

Hämeenaho has always been a two-way player, and that didn’t change at the AHL and NHL levels. He takes away time and space from the opposition with strong positional instincts and, as mentioned above, seems to always be in the right spot at the right time to pounce on a loose puck. His stick is active, though a tad undisciplined at times. He’ll likely be deployed on the penalty kill at some point in his NHL career.

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Physicality/Size: 4.5/10

I wouldn’t call Hämeenaho physical in the conventional sense by any means. He doesn’t throw many hits, and never in open ice, but he handles contact well and is strong on the puck. Along the boards, though he prefers to be the F2 who positionally out-brains the opposition into turning the puck over exactly where he is, he can be a plus in battles every now and then. He will occasionally establish the body with a quick shoulder or reverse check when getting to a loose puck.

NHL Comparable: Tyler Toffoli

Ceiling: Middle-Six Winger

NHL Likelihood: Certain

Hämeenaho played 33 games in the NHL in his very first year on North American ice, which is something he should be proud of. As he gets more acclimated to the pace and skill of being stateside, he’ll adjust his game to best serve getting to the big leagues. I do think he’s likely to start the 2026-27 campaign in Utica, though, given the amount of depth Sunny Mehta has added to the organization. He could likely use the development time, too — being a top player on an AHL lineup will allow him to further improve upon his offensive habits. I would guess that he plays NHL minutes at some point in 2026-27 and is a full-time player in 2027-28.

No. 6: Nikita Shcherbakov (LHD)

Last Ranking: N/A

2nd Round, 2026 (44th Overall) — 15 Games Played | 0 Goals | 10 Assists | 10 Total Points | Tolpar Ufa (MHL) | 18 Years Old | 6’5 & 187 Pounds

I was ecstatic when the Devils selected Nikita Shcherbakov in the second round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Leading up to the draft, he was always considered more of a first-round caliber talent, and the fact that he slid to the Devils at 44 was a bit of a miracle. The consensus on the 18-year-old was that he’s more of a defensive defenseman than anything, but I think there’s more than meets the eye in that regard.

Skating: 7/10

Shcherbakov, like another exorbitantly tall defenseman that will appear a bit higher in this ranking, is a very smooth skater. His strides are fluid and powerful, getting large distances in just a couple of steps — this allows him to take risks that others wouldn’t fathom doing (though I do think he’s a bit more conservative than that as a player) without the repercussions of not being able to recover. I think his best skating attribute, though, is his weight-shifting and four-way mobility. Shcherbakov can change directions on a whim, perfectly following whatever angle of attack or sudden movements a downhill rusher decides to take. He closes gaps instantaneously in any direction, oftentimes directing a rush attacker to the boards where he is able to seal them off and regain possession of the puck. None of that is possible without the level of four-way mobility he has.

Hockey Sense: 6/10

Shcherbakov is underratedly savvy with and without the puck on his stick from an offensive perspective. He sees the ice well enough and does what he can to get the puck into the interior of the offensive zone, though I’m not necessarily impressed with what he can do from within a cyclical setting — his passes are low-risk, low-reward for the most part. Most of his work in this facet of the game comes through the neutral zone, where he is a surprising facilitator of give-and-goes and quick-touch passes. He will activate into the rush in order to dole out a high-danger pass before retreating back to sound defensive positioning along the blue line.

It’s not often that defensemen with these frames and defensive chops have the ability to execute stretch passes, either, but Shcherbakov can and does.

He also handles pressure well, almost encouraging forecheckers to come after him while he has the puck before punishing them with an outlet pass into open space. It’s this skill that is his most projectable offensive tool — too often is puck-moving conflated with playmaking and stretch passes; being able to retrieve the puck and get it to a teammate who is moving up the ice, even if it isn’t a flashy play, is a severely underrated measure of one’s puck-moving chops.

Puck Skills: 4/10

Shcherbakov is a big, rangey defenseman, and he often looks like it while the puck is on his stick. That said, though, he does try to execute some moves and, on occasion, is able to get past defenders with simple lateral dekes at full speed.

Shot: 4.5/10

Shcherbakov’s shooting mechanics themselves aren’t really much to write home about. His wrister is unthreatening for the most part, and his one-timer lacks the power one would expect from a player of his stature. Where he does separate himself from a few defensemen, though, is in his vision and accuracy. He knows how to place a puck for a tip-in or deflection opportunity. That’s where most of his points came from in the MHL this past season, and that’s where I would expect most of his points to come from at the NHL level if he makes it.

As Shcherbakov gets thicker — he will need to gain at least 25 pounds — he will inherently be getting more power on his shots. I’d be surprised if his slap shots from the point weren’t a strength down the line.

Defensive Awareness: 7.5/10

As touched on in his skating discussion, Shcherbakov is an excellent defender, particularly against the rush. He has versatility there — by being able to orient himself perfectly to the play while simultaneously closing his gap on the puck carrier, he can prevent a rush attacker from coming at him head-on, peeling off towards the interior of the ice, and trying to go around the outside. Watching him defend in the neutral zone is a pleasure.

From against the cycle, Shcherbakov’s positioning is good-not-great, but he again separates himself from the pack in terms of his ability to get to loose pucks, gain possession, absorb pressure, and execute a breakout pass. When given space to work with, he’ll skate the puck out himself. When given pressure, he knows where his teammates are and is able to get the puck to them consistently.

Physicality/Size: 4.5/10

For his size, Shcherbakov is somewhat passive unless it comes to suffocating a player on the rush. There, he does do a good job of forcing opponents into the wall. Outside of that, though, he doesn’t do much in terms of playing physically. In board battles, he doesn’t engage with his body as much as I’d like to see, absorbing contact but not doling it out proactively or using cross checks and slashes to his advantage. Shcherbakov does a decent job of rolling off of pressure when it’s applied, but for a big player like him, he needs to be more assertive.

NHL Comparable: Alex Vlasic

Ceiling: Middle-Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Shcherbakov has an extremely projectable skillset as a neutral zone defender and puck retriever. His mobility is superb, even independent of his size, and he can move the puck surprisingly well under pressure to boot. Those traits should ultimately end up resulting in a pretty substantial NHL role. The question, at this point, is “How much will Shcherbakov actually develop in the KHL?” and it’s a valid one considering the stagnation that Anton Silayev underwent in the same league with a similar skillset. His best bet may ultimately be to hop over to North America as soon as he is able to, which would be after the 2026-27 season.

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No. 5: Mikhail Yegorov (G)

Last Ranking: 5 of 40

2nd Round, 2024 (49th Overall) — 35 Games Played | .904 SV% | 2.73 GAA | 16-15-2 Record | 2 Shutouts | Boston University (NCAA) | 20 Years Old | 6’5 & 181 Pounds

Since being drafted in the second round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft and matriculating to Boston University, Mikhail Yegorov has proven to be one of the top goaltending prospects in the entire NHL. I’d be lying if I said it was a perfect season for the 20-year-old, though — BU as a whole was a complete mess for most of the campaign, and Yegorov wasn’t immune to that. Despite that, he produced as strong a season as he possibly could have, keeping the Terriers in games that they had no business being in, covering for a myriad of defensive breakdowns during the year, and genuinely building on a strong foundation of raw tools while (generally) keeping a level head.

Athleticism: 8/10

For a bigger goalie, Yegorov’s athleticism certainly stands out. He scarcely needs to bring out a desperation save by virtue of his typically excellent positioning, but he has the reflexes, reaction time, and mental fortitude to stay with the play and flail around in net if need be. He’s extremely flexible, explosive in his movements, and has a quick-snap blocker and glove that never really keep him out of a play. I’m always impressed by how quickly he drops down into the butterfly, too. He also has impeccable limb independence, being able to contort his body in awkward ways while one half of his body is fighting against the other, directionally speaking.

Mobility: 7.5/10

Yegorov’s explosiveness is also controlled, for the most part. His lateral movement is quick, and he can cover the vast majority of the bottom of the net at any given point by proxy of his wide butterfly. He digs his heels in and pushes off with immense strength, mostly being able to stop where he needs to (but sometimes pushing too far, which is usually when you will see him have to pull out one of those miraculous saves. Yegorov’s edges are also excellent, and he can micro-shuffle to stay square to the shooter no matter how he moves or toe drags.

Positioning: 9/10

Positioning is and always has been the name of the game for Yegorov. He stays square to shooters at all times (a byproduct of great skating ability) and has excellent anticipation instincts. He knows where everyone on the ice is at all times and can predict the likeliest play, placing himself accordingly. He has always let his frame do the majority of the work for him, and only solidified that habit in 2025-26, understanding that he doesn’t necessarily have to move all that much in order to put his body in the right spot. He’s poised, calm, and patient, and for good reason.

Puck Tracking: 7/10

I think the “weakest” part of Yegorov’s game is his puck tracking abilities, but by no means is it below average. He fights through screens and is able to follow quick passes and tic-tac-toe plays. His aforementioned anticipation only adds to his strength here, predicting where the puck will be at any given moment and being able to quickly find it if he loses it for a split second by virtue of predicting correctly. He also tracks shots to his glove quite well, caring not if a shooter tries to deceive him with a toe drag or angle change on a release.

NHL Comparable: Connor Hellebuyck

As I said in last year’s pipeline breakdown, this comparison is not in any way me saying Yegorov will be as good as Connor Hellebuyck, simply that they are similar from a stylistic perspective.

Ceiling: Top-10 Goaltender

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Yegorov will be spending one more season in the NCAA before presumably signing his Entry-Level Contract (ELC). I’m interested to see what he has in store for 2026-27, with a revamped BU roster in front of him and another off-season of development. There are no doubts in my mind that he will be an NHL starting goaltender, but I can’t rate him as a “certainty” to get to the league because goalie development and predictions are almost always a crapshoot.

No. 4: Amadeus Lombardi (C)

Last Ranking: N/A

4th Round, 2022 (113th Overall) — 47 Games Played | 16 Goals | 26 Assists | 42 Total Points | Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) | 23 Years Old | 5’11 & 183 Pounds

The Devils acquired Amadeus Lombardi via trade this summer, trading their fourth-round selection for 2026 in exchange for the young center’s services. The 23-year-old most recently played a top-six role with the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he has been a near-point-per-game player for two consecutive campaigns, logging a grand total of 82 points in his 91 combined games. In the last two seasons, Lombardi ranked sixth in the AHL among players with at least 70 games in primary points per hour and ranked above the 90th percentile in GameScore per game among AHL forwards with at least 25 games played. He’s been one of the premier talents in the minor leagues, and should be regarded as such.

Skating: 8/10

Lombardi is an excellent skater in every sense of the word. He particularly excels as a downhill skater, though; in a similar sense to Dylan Larkin, he is north-south oriented, preferring to power-skate right by defenders with strong acceleration and top-end speed:

Lombardi’s edges are strong, too, though they’re not quite as game-breaking as his speed and acceleration. He shifts his weight confidently and can turn around on a dime, allowing him to lose coverage quite easily without necessarily using his explosiveness or speed.

Hockey Sense: 8/10

Lombardi is a very smart player in terms of his offensive instincts. He sees and scans the ice well, being a step or two ahead of the competition at all times. He has excellent anticipation of where defenders and his teammates are going to be, and playmakes accordingly.

His playmaking game itself is strong — in an interview with the Hockeytown West Podcast, Lombardi himself said that he prefers to set his teammates up rather than scoring himself. His chops showcase that mentality, as most of his passes are tape-to-tape. He can thread them through legs and through sticks, and has the creativity to make them even more threatening. You’ll see him cleverly use the boards, execute passes while spinning around, and utilize no-look plays with consistency. Check out the sequence below to get a glimpse of a few of those:

You’ll notice a few things on display there:

1. Lombardi is a magnet for the puck and makes a lot happen. You cannot teach that ability, nor can you really teach how to be such a driver from within a cyclical setting.

2. He has an innate ability to draw in and subsequently lose coverage, using his teammates, his agility, and his explosiveness to create time and space for himself as well as open up passing lanes for his teammates.

3. He makes spinaround passes and no-look passes often — he did so twice in this shift alone (one spinaround along the boards and one no-look that led to the goal).

From an off-puck perspective, while Lombardi far prefers to have the puck on his stick and will generally opt to get it back into his possession rather than letting his teammates facilitate play, he does have strong positional instincts. He knows how to get into open space in high-danger areas of the ice and can punish goaltenders and defensemen alike with a quality one-time look in such a spot:

On loose pucks, Lombardi is very opportunistic. He seems to be in the right place at the right time to intercept a pass or a loose puck in the offensive zone somewhat frequently, and it often results in a quality look for his team.

Where I think Lombardi could improve is in simplifying the game a bit. He’s excellent with the puck on his stick — truly excellent — but he can try to force plays a bit or hang onto the puck a little longer than he should. It’s a teachable habit, though, and one I’m not worried about whatsoever.

Puck Skills: 8/10

Lombardi’s hands are excellent as well. He has a lot of moves to pull from and can bring them out at full speed. Grand Rapids put him in the shootout every time they appeared in one for a reason — he’s manipulative, creative, and is smart enough to execute different moves depending on the context of the play. If a simple deke is needed, a simple deke is made. If a between-the-legs move is best, you can count on him to perform it. If he needs to toe drag, he toe drags.

Shot: 6.5/10

For a self-proclaimed playmaker, Lombardi possesses an above-average shot. Generally speaking, he flexes his stick well and thus can provide a good bit of power on his wrist shots. His wrister is accurate; he can change the angle of his release, and he can see well through traffic, making him a shooting threat from distance:

Perhaps more importantly, given his skillset, is that he can fire a well-placed, zippy wrist shot or snap shot while mid-stride at top speed. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it makes him a dual-threat rush player, which is something he’ll need to be at the NHL level.

I think Lombardi’s one-timer is just okay. As evidenced by one of the clips in the hockey sense blurb, he is more reliant on positioning than shot mechanics when it comes to quickly firing off a one-tee. He’s accurate, but I’d like to see him drive a bit more power through his hips and legs than he does.

Defensive Awareness: 5/10

Lombardi is a high-effort player and has gradually been improving his defensive game throughout his development arc. He tries to be in a sound position within his own zone and tries to take away passing and shooting lanes with his body and stick, but can occasionally be drawn out of position in the name of trying to create a turnover and, subsequently, a counter-attack.

To be fair to Lombardi, he is effective in that regard, forcing an above-average number of turnovers and having the explosiveness to jump on the loose puck and create a rush chance. However, more disciplined positioning will serve him well at the NHL level, where almost everyone is manipulative enough to draw you in and then capitalize with a pass into open space.

Physicality/Size: 3.5/10

I don’t think Lombardi is particularly physical, even if his motor never really turns off. He’s far more reliant on his work ethic and his excellent positioning in board battles than he is on crashing and banging his way to freeing up a loose puck. He tries to avoid contact when he can, but handles cross checks, slashes, and bumps as well as he can. He’s strong and difficult to knock off the puck, but doesn’t provide a whole lot of physicality himself, simply relying on absorbing contact rather than doling it out. I think he could use to add a bit of a physical element to his game, even if it’s not what makes him a dynamic player — taking a page out of Jesper Bratt’s book might do him well in that regard.

NHL Comparable: Matthew Savoie

Ceiling: Second-Line Winger

NHL Likelihood: Certain

I think it’s pretty clear Lombardi was acquired to play in the NHL to begin the 2026-27 season, given that the Devils traded draft capital for him and he is waiver-eligible. Sunny Mehta has spoken highly of him before, citing him as being “much more than depth” and a bet on upside. With that, I would be surprised if he was not on the opening night roster, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed there all season. The votes of confidence from the front office should motivate him even more to maintain that role.

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No. 3: Matias Vanhanen (LW)

Last Ranking: N/A

2nd Round, 2026 (37th Overall) — 62 Games Played | 21 Goals | 66 Assists | 87 Total Points | Everett Silvertips (WHL) | 18 Years Old | 5’11 & 176 Pounds

The Devils moved back from the 35th overall selection in the 2026 draft to the 37th overall slot, and selected dynamic forward Matias Vanhanen with the pick. Initially, I was admittedly a bit surprised by the selection given how public rankings had placed the 18-year-old “overager,” but after watching a ton of his games and diving significantly deeper into his skillset, I’m sold.

Vanhanen was draft-eligible as one of the youngest players available in 2025, having put up solid numbers in the U20 Nationell and getting a cup of coffee or two in Liiga. He was small, though, and went overlooked. Ahead of the 2026 draft, Vanhanen made the intelligent choice to come stateside and commit to playing with the Everett Silvertips, a move that ended up being a blessing. He ultimately ended the campaign as Everett’s highest scorer, accumulating 87 points — 66 assists and 21 goals — in just 62 games. To boot, he grew a few inches and put up a near-point-per-game World Junior Championship performance. When the dust settled, he earned himself an early-second-round selection in the draft.

Skating: 6/10

Vanhanen is a better skater than he gets credit for, despite his average-ish acceleration and top speed. He’s not a burner and won’t beat a defender one-on-one with either of those attributes — in fact, defenders do close their gaps somewhat confidently against him off the rush. Instead, he is reliant on excellent edgework, being able to shift weight quickly and subsequently peeling off from defenders or doing a spin-o-rama to lose coverage. He can rapidly change direction in all contexts — on the rush, he makes quick cuts to the interior of the ice, especially if a defender is attempting to close a gap, and off the cycle, he makes those same cuts into open spaces between coverage and can feign an attempt toward the slot before peeling back and opening up a passing lane after losing coverage.

Hockey Sense: 10/10

There’s a legitimate argument to Vanhanen being the most intelligent facilitator of play in the 2026 class. His playmaking vision is spectacular. He consistently looks like his plays are premeditated, firing off a quality look right when the puck hits his stick, and the reality is that he is steps ahead of his competition at all times. As such, you’ll see quite a few quick-touch passes.

When handed time and space, Vanhanen will find a cross-ice pass. That aforementioned vision is unbelievable, and he has the passing chops to get the puck to his teammate in a hurry and through (or over) sticks and under legs. There isn’t a shift he doesn’t find a dangerous royal road look.

Vanhanen’s ultimate goal as a player is to get the puck into the inner slot. Most of the time, that looks like a pass to an open teammate, and most of the time, he is responsible for why his teammate is open. He loves to draw in defenders and make them pay with a quick push-off and tape-to-tape pass. He loves to make short-distance, give-and-go passes that funnel the puck to the interior of the ice. He loves to playmake from the perimeter, too, diversifying his attacks and constantly keeping defenders on their toes.

All that said, Vanhanen’s off-puck positioning is equally special and equally as effective at creating high-danger looks. He is an expert at paving routes to get to the slot, messing with timing and speed in order to maximize the efficiency of his space. He is always in the right space at the right time, utilizing defenders’ legs against them in terms of reading their weight shifts and acting accordingly. Quite frequently, he’ll fire off a quick pass to a teammate in a better, more dangerous position than he is in, before sneaking up into open ice and putting himself in a great position.

I have zero notes on how Vanhanen can improve his playmaking game.

Puck Skills: 7/10

As one would expect from a player with the playmaking capabilities Vanhanen has, I think he has strong puckhandling abilities and can exploit defenders with his hands as well as his brain. Whether it’s a left-to-right move, a toe drag around a poke check attempt, or an intricate dance around a body or two, he can execute almost any play to in the name of getting the puck to a high-danger area of the ice. I will note, though, that his preference is to keep it simple — a bit more creativity in his movements will likely give him an even bigger leg up on his competition.

Where Vanhanen separates himself from the bunch in terms of puck skills is in his soft-touch interceptions of the puck. There isn’t a bad pass to him, as he can corral it and soften his grip on the stick to act as a sort of catch-and-release rubber band on passes he receives.

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Shot: 5.5/10

On one hand, I recognize that a lot of Vanhanen’s goals are a product of that impeccable off-puck positioning and ability to get into space. However, I still feel like his shot is labeled as below-average more than it should be.

I think his wrist shot is strong enough, with an accurate release that he can pull out in traffic. His soft hands allow him to fire a puck shortly after receiving it, and he can get it off his stick in a hurry.

Where positioning takes precedent over his shot is in his one-timer. I don’t think it’s all that powerful (though it is accurate), and I believe that Vanhanen needs to rotate his body a bit more in the name of getting the most out of his shot, but he is so often in the right spot at the right time that those improvements matter less.

Still, Vanhanen would be wise to improve on his shooting mechanics. He’s only going to become more threatening as a playmaker as defenders and goalies are forced to be more threatened by his shot, something that they’re a little too comfortable with at this point in time.

Defensive Awareness: 6.5/10

Vanhanen deserves credit for being an above-average defender despite a skillset that overwhelmingly favors being a cherry-picker. He’s a high-effort player from within his zone (something I misjudged in my initial scouting report of him) and, in particular, excels with his stick. His timing with stick checks is impeccable, and he is in control of it at all times. Thus, he limits the amount of time he spends in the penalty box while still generating a ton of turnovers both in a cyclical setting and against the rush in the neutral zone.

Vanhanen’s in-zone positioning is perfectly fine, but that stick allows him to intercept passing lanes and get rid of shooting lanes quite effectively. As a breakout player, he thrives as the F3 as a short-distance pass outlet. From there, he effectively gets the puck into the offensive zone through either his own legs or, more commonly, a pass to a streaking teammate.

Physicality/Size: 4/10

Vanhanen isn’t very physical, relying much more on his brain than his brawn. If he ever throws a hit, it’s usually a reverse shoulder check to establish his positioning along the boards, but those moments are admittedly pretty rare.

While I think Vanhanen is an excellent player along the boards when he isn’t the one crunched against the wall — he employs a cerebral approach to board play and outwits his opponents into turning the puck over exactly where he himself is — he does get pushed out of relevance when he is the one getting mashed around.

It doesn’t really concern me, though — Vanhanen is dynamic and drives the interior of the ice regardless of how heavy he plays. Some players should be adding a layer of physicality to their games, but he doesn’t need it.

NHL Comparable: Mikael Granlund

Ceiling: Top-Six Winger

NHL Likelihood: Likely

I’m a huge fan of Vanhanen’s game, and the Devils’ front office is, too. He’s unbelievably smart, puts in the effort all over the ice, and the facets of the game that need work (his shooting mechanics and using his body a bit more) can be taught. It’s not often that one of a draft class’s most intelligent players falls to the second round, but it happened here. He will be matriculating to Boston College in 2026-27, a move that will almost certainly reap benefits, especially if he ends up playing in a top-six capacity. He’s dynamic enough to do so, and that role as a soon-to-be-19-year-old will solidify his likelihood of playing significant time in the NHL. He’s just too smart not to have a long career.

Tier 1

No. 2: Anton Silayev (LHD)

Last Ranking: 2 of 40

1st Round, 2024 (10th Overall) — 61 Games Played | 1 Goal | 2 Assists | 3 Total Points | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL) | 20 Years Old | 6’7 & 207 Pounds

Anton Silayev remains one of just three top-15 picks in the 2024 draft to not have played in the NHL yet, joining Cayden Lindstrom (who has dealt with a myriad of significant injury setbacks) and Tij Iginla (who is likely making the jump in 2026-27). In his D+2 season — one where he was expected to grow in the facets of the game that most needed improvement, like puck-movement and decision-making — he stagnated, if not backtracked, in those areas. Ultimately, Silayev’s season was his most disappointing yet, solely accruing three total points in 61 games. Sure, that’s not his game, and sure, he dealt with some typical highly-touted-young-prospect deployment by his Russian coaches, but the end result was still disappointing, independent of those factors.

Skating: 10/10

Flat-out, no player on the planet can do what Silayev does. At 6’7, he skates like a player a foot shorter than him, with unbelievable acceleration and an above-average top speed. He drives a ton of power through his legs and to his skates with every stride, covering a mammoth amount of ice in just a few steps:

Silayev also has perfect weight shifting and four-way mobility. He can turn on a dime, keep pace with forward-skating rushers while skating backward, and has superb gap control by virtue of timing and, more importantly, mechanics. There isn’t a big man in the world who can move as he does.

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

I was aching for Silayev to improve his decision-making and puck-moving skills drastically over last season, and was disappointed to find that he really hadn’t. He still struggles upon puck retrievals when he is faced with forechecking pressure, often turning his excellent recoveries into turnovers. Rather than using his ridiculous skating chops or scanning the ice for breakout passes, Silayev typically rushes his plays, either choosing the first outlet he sees or simply firing the puck up the boards. I’m still hopeful he can develop those instincts, because there are flashes of him making the right call or being patient, even if they’re few and far between.

It’s interesting, because I don’t think he has these issues with pressure nearly as much when the puck is on his stick from within the offensive zone itself — it’s purely on the breakout. I don’t think he’s a strong facilitator by any means while playing on the cycle, just that he can handle one defender in his face without completely panicking.

Where I did see improvement was in his willingness, even eagerness, to join the rush. He capitalized on his acceleration and speed any chance he could, participating in the rush as either a facilitator or a drop-pass option. When the puck reaches his stick, he often doesn’t know what to do with it and opts to either fire an immediate shot at the goal or return it to the sender. His decision-making when he gets the puck lacks, but his instincts to join the play are strong.

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Puck Skills: 3.5/10

Silayev has slightly better hands than one would expect for a 6’7 player. They’re not stone-like, which is an improvement on the Nikita Zadorovs and Tyler Myerses of the world. He can make the occasional lateral deke to get around someone while skating with the puck on his stick, but those moments are rare.

Shot: 4/10

Silayev does have work to do on his shot. He generates a solid amount of power relative to the average defender, but considering his stature, he should be generating a whole lot more. He doesn’t drive his hips through the puck when one-timing it from the point, which is disappointing considering how much he wants to rifle the puck the moment he gets passed to on the point. Silayev needs to improve on his shot selection, too, showing a lot of impatience in the offensive zone.

Defensive Awareness: 10/10

I expect Silayev to become one of the league’s best shutdown defensemen upon making the jump to the NHL.

In particular, the young defenseman excels against the rush, using that unprecedented skating ability to completely nullify any downhill play from the other team. He does it in a myriad of ways, too. He can close gaps excruciatingly quickly..:

…force an opponent into the wall and prevent him from getting past..:

…and catch up with the play and take away space the opponent thought was there:

It’s honestly incredible to watch Silayev defend against the rush. His gap control is perfect, his stick is perfect, and his frame is perfect for anything that comes against him.

From an in-zone perspective, Silayev is also an excellent defender. His positioning is typically perfect, and when it isn’t, he has the mobility to get anywhere he needs to be in an instant. His reach is gigantic, and he uses it to block shooting and passing lanes with ease.

Again, the expectation should be that he becomes a top-tier defender at the NHL level. His habits are elite, his frame is elite, his mobility is elite, and his positioning is elite.

Physicality/Size: 8.5/10

Silayev is assuredly strong given his size, being able to knock opponents over without even really meaning to. He makes 6’4 players look and feel small, sealing them off along the boards before retrieving the loose puck.

Silayev is also an excellent battler along the boards, both handling and doling out cross checks, slashes, shoulders, and body checks en route to getting the puck to a teammate. He works hard, and when he’s gassed, he is able to let his frame do the work for him.

I want Silayev to be a bit more assertive, though — he isn’t as big a proponent of bone-crunching hits as one would expect given his archetype and frame. He seemingly doesn’t want to hurt others, and that’s where I think he could get a leg up at the NHL level. He should want to; it’ll give him a menacing leg up defensively and impose a layer of fear in those who are trying to get past him.

NHL Comparable: Zdeno Chara

Ceiling: First-Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Certain

Silayev did sign his entry-level contract (ELC), though, and is slated to get big minutes with the Utica Comets, who will almost certainly teach him how to be more composed and deliberate with the puck on his stick. It’s truly the only area of the game he needs to work on — his skating is unicornical, his defensive habits are elite, and he has the frame to be a real threat physically. Even if he doesn’t develop the puck-moving chops he needs to, he’s still going to be a minute-munching, penalty-killing, top-four defenseman. It’s just that he might not hit that astronomical ceiling. The good news is, he’s still just 20 years old.

No. 1: Alexander Command (C)

Last Ranking: N/A

1st Round, 2026 (12th Overall) — 30 Games Played | 17 Goals | 27 Assists | 44 Total Points | Örebro HK U20 (U20 Nationell) | 18 Years Old | 6’1 & 194 Pounds

With the 12th overall selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, the Devils selected Swedish center Alexander Command out of the U20 Nationell. He played a handful of games in the SHL, something that most were hoping would be more frequent, but certainly made the most of his U20 deployment. The 6’1, 194-pound center was the fourth pivot selected in the draft behind Viggo Björck and Tynan Lawrence, and he earned that honor through his tenacity, projectable skillset, attitude, and peskiness.

Skating: 6/10

Skating is Command’s “weakest” attribute, but he still seems to be average-at-worst in my eyes. The first thing that stands out is his bottomless motor — his legs never stop churning, and he can maintain the same mechanics, speed, and acceleration from his first step of the shift to the last. His edges aren’t anything to write home about, to be clear, but he is explosive enough to make do in tight areas of the ice. In fact, that explosiveness is his best attribute in terms of his skating chops; he gets to loose pucks very quickly. His top gear is ahead of his peers at the U20 level, and will be average-to-slightly-above-average at the NHL level.

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Hockey Sense: 8.5/10

Command is an extremely smart hockey player on both sides of the puck. In the offensive zone, he has an excellent feel and vision for the game, being able to draw in defenders before punishing them with a pass to a teammate he saw in his peripheral vision or already knew was there. His passes themselves are perfect, with the ability to dole them out through multiple defenders. Command positions his body quite well to receive passes and positions it equally well to dole them out both on the forehand and backhand.

Upon receiving the puck, Command knows exactly where to place the puck next in order to get it to a teammate around the net or in the slot. His anticipation is fantastic, understanding the body orientation of the defenders as well as the position his teammates are in to flutter a pass exactly where it needs to be.

Command also pre-scans the ice, which allows him to fire off quick-release passes the moment he gets the puck on his stick. Watch the sequence below and take stock of his head — you’ll see him look to his left prior to receiving the pass, seeing his teammate streak toward open ice before placing a pass exactly there.

Command’s off-puck instincts are quite strong, too, though I think he does his best work from an on-puck perspective. Still, generally speaking, he puts himself in a prime area of the ice to receive a pass and fire a shot or subsequent pass off quickly.

Puck Skills: 7/10

With the puck on his stick, Command is pretty creative. He has a wider bag of tricks than one would expect given his bruiser mentality, but he does have legitimate skill to go along with it. His hands are relatively quick-twitch, being able to string together multiple rapid lateral moves to escape danger while trying to get to the interior of the ice. On occasion, you’ll see him pull out a more complex dangle to create space or get around a defender one-on-one, sometimes pulling the puck through his or his opponent’s legs. He’s patient, knows when the time to strike is, and has the moveset to make a defender look silly.

Shot: 6.5/10

Command is a true dual-threat player, meaning that he can playmake at a high level and possesses a threatening shot to boot. His wrister is deceptive — without necessarily having to draw the puck in for very long, he gets a powerful, quick-touch shot off that catches goalies by surprise. It’s powerful and accurate enough to be a threat from distance, at least at the junior level.

Command’s one-timer is pretty strong as well, generating a good amount of power without projecting it too much. He knows how to fire it while shifting from side to side, too, allowing his teammates to hit him with a pass that isn’t perfect before rifling a shot off.

I think Command should be shooting more than he does, though — he shoots a perfectly fine amount but oftentimes tries to find the highest-danger play rather than keeping a goalie on his toes. His shot is strong, and he should use it more.

Defensive Awareness: 8.5/10

Command is defensively apt, to be sure — his two-way game is easily one of the most projectable assets to the NHL. His positioning is superb, and he knows when to activate towards the puck carrier in order to take away space and potentially force a turnover. His stick, though a tad undisciplined, is extremely active and is used to both take away lanes and create loose pucks for either him or his teammates to pounce on.

In board battles, there is no forward I’d rather have than Command. His tenacity, motor, and work ethic are one-of-one, and he uses it to come on top of such instances whenever they arise.

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Beyond that, he was excellent in the dot in 2025-26 (at least at the U20 level), winning over 60% of his draws. As such, he was deployed down the middle in defensive situations and on the penalty kill, tasked with winning important face-offs. At the NHL level, he will be afforded the same or similar deployment.

Physicality/Size: 8.5/10

Many have drawn comparisons to Sam Bennett while watching Command play, and for good reason (even though that sells short the other aspects of his game, in my eyes). Despite not being the biggest on the ice at any given moment, he is far and away the most aggressive. He’s incessant in his pursuit of body checks, with timing bordering on too-late but never so much so that a whistle is blown. He checks hard, too, with the intent of putting his opponents through the boards.

This, combined with his expert route planning, makes him a perfect forechecker. He’s a pinballer in the sense that he bounces around from check to check to free up the puck, but he does so intelligently enough that his teammate can retrieve it.

Even beyond the body checks, Command is a pest in every sense of the word. He chirps the opposition. He throws cross-checks and slashes constantly. He toes the line between acceptable and not, and it’s a treat to watch in action because you can see how frustrated the opposition gets. He hates to lose, be it a game or a period or a battle, and takes that hatred to the opposition.

NHL Comparable: Elias Lindholm

Ceiling: Second-Line Center

NHL Likelihood: Certain

I am absolutely certain Command will have a long, fruitful NHL career. Despite average-ish skating, his smarts, hands, shot, defensive game, and penchant for playing an annoying game and getting under the opponent’s skin will serve him well. He’s a shoo-in for middle-six minutes at the NHL level, even if he needs a year or two of development to get there. I would be stunned if he didn’t end up being one of the best third-line centers in the NHL while playing behind Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, and the Devils, as a result, are poised to have one of the deepest down-the-middle groups in the league for a very, very long time. Command’s attitude is one-of-one — I’ve never seen a prospect hate losing as much as he does. That will work wonders in the big leagues.

I had a tough time deciding between Silayev and Command for the top spot, but I ultimately had to give it to the premium-position player with the higher offensive ceiling and higher work ethic. The Devils’ top two prospects are absolutely in a league of their own relative to the rest of the pipeline.

Credit for some clips:

Cole Brown’s clip is right from Notre Dame Men’s Hockey on Twitter/X. The clips of Ben Steeves were taken from the Charlotte Checkers on Twitter/X. The goaltending clips were sourced from the Utica Comets and Ben Birnell on Twitter/X. Fondrk’s tip-in goal was from Boston University on Twitter/X. Yegorov’s clips are from this YouTube video and BU on Twitter/X. The 30-second clip of Lombardi cycling in the offensive zone was taken from the Hockeytown West Podcast on Twitter/X. The clips of Command at the 2025 Junior A Championship and his hit were from Derek Neumeier on Twitter/X.

All other clips were from my own viewings of the games of each respective prospect. Every clip was edited by me.

Again, thank you to everyone who has followed along with this entire project. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please consider subscribing — it’s free and helps me out a ton with the Substack algorithm. After all, I’d love nothing more than to make this a full-time gig.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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It’s time for the eighth installment of the all-encompassing breakdown of the New Jersey Devils’ pipeline, where I’m tasking myself with grading the skillsets of all 38 prospects aged 25 or younger. Without wasting any words, let’s get into it:

For part one (No. 39 - No. 35), click here.
For part two (No. 33 - No. 29), click here.
For part three (No. 28 - No. 24), click here.
For part four (No. 23 - No. 19), click here.
For part five (No. 18 - No. 14), click here.
For part six (No. 13 - No. 9), click here.
For part seven (No. 8 - No. 5), click here.

No. 4: Amadeus Lombardi (C)

Last Ranking: Not Ranked

4th Round, 2022 (113th Overall) — 47 Games Played | 16 Goals | 26 Assists | 42 Total Points | Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) | 23 Years Old | 5’11 & 183 Pounds

The Devils acquired Amadeus Lombardi via trade this summer, trading their fourth-round selection for 2026 in exchange for the young center’s services. The 23-year-old most recently played a top-six role with the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he has been a near-point-per-game player for two consecutive campaigns, logging a grand total of 82 points in his 91 combined games. In the last two seasons, Lombardi ranked sixth in the AHL among players with at least 70 games in primary points per hour and ranked above the 90th percentile in GameScore per game among AHL forwards with at least 25 games played. He’s been one of the premier talents in the minor leagues, and should be regarded as such.

Skating: 8/10

Lombardi is an excellent skater in every sense of the word. He particularly excels as a downhill skater, though; in a similar sense to Dylan Larkin, he is north-south oriented, preferring to power-skate right by defenders with strong acceleration and top-end speed:

Lombardi’s edges are strong, too, though they’re not quite as game-breaking as his speed and acceleration. He shifts his weight confidently and can turn around on a dime, allowing him to lose coverage quite easily without necessarily using his explosiveness or speed.

Hockey Sense: 8/10

Lombardi is a very smart player in terms of his offensive instincts. He sees and scans the ice well, being a step or two ahead of the competition at all times. He has excellent anticipation of where defenders and his teammates are going to be, and playmakes accordingly.

His playmaking game itself is strong — in an interview with the Hockeytown West Podcast, Lombardi himself said that he prefers to set his teammates up rather than scoring himself. His chops showcase that mentality, as most of his passes are tape-to-tape. He can thread them through legs and through sticks, and has the creativity to make them even more threatening. You’ll see him cleverly use the boards, execute passes while spinning around, and utilize no-look plays with consistency. Check out the sequence below to get a glimpse of a few of those:

You’ll notice a few things on display there:

1. Lombardi is a magnet for the puck and makes a lot happen. You cannot teach that ability, nor can you really teach how to be such a driver from within a cyclical setting.

2. He has an innate ability to draw in and subsequently lose coverage, using his teammates, his agility, and his explosiveness to create time and space for himself as well as open up passing lanes for his teammates.

3. He makes spinaround passes and no-look passes often — he did so twice in this shift alone (one spinaround along the boards and one no-look that led to the goal).

From an off-puck perspective, while Lombardi far prefers to have the puck on his stick and will generally opt to get it back into his possession rather than letting his teammates facilitate play, he does have strong positional instincts. He knows how to get into open space in high-danger areas of the ice and can punish goaltenders and defensemen alike with a quality one-time look in such a spot:

On loose pucks, Lombardi is very opportunistic. He seems to be in the right place at the right time to intercept a pass or a loose puck in the offensive zone somewhat frequently, and it often results in a quality look for his team.

Where I think Lombardi could improve is in simplifying the game a bit. He’s excellent with the puck on his stick — truly excellent — but he can try to force plays a bit or hang onto the puck a little longer than he should. It’s a teachable habit, though, and one I’m not worried about whatsoever.

Puck Skills: 8/10

Lombardi’s hands are excellent as well. He has a lot of moves to pull from and can bring them out at full speed. Grand Rapids put him in the shootout every time they appeared in one for a reason — he’s manipulative, creative, and is smart enough to execute different moves depending on the context of the play. If a simple deke is needed, a simple deke is made. If a between-the-legs move is best, you can count on him to perform it. If he needs to toe drag, he toe drags.

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Shot: 6.5/10

For a self-proclaimed playmaker, Lombardi possesses an above-average shot. Generally speaking, he flexes his stick well and thus can provide a good bit of power on his wrist shots. His wrister is accurate, he can change the angle of his release, and he can see well through traffic, making him a shooting threat from distance:

Perhaps more importantly, given his skillset, is that he can fire a well-placed, zippy wrist shot or snap shot while mid-stride at top speed. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it makes him a dual-threat rush player, which is something he’ll need to be at the NHL level.

I think Lombardi’s one-timer is just okay. As evidenced by one of the clips in the hockey sense blurb, he is more reliant on positioning than shot mechanics when it comes to quickly firing off a one-tee. He’s accurate, but I’d like to see him drive a bit more power through his hips and legs than he does.

Defensive Awareness: 5/10

Lombardi is a high-effort player and has gradually been improving his defensive game throughout his development arc. He tries to be in a sound position within his own zone and tries to take away passing and shooting lanes with his body and stick, but can occasionally be drawn out of position in the name of trying to create a turnover and, subsequently, a counter-attack.

To be fair to Lombardi, he is effective in that regard, forcing an above-average number of turnovers and having the explosiveness to jump on the loose puck and create a rush chance. However, more disciplined positioning will serve him well at the NHL level, where almost everyone is manipulative enough to draw you in and then capitalize with a pass into open space.

Physicality/Size: 3.5/10

I don’t think Lombardi is particularly physical, even if his motor never really turns off. He’s far more reliant on his work ethic and his excellent positioning in board battles than he is on crashing and banging his way to freeing up a loose puck. He tries to avoid contact when he can, but handles cross checks, slashes, and bumps as well as he can. He’s strong, and difficult to knock off the puck, but doesn’t provide a whole lot of physicality himself, simply relying on absorbing contact rather than doling it out. I think he could use to add a bit of a physical element to his game, even if it’s not what makes him a dynamic player — taking a page out of Jesper Bratt’s book might do him well in that regard.

NHL Comparable: Matthew Savoie

Ceiling: Second-Line Winger

NHL Likelihood: Certain

I think it’s pretty clear Lombardi was acquired to play in the NHL to begin the 2026-27 season, given that the Devils traded draft capital for him and he is waiver-eligible. Sunny Mehta has spoken highly of him before, citing him as being “much more than depth” and a bet on upside. With that, I would be surprised if he was not on the opening night roster, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed there all season. The votes of confidence from the front office should motivate him even more to maintain that role.

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No. 3: Matias Vanhanen (LW)

Last Ranking: Not Ranked

2nd Round, 2026 (37th Overall) — 62 Games Played | 21 Goals | 66 Assists | 87 Total Points | Everett Silvertips (WHL) | 18 Years Old | 5’11 & 176 Pounds

The Devils moved back from the 35th overall selection in the 2026 draft to the 37th overall slot, and selected dynamic forward Matias Vanhanen with the pick. Initially, I was admittedly a bit surprised by the selection given how public rankings had placed the 18-year-old “overager,” but after watching a ton of his games and diving significantly deeper into his skillset, I’m sold.

Vanhanen was draft-eligible as one of the youngest players available in 2025, having put up solid numbers in the U20 Nationell and getting a cup of coffee or two in Liiga. He was small, though, and went overlooked. Ahead of the 2026 draft, Vanhanen made the intelligent choice to come stateside and commit to playing with the Everett Silvertips, a move that ended up being a blessing. He ultimately ended the campaign as Everett’s highest scorer, accumulating 87 points — 66 assists and 21 goals — in just 62 games. To boot, he grew a few inches and put up a near-point-per-game World Junior Championship performance. When the dust settled, he earned himself an early-second-round selection in the draft.

Skating: 6/10

Vanhanen is a better skater than he gets credit for, despite his average-ish acceleration and top speed. He’s not a burner and won’t beat a defender one-on-one with either of those attributes — in fact, defenders do close their gaps somewhat confidently against him off the rush. Instead, he is reliant on excellent edgework, being able to shift weight quickly and subsequently peeling off from defenders or doing a spin-o-rama to lose coverage. He can rapidly change direction in all contexts — on the rush, he makes quick cuts to the interior of the ice, especially if a defender is attempting to close a gap, and off the cycle, he makes those same cuts into open spaces between coverage and can feign an attempt toward the slot before peeling back and opening up a passing lane after losing coverage.

Hockey Sense: 10/10

There's a legitimate argument to Vanhanen being the most intelligent facilitator of play in the 2026 class. His playmaking vision is spectacular. He consistently looks like his plays are premeditated, firing off a quality look right when the puck hits his stick, and the reality is that he is steps ahead of his competition at all times. As such, you’ll see quite a few quick-touch passes.

When handed time and space, Vanhanen will find a cross-ice pass. That aforementioned vision is unbelievable, and he has the passing chops to get the puck to his teammate in a hurry and through (or over) sticks and under legs. There isn’t a shift he doesn’t find a dangerous royal road look.

Vanhanen’s ultimate goal as a player is to get the puck into the inner slot. Most of the time, that looks like a pass to an open teammate, and most of the time, he is responsible for why his teammate is open. He loves to draw in defenders and make them pay with a quick push-off and tape-to-tape pass. He loves to make short-distance, give-and-go passes that funnel the puck to the interior of the ice. He loves to playmake from the perimeter, too, diversifying his attacks and constantly keeping defenders on their toes.

All that said, Vanhanen’s off-puck positioning is equally special and equally as effective at creating high-danger looks. He is an expert at paving routes to get to the slot, messing with timing and speed in order to maximize the efficiency of his space. He is always in the right space at the right time, utilizing defenders’ legs against them in terms of reading their weight shifts and acting accordingly. Quite frequently, he’ll fire off a quick pass to a teammate in a better, more dangerous position than he is in, before sneaking up into open ice and putting himself in a great position.

I have zero notes on how Vanhanen can improve his playmaking game.

Puck Skills: 7/10

As one would expect from a player with the playmaking capabilities Vanhanen has, I think he has strong puckhandling abilities and can exploit defenders with his hands as well as his brain. Whether it’s a left-to-right move, a toe drag around a poke check attempt, or an intricate dance around a body or two, he can execute almost any play to in the name of getting the puck to a high-danger area of the ice. I will note, though, that his preference is to keep it simple — a bit more creativity in his movements will likely give him an even bigger leg up on his competition.

Where Vanhanen separates himself from the bunch in terms of puck skills is in his soft-touch interceptions of the puck. There isn’t a bad pass to him, as he can corral it and soften his grip on the stick to act as a sort of catch-and-release rubber band on passes he receives.

Shot: 5.5/10

On one hand, I recognize that a lot of Vanhanen’s goals are a product of that impeccable off-puck positioning and ability to get into space. However, I still feel like his shot is labeled as below-average more than it should be.

I think his wrist shot is strong enough, with an accurate release that he can pull out in traffic. His soft hands allow him to fire a puck shortly after receiving it, and he can get it off his stick in a hurry.

Where positioning takes precedent over his shot is in his one-timer. I don’t think it’s all that powerful (though it is accurate), and I believe that Vanhanen needs to rotate his body a bit more in the name of getting the most out of his shot, but he is so often in the right spot at the right time that those improvements matter less.

Still, Vanhanen would be wise to improve on his shooting mechanics. He’s only going to become more threatening as a playmaker as defenders and goalies are forced to be more threatened by his shot, something that they’re a little too comfortable with at this point in time.

Defensive Awareness: 6.5/10

Vanhanen deserves credit for being an above-average defender despite a skillset that overwhelmingly favors being a cherry-picker. He’s a high-effort player from within his zone (something I misjudged in my initial scouting report of him) and, in particular, excels with his stick. His timing with stick checks is impeccable, and he is in control of it at all times. Thus, he limits the amount of time he spends in the penalty box while still generating a ton of turnovers both in a cyclical setting and against the rush in the neutral zone.

Vanhanen’s in-zone positioning is perfectly fine, but that stick allows him to intercept passing lanes and get rid of shooting lanes quite effectively. As a breakout player, he thrives as the F3 as a short-distance pass outlet. From there, he effectively gets the puck into the offensive zone through either his own legs or, more commonly, a pass to a streaking teammate.

Physicality/Size: 4/10

Vanhanen isn’t very physical, relying much more on his brain than his brawn. If he ever throws a hit, it’s usually a reverse shoulder check to establish his positioning along the boards, but those moments are admittedly pretty rare.

While I think Vanhanen is an excellent player along the boards when he isn’t the one crunched against the wall — he employs a cerebral approach to board play and outwits his opponents into turning the puck over exactly where he himself is — he does get pushed out of relevance when he is the one getting mashed around.

It doesn’t really concern me, though — Vanhanen is dynamic and drives the interior of the ice regardless of how heavy he plays. Some players should be adding a layer of physicality to their games, but he doesn’t need it.

NHL Comparable: Mikael Granlund

Ceiling: Top-Six Winger

NHL Likelihood: Likely

I’m a huge fan of Vanhanen’s game, and the Devils’ front office is, too. He’s unbelievably smart, puts in the effort all over the ice, and the facets of the game that need work (his shooting mechanics and using his body a bit more) can be taught. It’s not often that one of a draft class’s most intelligent players falls to the second round, but it happened here. He will be matriculating to Boston College in 2026-27, a move that will almost certainly reap benefits, especially if he ends up playing in a top-six capacity. He’s dynamic enough to do so, and that role as a soon-to-be-19-year-old will solidify his likelihood of playing significant time in the NHL. He’s just too smart not to have a long career.

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No. 2: Anton Silayev (LHD)

Last Ranking: 2 of 40

1st Round, 2024 (10th Overall) — 61 Games Played | 1 Goal | 2 Assists | 3 Total Points | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL) | 20 Years Old | 6’7 & 207 Pounds

Anton Silayev remains one of just three top-15 picks in the 2024 draft to not have played in the NHL yet, joining Cayden Lindstrom (who has dealt with a myriad of significant injury setbacks) and Tij Iginla (who is likely making the jump in 2026-27). In his D+2 season — one where he was expected to grow in the facets of the game that most needed improvement, like puck-movement and decision-making — he stagnated, if not backtracked, in those areas. Ultimately, Silayev’s season was his most disappointing yet, solely accruing three total points in 61 games. Sure, that’s not his game, and sure, he dealt with some typical highly-touted-young-prospect deployment by his Russian coaches, but the end result was still disappointing, independent of those factors.

Skating: 10/10

Flat-out, no player on the planet can do what Silayev does. At 6’7, he skates like a player a foot shorter than him, with unbelievable acceleration and an above-average top speed. He drives a ton of power through his legs and to his skates with every stride, covering a mammoth amount of ice in just a few steps:

Silayev also has perfect weight shifting and four-way mobility. He can turn on a dime, keep pace with forward-skating rushers while skating backward, and has superb gap control by virtue of timing and, more importantly, mechanics. There isn’t a big man in the world who can move as he does.

Hockey Sense: 4.5/10

I was aching for Silayev to improve his decision-making and puck-moving skills drastically over last season, and was disappointed to find that he really hadn’t. He still struggles upon puck retrievals when he is faced with forechecking pressure, often turning his excellent recoveries into turnovers. Rather than using his ridiculous skating chops or scanning the ice for breakout passes, Silayev typically rushes his plays, either choosing the first outlet he sees or simply firing the puck up the boards. I’m still hopeful he can develop those instincts, because there are flashes of him making the right call or being patient, even if they’re few and far between.

It’s interesting, because I don’t think he has these issues with pressure nearly as much when the puck is on his stick from within the offensive zone itself — it’s purely on the breakout. I don’t think he’s a strong facilitator by any means while playing on the cycle, just that he can handle one defender in his face without completely panicking.

Where I did see improvement was in his willingness, even eagerness, to join the rush. He capitalized on his acceleration and speed any chance he could, participating in the rush as either a facilitator or a drop-pass option. When the puck reaches his stick, he often doesn’t know what to do with it and opts to either fire an immediate shot at the goal or return it to the sender. His decision-making when he gets the puck lacks, but his instincts to join the play are strong.

Puck Skills: 3.5/10

Silayev has slightly better hands than one would expect for a 6’7 player. They’re not stone-like, which is an improvement on the Nikita Zadorovs and Tyler Myerses of the world. He can make the occasional lateral deke to get around someone while skating with the puck on his stick, but those moments are rare.

Shot: 4/10

Silayev does have work to do on his shot. He generates a solid amount of power relative to the average defender, but considering his stature, he should be generating a whole lot more. He doesn’t drive his hips through the puck when one-timing it from the point, which is disappointing considering how much he wants to rifle the puck the moment he gets passed to on the point. Silayev needs to improve on his shot selection, too, showing a lot of impatience in the offensive zone.

Defensive Awareness: 10/10

I expect Silayev to become one of the league’s best shutdown defensemen upon making the jump to the NHL.

In particular, the young defenseman excels against the rush, using that unprecedented skating ability to completely nullify any downhill play from the other team. He does it in a myriad of ways, too. He can close gaps excruciatingly quickly..:

…force an opponent into the wall and prevent him from getting past..:

…and catch up with the play and take away space the opponent thought was there:

It’s honestly incredible to watch Silayev defend against the rush. His gap control is perfect, his stick is perfect, and his frame is perfect for anything that comes against him.

From an in-zone perspective, Silayev is also an excellent defender. His positioning is typically perfect, and when it isn’t, he has the mobility to get anywhere he needs to be in an instant. His reach is gigantic, and he uses it to block shooting and passing lanes with ease.

Again, the expectation should be that he becomes a top-tier defender at the NHL level. His habits are elite, his frame is elite, his mobility is elite, and his positioning is elite.

Physicality/Size: 8.5/10

Silayev is assuredly strong given his size, being able to knock opponents over without even really meaning to. He makes 6’4 players look and feel small, sealing them off along the boards before retrieving the loose puck.

Silayev is also an excellent battler along the boards, both handling and doling out cross checks, slashes, shoulders, and body checks en route to getting the puck to a teammate. He works hard, and when he’s gassed, he is able to let his frame do the work for him.

I want Silayev to be a bit more assertive, though — he isn’t as big a proponent of bone-crunching hits as one would expect given his archetype and frame. He seemingly doesn’t want to hurt others, and that’s where I think he could get a leg up at the NHL level. He should want to; it’ll give him a menacing leg up defensively and impose a layer of fear in those who are trying to get past him.

NHL Comparable: Zdeno Chara

Ceiling: First-Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Certain

Silayev did sign his entry-level contract (ELC), though, and is slated to get big minutes with the Utica Comets, who will almost certainly teach him how to be more composed and deliberate with the puck on his stick. It’s truly the only area of the game he needs to work on — his skating is unicornical1, his defensive habits are elite, and he has the frame to be a real threat physically. Even if he doesn’t develop the puck-moving chops he needs to, he’s still going to be a minute-munching, penalty-killing, top-four defenseman. It’s just that he might not hit that astronomical ceiling. The good news is, he’s still just 20 years old.

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No. 1: Alexander Command (C)

Last Ranking: Not Ranked

1st Round, 2026 (12th Overall) — 30 Games Played | 17 Goals | 27 Assists | 44 Total Points | Örebro HK U20 (U20 Nationell) | 18 Years Old | 6’1 & 194 Pounds

With the 12th overall selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, the Devils selected Swedish center Alexander Command out of the U20 Nationell. He played a handful of games in the SHL, something that most were hoping would be more frequent, but certainly made the most of his U20 deployment. The 6’1, 194-pound center was the fourth pivot selected in the draft behind Viggo Björck and Tynan Lawrence, and he earned that honor through his tenacity, projectable skillset, attitude, and peskiness.

Skating: 6/10

Skating is Command’s “weakest” attribute, but he still seems to be average-at-worst in my eyes. The first thing that stands out is his bottomless motor — his legs never stop churning, and he can maintain the same mechanics, speed, and acceleration from his first step of the shift to the last. His edges aren’t anything to write home about, to be clear, but he is explosive enough to make do in tight areas of the ice. In fact, that explosiveness is his best attribute in terms of his skating chops; he gets to loose pucks very quickly. His top gear is ahead of his peers at the U20 level, and will be average-to-slightly-above-average at the NHL level.

Hockey Sense: 8.5/10

Command is an extremely smart hockey player on both sides of the puck. In the offensive zone, he has an excellent feel and vision for the game, being able to draw in defenders before punishing them with a pass to a teammate he saw in his peripheral vision or already knew was there. His passes themselves are perfect, with the ability to dole them out through multiple defenders. Command positions his body quite well to receive passes and positions it equally well to dole them out both on the forehand and backhand.

Upon receiving the puck, Command knows exactly where to place the puck next in order to get it to a teammate around the net or in the slot. His anticipation is fantastic, understanding the body orientation of the defenders as well as the position his teammates are in to flutter a pass exactly where it needs to be.

Command also pre-scans the ice, which allows him to fire off quick-release passes the moment he gets the puck on his stick. Watch the sequence below and take stock of his head — you’ll see him look to his left prior to receiving the pass, seeing his teammate streak toward open ice before placing a pass exactly there.

Command’s off-puck instincts are quite strong, too, though I think he does his best work from an on-puck perspective. Still, generally speaking, he puts himself in a prime area of the ice to receive a pass and fire a shot or subsequent pass off quickly.

Puck Skills: 7/10

With the puck on his stick, Command is pretty creative. He has a wider bag of tricks than one would expect given his bruiser mentality, but he does have legitimate skill to go along with it. His hands are relatively quick-twitch, being able to string together multiple rapid lateral moves to escape danger while trying to get to the interior of the ice. On occasion, you’ll see him pull out a more complex dangle to create space or get around a defender one-on-one, sometimes pulling the puck through his or his opponent’s legs. He’s patient, knows when the time to strike is, and has the moveset to make a defender look silly.

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Shot: 6.5/10

Command is a true dual-threat player, meaning that he can playmake at a high level and possesses a threatening shot to boot. His wrister is deceptive — without necessarily having to draw the puck in for very long, he gets a powerful, quick-touch shot off that catches goalies by surprise. It’s powerful and accurate enough to be a threat from distance, at least at the junior level.

Command’s one-timer is pretty strong as well, generating a good amount of power without projecting it too much. He knows how to fire it while shifting from side to side, too, allowing his teammates to hit him with a pass that isn’t perfect before rifling a shot off.

I think Command should be shooting more than he does, though — he shoots a perfectly fine amount but oftentimes tries to find the highest-danger play rather than keeping a goalie on his toes. His shot is strong, and he should use it more.

Defensive Awareness: 8.5/10

Command is defensively apt, to be sure — his two-way game is easily one of the most projectable assets to the NHL. His positioning is superb, and he knows when to activate towards the puck carrier in order to take away space and potentially force a turnover. His stick, though a tad undisciplined, is extremely active and is used to both take away lanes and create loose pucks for either him or his teammates to pounce on.

In board battles, there is no forward I’d rather have than Command. His tenacity, motor, and work ethic are one-of-one, and he uses it to come on top of such instances whenever they arise.

Beyond that, he was excellent in the dot in 2025-26 (at least at the U20 level), winning over 60% of his draws. As such, he was deployed down the middle in defensive situations and on the penalty kill, tasked with winning important face-offs. At the NHL level, he will be afforded the same or similar deployment.

Physicality/Size: 8.5/10

Many have drawn comparisons to Sam Bennett while watching Command play, and for good reason (even though that sells short the other aspects of his game, in my eyes). Despite not being the biggest on the ice at any given moment, he is far and away the most aggressive. He’s incessant in his pursuit of body checks, with timing bordering on too-late but never so much so that a whistle is blown. He checks hard, too, with the intent of putting his opponents through the boards.

This, combined with his expert route planning, makes him a perfect forechecker. He’s a pinballer in the sense that he bounces around from check to check to free up the puck, but he does so intelligently enough that his teammate can retrieve it.

Even beyond the body checks, Command is a pest in every sense of the word. He chirps the opposition. He throws cross-checks and slashes constantly. He toes the line between acceptable and not, and it’s a treat to watch in action because you can see how frustrated the opposition gets. He hates to lose, be it a game or a period or a battle, and takes that hatred to the opposition.

NHL Comparable: Elias Lindholm

Ceiling: Second-Line Center

NHL Likelihood: Certain

I am absolutely certain Command will have a long, fruitful NHL career. Despite average-ish skating, his smarts, hands, shot, defensive game, and penchant for playing an annoying game and getting under the opponent’s skin will serve him well. He’s a shoo-in for middle-six minutes at the NHL level, even if he needs a year or two of development to get there. I would be stunned if he didn’t end up being one of the best third-line centers in the NHL while playing behind Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, and the Devils, as a result, are poised to have one of the deepest down-the-middle groups in the league for a very, very long time. Command’s attitude is one-of-one — I’ve never seen a prospect hate losing as much as he does. That will work wonders in the big leagues.

I had a tough time deciding between Silayev and Command for the top spot, but I ultimately had to give it to the premium-position player with the higher offensive ceiling and higher work ethic. The Devils’ top two prospects are absolutely in a league of their own relative to the rest of the pipeline.

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The 30-second clip of Lombardi cycling in the offensive zone was taken from the Hockeytown West Podcast on Twitter/X. The clips of Command at the 2025 Junior A Championship and his hit were from Derek Neumeier on Twitter/X. All other clips from this piece were recorded from my own viewings of these prospects. All clips were edited by me.

Thank you all for staying in tune with this entire series — it’s been a ton of work, but the support has been incredible. I’ll have the entire list, as well as a tier list of all of the players and some extra notes, out tomorrow!

Make sure to subscribe or follow the Devils’ Advocates podcast on your streaming platform of choice to stay up to date with the latest happenings of the New Jersey Devils, including more exciting guest appearances!

Listen to the Devils’ Advocates Podcast on your favorite platforms below:

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Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts

A little bit ago, I set out to answer some of your mailbag questions from Reddit, Twitter/X, and Discord. Today, let’s finish out the series and answer some more!

From GrantMulvey82 on Twitter/X: Out of these players, who will be on the Devils’ roster on October 1? Noesen; Lombardi; Chisholm; Kovacevic; Dillon; Mercer.

Out of that crop of six players, at this point in time, I’d assume Amadeus Lombardi, Declan Chisholm, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Dawson Mercer are the ones who will be on the roster. The Devils spent to acquire the now-waiver-eligible Lombardi and have spoken quite highly of his skillset, with Sunny Mehta calling him “much more than depth.” They also spent to acquire Chisholm, who is getting paid nearly double league-minimum — I have a hard time believing the Devils want to use $1.6 million on a seventh defenseman, especially with Vladislav Kolyachonok on a one-way deal, too.

Lombardi on the roster would give the Devils 14 forwards and 24 rostered players with Lenni Hameenaho in Utica. They’d have to clear a roster spot up front, and Stefan Noesen seems like the odd man out from both a stylistic perspective and a cost-to-benefit ratio perspective in terms of his $2.75 million cap hit. If they want Chisholm as more than a seventh defenseman — which I think they do — that leaves Brenden Dillon and Jonas Siegenthaler as two left-handed options to be on the move. Given their respective age curves, AAVs, and ceilings, I feel like Dillon is the one to go.

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I’ve been back-and-forth with Mercer’s future, even saying that I think the best option given the roster in front of him is to trade him for futures and increased flexibility, but I think he’s likely to stay put on the roster regardless of my opinion on the player. If he is traded, it seems like it will be at the trade deadline or in a package for a top-six player or franchise-altering defenseman (wink wink).

From 3cheersforbratt on Twitter/X: Now that we know Mehta’s philosophy, do you think the Devils are done with the trade market?

I think they’re done acquiring for the summer, barring some unprecedented availability of a true needle-mover (Dylan Larkin, Quinn Hughes, for example). They’re almost certainly not done from a trade perspective, simply because they have roster spots to free up.

That said, I do think the Devils are already primed for a big 2027 Trade Deadline, given their cap situation and the pieces they will have available.

From quinnhughestodevils on Reddit: One thing that’s been getting me excited for this season is our seeming return to wanting speedy players and dominating the game with speed; what are you looking forward to seeing?

I’m excited to see if the bets that Mehta made are going to pay off. He cited Mantha as a buy-low target, put major stock in Lombardi and Chisholm, is gambling on a three-goalie rotation, and is doing little to differentiate a defense corps that struggled at times during 2025-26. I have confidence in those choices panning out — Mehta is smarter and more calculated than any of us — but they’re gambles nonetheless.

From june8643 on Twitter/X: Assuming the Canucks retain and the cost isn’t prohibitively high, do you think Elias Pettersson could be a fit for the team?

Yes and no, and I think it depends on if the Devils are keeping their powder dry until the Quinn Hughes saga wraps up. If Quinn extends in Minnesota, I’d be more inclined to want him on the Devils. If not, I’d hold off, even if I think the real Elias Pettersson is closer to his peak performance than he is to his last two campaigns.

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From devs2020 on Twitter/X: Ideal target to package our upcoming first-round picks in the next two drafts for?

I’ve eluded to it a few times now, but the true ideal target is the final Hughes brother. Until he puts pen to paper and shuts me up, I can’t help but think it’s a possibility. The Devils need a true #1 defenseman, especially one with the gravity of Hughes. He would be a franchise-altering acquisition.

Beyond him, any number of top-six wingers would do. Perhaps Alex DeBrincat becomes available at the trade deadline. Perhaps Dylan Larkin opens his trade list to include New Jersey. Perhaps the Ducks think they need to move on from Troy Terry. Perhaps Ryan O’Reilly will be on the move. There are infinite possibilities, to be honest. If I were to pick one target from that group, it would be DeBrincat.

From bforprogress on Twitter/X: Where does Mantha actually slot in for Game 1?

I think the writing is on the wall for Anthony Mantha to start the year alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. Mantha himself mentioned the prospect of it in his initial post-acquisition interview with the organization, and Sunny Mehta noted that he sees the appeal, stylistically speaking. There will, of course, be changes throughout the year, but I would be surprised if Mantha wasn’t with the team’s two best playmakers to begin 2026-27.

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From u/laswawas on Reddit: Favorite fast food chicken nugget?

I can’t decide between Shake Shack’s nuggets and Wendy’s spicy nuggets for the top spot. Burger King’s chicken fries are a close third, but their nuggets themselves are pretty bad. I can’t stand McDonald’s nuggets texture-wise, I haven’t had KFC’s nuggets themselves, I haven’t eaten at Chik-Fil-A in a decade, and I’m not sure I’ve been to any other fast-food joints.

Again, thank you all for the submissions. This is it for the off-season mailbag — I’ll try to do one of these during the season as well!

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts

It’s time for the seventh installment of the all-encompassing breakdown of the New Jersey Devils’ pipeline, where I’m tasking myself with grading the skillsets of all 38 prospects aged 25 or younger. Without wasting any words, let’s get into it:

For part one (No. 39 - No. 35), click here.
For part two (No. 33 - No. 29), click here.
For part three (No. 28 - No. 24), click here.
For part four (No. 23 - No. 19), click here.
For part five (No. 18 - No. 14), click here.
For part six (No. 13 - No. 9), click here.

No. 8: Seamus Casey (RHD)

Last Ranking: 4 of 40

2nd Round, 2022 (46th Overall) — 29 Games Played | 1 Goal | 18 Assists | 19 Total Points | Utica Comets (AHL) | 22 Years Old | 5’10 & 181 Pounds

It’s become increasingly difficult to truly evaluate Seamus Casey as a prospect, given that he has been so injured over the last couple of seasons. He missed significant time yet again in 2025-26, only suiting up for 29 games for the Comets. He produced well enough in those 29 games to earn a nod to the 2026 AHL All-Star Game, but was ultimately unable to participate and ended up missing the remainder of the season. Apparently, it was a nagging injury that had been plaguing him since before the campaign even began — Casey ended up having surgery and will hopefully be 100% come 2026-27.

Skating: 7.5/10

Casey is a fantastic skater. I think he has just an average top speed, but he reaches it in just a couple of strides and has incredible edgework. His acceleration gives him the ability to get to loose pucks first, allows him to have immediate separation speed from pressure, and gives him excellent recovery ability if he makes a bad pinch or read. His edges, meanwhile, give him the agility to get past multiple defenders with the puck on his stick in all three zones, allow him to maneuver the blueline and manipulate time, space and the defense in front of him, and give him the chance to peel away from pressure if he doesn’t like what he sees.

Again, his top speed is just alright, but the other two aspects of his game are so excellent that it doesn’t matter. Casey had 17 speed bursts of 18-20 mph in his two NHL games, which, extrapolated to a full 82-game season, would have been first in the entire NHL (697), 45 more than Matthew Schaefer.

Hockey Sense: 8/10

Casey is an extremely intelligent defenseman in terms of facilitating play. From within the offensive zone, he is constantly looking for the highest-danger play, and has an inherent ability to force the puck into the slot. His passes are tape-to-tape, and he can thread them through multiple layers of sticks and legs en route to executing high-danger plays.

Casey is an expert manipulator, too, drawing in pressure while he has possession of the puck before exploiting the opponent trying to force a turnover with his legs, hands, and brain. He can escape a jam like very few in the AHL, sometimes eluding multiple players along the blue line.

He makes the subtle plays, too; little chip passes to the right areas, usage of the boards to execute a pass to the right spot, head fakes to feign going in one direction before moving the other, et cetera. He constantly knows how to get the puck to an open teammate, even if the method of getting the puck there is a bit unconventional. For example, a poke-pass in the offensive zone:

Without the puck on his stick, Casey is still an asset in the offensive zone. He loves to activate into the play, timing his pinches well more often than not and roving throughout the zone to give his teammates a constantly-moving pass outlet.

In transition, Casey is constantly scanning the ice for outlet passes upon retrieval. Opposing players know he has the skill to break the puck out himself, and they’re forced to respect that, giving him multiple ways of contributing to zone exits and entries. It’s that variability that makes him dangerous.

If there are any gripes with Casey’s offensive hockey sense, it’s that perhaps he is too eager to jump into the play. At times, this leaves his defensive partner in poor position; even though he has great recovery abilities, if he’s playing deep in the zone there’s nothing he can do about preventing an odd-man rush the other way. I think he would also be served well to improve upon his playmaking from the defensive zone while under duress from forecheckers — he doesn’t handle pressure very well, even if he’s working on it.

Puck Skills: 7.5/10

For a defenseman, Casey has excellent hands. He has quick-twitch ability on his lateral dekes, a deep bag of tricks to pull from, and the wherewithal to use certain dekes in certain situations. Oh, and he can string together multiple moves while skating at top speed, eluding multiple defenders en route to creating a chance for himself and his teammates. That skillset is just so atypical for a defenseman.

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Shot: 5/10

I don’t think Casey’s shot is spectacular by any means, and I think he would be well-served to improve it. He is constantly getting himself in open shooting lanes with the puck on his stick and is always trying to present himself as an open option for his teammates, so one would think that his wrist shot is dangerous. It is, but not to the extent it should be. His release is deceptive enough, and he can toe drag around defenders to change the angle of attack, but he struggles to put power and accuracy on his shots for the most part. Casey’s one-timer is scarcely used, being far more of a proponent of using that wrister or a snap shot instead. I don’t think he’s confident with the amount of power he generates on his slapshots.

Defensive Awareness: 5/10

I do think Casey put in effort to improve his defensive game in Utica this past season. He understood that it was a major deficiency within his game, and now, at least, looks serviceable in this regard at the AHL level. His positioning improved in terms of getting into shooting and passing lanes and preventing the puck from getting to the slot. He can still struggle with pressure from forecheckers, though, once he does retrieve a loose puck. He turns over the puck too much for my liking, and most of it is a direct product of handling in-your-face opponents. If he were turning the puck over trying to execute high-reward plays, that’s something that can be coached out — I’m not sure his ability to handle pressure can be.

Physicality/Size: 3.5/10

Casey is small; there’s no doubt about that. As much as he wants to involve himself in the play, he frequently finds himself getting pushed off the puck and shoved out of board battles. I must admit, though, he has improved his feistiness a bit. He had his first professional fight in his second-to-last game this season and has made a concerted effort to involve himself more in the dirty areas of the ice. He’ll have to develop a bit here before or while playing in the NHL, as NHLers are only stronger and faster than the competition he’s facing now.

NHL Comparable: Torey Krug

Ceiling: Middle-Pair, PP2 Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Casey still has high upside as a potential #3/4 defenseman, but the truth is that time is running out a bit for the youngster. Yes, he is only 22 years old, but his injury history has held him back from developing as much as he should have, and history says that first- and second-rounders usually make the NHL by now if they ever become mainstays in the league. I like Casey a lot, and I think he has the skillset to succeed in the NHL as a puck-mover, but he needs to be able to handle pressure better (which, to his credit, he has worked on in Utica) and be more difficult to remove from the play with physicality.

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No. 7: Lenni Hämeenaho (RW)

Last Ranking: 6 of 40

2nd Round, 2023 (58th Overall) — 33 Games Played | 2 Goals | 6 Assists | 8 Total Points | New Jersey Devils (NHL) | 21 Years Old | 6’1 & 198 Pounds

Lenni Hämeenaho began the year in the AHL, where he admittedly had a slow start (zero points in his first nine games) while self-proclaiming that he was simply getting comfortable with the defensive side of North American professional hockey. I’m taking his word for it, though, because he produced 27 points in 28 games once he was able to focus on producing offensively.

He was rewarded with his first taste of the NHL this season, logging a surprising 33 games from January until the end of the 2025-26 season. He got off to a scorching start, with two goals and two assists in his first six games while showing fantastic chemistry with Arseny Gritsyuk and Cody Glass, but ultimately tapered off over the remainder of the year, producing just four points in his last 27 games. Still, he took a big jump (his moving down in the ranking from last year is simply a product of more talent in the pipeline than anything he didn’t develop himself).

Skating: 4.5/10

Typically, skaters who have below-average skating ability can only ever increase their chops to average, and that is the case with Hämeenaho. As great as it is that he has shown tangible improvements since being drafted in this facet of the game, he still certainly lacks a top gear and some acceleration. His top speed of 21.03 mph in the NHL last season was over one full mile per hour lower than the NHL average, and he was pacing for just about half of the NHL average for speed bursts of 20-22 mph. He just doesn’t have that gear in his game, and that’s perfectly fine for the type of player he is.

Hämeenaho’s edgework is fine, though — it’s absolutely the best part of his skating game. He shifts weight fairly well, being able to turn quickly and elude some pressure using agility.

Hockey Sense: 8/10

Hämeenaho’s skating chops don’t matter as much because he’s such a cerebral player, particularly off-puck.

While in possession, though, he certainly isn’t a slouch. He has solid vision of the ice and understands how to get the puck to his teammates even if there are defensemen in the way. He became more of a proponent of rifling off cross-ice passes as the season went on, being more and more confident in his tape-to-tape facilitation abilities. He has creative ideas with the puck, all with the goal of putting his teammates in the best area of the ice possible for a high-danger look.

Hämeenaho’s smarts will always be best off-puck, though, in my opinion. He has a penchant for being in the right spot at the right time all the time. He has superior timing on his activations into gaps of open ice, with perfect instincts that allow him to receive the puck in high-danger areas of the ice consistently. This holds true no matter where the puck is on the ice — in the defensive zone, he always seems to be a magnet for turned-over pucks; in the neutral zone, though he prefers to be the one facilitating to a streaking teammate, he always seems to be in the right spot to execute a give-and-go; and in the offensive zone, he always seems to be in the right spot for a high-danger pass or rebound opportunity.

Puck Skills: 6/10

I won’t call Hämeenaho an expert stickhandler, but he does possess some surprising chops in this facet of the game — particularly while on the move — considering how clunky a skater he looks. Sure, he can toe drag and use simple moves, but I’m impressed by his ability to occasionally pull out the unlikely move to get around a defender or two. In fact, we saw him execute such a move on what was inarguably his prettiest assist during his time with New Jersey:

Shot: 6.5/10

A little-known fact about Hämeenaho is that he’s always been a bit of a volume shooter. Given that he’s typically in the right spot at the right time to take a shot from within the offensive zone, I wouldn’t necessarily call this a shock. We saw that even at the NHL level — he was fourth among Devils forwards in shots per hour and fifth in shot attempts per hour. Seeing that type of confidence in a rookie is abnormal.

Hämeenaho’s mechanics are solid, too. His wrister, though predictable in terms of his release, is zippy and accurate, and as such he can find twine from a distance. His one-timer is electric, driving a ton of power through his hips and dropping down to one knee to get as much juice on it as he physically can.

Defensive Awareness: 7.5/10

Hämeenaho has always been a two-way player, and that didn’t change at the AHL and NHL levels. He takes away time and space from the opposition with strong positional instincts and, as mentioned above, seems to always be in the right spot at the right time to pounce on a loose puck. His stick is active, though a tad undisciplined at times. He’ll likely be deployed on the penalty kill at some point in his NHL career.

Physicality/Size: 4.5/10

I wouldn’t call Hämeenaho physical in the conventional sense by any means. He doesn’t throw many hits, and never in open ice, but he handles contact well and is strong on the puck. Along the boards, though he prefers to be the F2 who positionally out-brains the opposition into turning the puck over exactly where he is, he can be a plus in battles every now and then. He will occasionally establish the body with a quick shoulder or reverse check when getting to a loose puck.

NHL Comparable: Tyler Toffoli

Ceiling: Middle-Six Winger

NHL Likelihood: Certain

Hämeenaho played 33 games in the NHL in his very first year on North American ice, which is something he should be proud of. As he gets more acclimated to the pace and skill of being stateside, he’ll adjust his game to best serve getting to the big leagues. I do think he’s likely to start the 2026-27 campaign in Utica, though, given the amount of depth Sunny Mehta has added to the organization. He could likely use the development time, too — being a top player on an AHL lineup will allow him to further improve upon his offensive habits. I would guess that he plays NHL minutes at some point in 2026-27 and is a full-time player in 2027-28.

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No. 6: Nikita Shcherbakov (LHD)

Last Ranking: Not Ranked

2nd Round, 2026 (44th Overall) — 15 Games Played | 0 Goals | 10 Assists | 10 Total Points | Tolpar Ufa (MHL) | 18 Years Old | 6’5 & 187 Pounds

I was ecstatic when the Devils selected Nikita Shcherbakov in the second round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Leading up to the draft, he was always considered more of a first-round caliber talent, and the fact that he slid to the Devils at 44 was a bit of a miracle. The consensus on the 18-year-old was that he’s more of a defensive defenseman than anything, but I think there’s more than meets the eye in that regard.

Skating: 7/10

Shcherbakov, like another exorbitantly tall defenseman that will appear a bit higher in this ranking, is a very smooth skater. His strides are fluid and powerful, getting large distances in just a couple of steps — this allows him to take risks that others wouldn’t fathom of doing (though I do think he’s a bit more conservative than that as a player) without the repercussions of not being able to recover. I think his best skating attribute, though, is his weight-shifting and four-way mobility. Shcherbakov can change directions on a whim, perfectly following whatever angle of attack or sudden movements a downhill rusher decides to take. He closes gaps instantaneously in any direction, oftentimes directing a rush attacker to the boards where he is able to seal them off and regain possession of the puck. None of that is possible without the level of four-way mobility he has.

Hockey Sense: 6/10

Shcherbakov is underratedly savvy with and without the puck on his stick from an offensive perspective. He sees the ice well enough and does what he can to get the puck into the interior of the offensive zone, though I’m not necessarily impressed with what he can do from within a cyclical setting — his passes are low-risk, low-reward for the most part. Most of his work in this facet of the game comes through the neutral zone, where he is a surprising facilitator of give-and-goes and quick-touch passes. He will activate into the rush in order to dole out a high-danger pass before retreating back to sound defensive positioning along the blue line.

It’s not often that defensemen with these frames and defensive chops have the ability to execute stretch passes, either, but Shcherbakov can and does.

He also handles pressure well, almost encouraging forecheckers to come after him while he has the puck before punishing them with an outlet pass into open space. It’s this skill that is his most projectable offensive tool — too often is puck-moving conflated with playmaking and stretch passes; being able to retrieve the puck and get it to a teammate who is moving up the ice, even if it isn’t a flashy play, is a severely underrated measure of one’s puck-moving chops.

Puck Skills: 4/10

Shcherbakov is a big, rangey defenseman, and he often looks like it while the puck is on his stick. That said, though, he does try to execute some moves and, on occasion, is able to get past defenders with simple lateral dekes at full speed.

Shot: 4.5/10

Shcherbakov’s shooting mechanics themselves aren’t really much to write home about. His wrister is unthreatening for the most part, and his one-timer lacks the power one would expect from a player of his stature. Where he does separate himself from a few defensemen, though, is in his vision and accuracy. He knows how to place a puck for a tip-in or deflection opportunity. That’s where most of his points came from in the MHL this past season, and that’s where I would expect most of his points to come from at the NHL level if he makes it.

As Shcherbakov gets thicker — he will need to gain at least 25 pounds — he will inherently be getting more power on his shots. I’d be surprised if his slap shots from the point weren’t a strength down the line.

Defensive Awareness: 7.5/10

As touched on in his skating discussion, Shcherbakov is an excellent defender, particularly against the rush. He has versatility there — by being able to orient himself perfectly to the play while simultaneously closing his gap on the puck carrier, he can prevent a rush attacker from coming at him head-on, peeling off towards the interior of the ice, and trying to go around the outside. Watching him defend in the neutral zone is a pleasure.

From against the cycle, Shcherbakov’s positioning is good-not-great, but he again separates himself from the pack in terms of his ability to get to loose pucks, gain possession, absorb pressure, and execute a breakout pass. When given space to work with, he’ll skate the puck out himself. When given pressure, he knows where his teammates are and is able to get the puck to them consistently.

Physicality/Size: 4.5/10

For his size, Shcherbakov is somewhat passive unless it comes to suffocating a player on the rush. There, he does do a good job of forcing opponents into the wall. Outside of that, though, he doesn’t do much in terms of playing physically. In board battles, he doesn’t engage with his body as much as I’d like to see, absorbing contact but not doling it out proactively or using cross checks and slashes to his advantage. Shcherbakov does a decent job of rolling off of pressure when it’s applied, but for a big player like him, he needs to be more assertive.

NHL Comparable: Alex Vlasic

Ceiling: Middle-Pair Defenseman

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Shcherbakov has an extremely projectable skillset as a neutral zone defender and puck retriever. His mobility is superb, even independent of his size, and he can move the puck surprisingly well under pressure to boot. Those traits should ultimately end up resulting in a pretty substantial NHL role. The question, at this point, is “How much will Shcherbakov actually develop in the KHL?” and it’s a valid one considering the stagnation that Anton Silayev underwent in the same league with a similar skillset. His best bet may ultimately be to hop over to North America as soon as he is able to, which would be after the 2026-27 season.

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No. 5: Mikhail Yegorov (G)

Last Ranking: 5 of 40

2nd Round, 2024 (49th Overall) — 35 Games Played | .904 SV% | 2.73 GAA | 16-15-2 Record | 2 Shutouts | Boston University (NCAA) | 20 Years Old | 6’5 & 181 Pounds

Since being drafted in the second round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft and matriculating to Boston University, Mikhail Yegorov has proven to be one of the top goaltending prospects in the entire NHL. I’d be lying if I said it was a perfect season for the 20-year-old, though — BU as a whole was a complete mess for most of the campaign, and Yegorov wasn’t immune to that. Despite that, he produced as strong a season as he possibly could have, keeping the Terriers in games that they had no business being in, covering for a myriad of defensive breakdowns during the year, and genuinely building on a strong foundation of raw tools while (generally) keeping a level head.

Athleticism: 8/10

For a bigger goalie, Yegorov’s athleticism certainly stands out. He scarcely needs to bring out a desperation save by virtue of his typically excellent positioning, but he has the reflexes, reaction time, and mental fortitude to stay with the play and flail around in net if need be. He’s extremely flexible, explosive in his movements, and has a quick-snap blocker and glove that never really keep him out of a play. I’m always impressed by how quickly he drops down into the butterfly, too. He also has impeccable limb independence, being able to contort his body in awkward ways while one half of his body is fighting against the other, directionally speaking.

Mobility: 7.5/10

Yegorov’s explosiveness is also controlled, for the most part. His lateral movement is quick, and he can cover the vast majority of the bottom of the net at any given point by proxy of his wide butterfly. He digs his heels in and pushes off with immense strength, mostly being able to stop where he needs to (but sometimes pushing too far, which is usually when you will see him have to pull out one of those miraculous saves. Yegorov’s edges are also excellent and he can micro-shuffle to stay square to the shooter no matter how he moves or toe drags.

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Positioning: 9/10

Positioning is and always has been the name of the game for Yegorov. He stays square to shooters at all times (a byproduct of great skating ability) and has excellent anticipation instincts. He knows where everyone on the ice is at all times and can predict the likeliest play, placing himself accordingly. He has always let his frame do the majority of the work for him, and only solidified that habit in 2025-26, understanding that he doesn’t necessarily have to move all that much in order to put his body in the right spot. He’s poised, calm, and patient, and for good reason.

Puck Tracking: 7/10

I think the “weakest” part of Yegorov’s game is his puck tracking abilities, but by no means is it below average. He fights through screens and is able to follow quick passes and tic-tac-toe plays. His aforementioned anticipation only adds to his strength here, predicting where the puck will be at any given moment and being able to quickly find it if he loses it for a split second by virtue of predicting correctly. He also tracks shots to his glove quite well, caring not if a shooter tries to deceive him with a toe drag or angle change on a release.

NHL Comparable: Connor Hellebuyck

As I said in last year’s pipeline breakdown, this comparison is not in any way me saying Yegorov will be as good as Connor Hellebuyck, simply that they are similar from a stylistic perspective.

Ceiling: Top-10 Goaltender

NHL Likelihood: Likely

Yegorov will be spending one more season in the NCAA before presumably signing his Entry-Level Contract (ELC). I’m interested to see what he has in store for 2026-27, with a revamped BU roster in front of him and another off-season of development. There are no doubts in my mind that he will be an NHL starting goaltender, but I can’t rate him as a “certainty” to get to the league because goalie development and predictions are almost always a crapshoot.

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Yegorov’s clips are from this YouTube video and BU on Twitter/X. All other clips from this piece were recorded from my own viewings of these prospects and were edited by me.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

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Yesterday, I started answering your many mailbag questions from Reddit, Discord, and Twitter/X. Let’s answer some more today!

From devsfan_92 on Twitter/X: Do you think, with the close proximity he has with Jack and Luke, Sunny knows what Quinn is thinking and is already adjusting for it, building a more competitive team to convince him down the line? Or just out-waiting Guerin til the TDL or FA 2027?

I’m not convinced Sunny necessarily knows what Quinn is thinking, but is more so observing 1) how close the brothers are and how much they want to play together 2) how much the Wild are panicking, and is definitely keeping powder dry for a potential move towards the trade deadline. My personal conjecture is that the Wild are floundering in their negotiations, and the reasons to be concerned if you’re a Wild fan are as follows:

1. Quinn, until the last week, has spent the entire summer in New Jersey with his brothers.

2. Insiders claimed that a deal would be done by the end of July, and it is now August and there has been radio silence on their negotiations other than “they spoke on Tuesday.”

3. In said meeting on Tuesday, Wild GM Bill Guerin met with the player and not just the agent — typically, when ironing out a contract if a player has an interest in extending with the team, a GM will solely meet with the agent. Meeting with a player himself reads as more of a sales pitch than a negotiation.

4. The brothers have openly discussed playing together as recently as one season ago. Why wouldn’t they expedite it?

5. They failed to acquire a first-line center, which I can only imagine was a prerequisite for Quinn extending.

6. The Wild have called on Jack Hughes, probably signaling that they’re not confident they can get Quinn to extend without him.

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There are more reasons I’m sure I’m blanking on. It’s entirely possible that Quinn does end up extending in Minnesota, but I still feel like the writing is on the wall for him departing to play with his brothers, just as we saw with the Niedermayers.

In the meantime, Sunny building a roster that is as competitive as possible will only do the Devils good in terms of potentially acquiring Quinn. The brothers want to play together, but they also want to win.

From firelindy886 on Twitter/X: Do we see Keefe deploy Rodrigues more as a C or as a W? Or maybe switching it up as needed?

I think they’ll probably switch it up as needed, but I think he starts the year on the wing. With all of Jack, Nico Hischier, Evan Rodrigues, Cody Glass, Amadeus Lombardi, Nick Bjugstad, and Jesper Boqvist on the team, there’s plenty of center to go around. It’s clear that Mehta is prioritizing players with both line and positional versatility.

From TeaeNTee_ on Twitter/X: Do you think the current roster allows for a change in Hischier’s deployment to allow him to showcase more of his offensive chops? If so, how do you envision lines looking with that in mind? Do you think that’s part of Mehta’s overall vision for the team given the moves he’s made?

I think so, at least more than what the Devils have been icing since 2022-23. Glass is quietly one of the best shutdown centers in the league, Arseny Gritsyuk had some of the best shot suppression numbers in the NHL in his rookie season, and Dawson Mercer has played alongside Hischier in a shutdown role for quite some time. Those three together, in my mind, could do some damage as a shutdown trio and allow the Devils to open up Hischier and his line to produce more offense. With that in mind, here’s what the lines could look like:

Jesper Bratt — Jack Hughes — Anthony Mantha
Timo Meier — Nico Hischier — Evan Rodrigues
Arseny Gritsyuk — Cody Glass — Dawson Mercer
Jesper Boqvist — Amadeus Lombardi — Connor Brown

It’s tough to put together a lineup this far out from camp — I still think there are a few moves to be made to clear up some spots on the lineup. But I do think there is some legitimacy to Mehta thinking he can free up Hischier’s line to produce a bit more — the Devils lacked scoring in 2025-26, and the best way to improve the scoring without necessarily a whole lot of roster construction is to free him and his line up for better offensive matchups.

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From u/quinnhughestodevils on Reddit: What gaps do you think we have left in our current roster?

As much as adding Anthony Mantha was a solid boost for goal-scoring, I still feel like the Devils need another legit top-six winger, and think most would agree with that. I also feel like there is a need for a bona fide #1 defenseman who can munch a ton of minutes on any given night — Luke Hughes may be primed for a step in that direction this season, but he’s still not at that level yet. Getting a true ice-tilting defenseman who can play 24-plus minutes a night would be a godsend for this team.

From u/hockeyfan-96 on Reddit: DobberHockey had a stat that Nico & Timo both created the third-most rebounds in the league, which in my opinion kinda shows that they need someone who will be in front of the net to help score those. I don’t personally think that is Mercer, so who do you think that could be?

Hischier and Meier both do generate a ton of rebounds, and there’s definitely some credence to thinking that they could use someone with a nose for the net because of it. I do think that Mantha starts the year on Jack’s wing, though. Both he and Mehta have spoken of that vision publicly, and there’s just such a drool-worthy thought of having a plus finisher alongside the two best playmakers on the roster.

With that in mind, I think Rodrigues would be a good fit next to those two. While his rebound numbers in 2025-26 were a bit lacking, that output was completely abnormal compared to the status quo throughout his career. In 2024-25, he was outright one of the best rebound hounds in the game:

This is the exact profile that would do well in that role, and it’s the archetype Rodrigues has strived to be for most of his career.

From u/cody-has93 on Reddit: How much does it seem like Keefe actually changed coming out of the Olympic break? Are the increased rush stats, xGF, and actual goals just a coincidence and a result of the team playing better lead by Jack, or did he change our breakout in a significant enough way that it moved the needle?

Bonus points to - is there any potential legitimacy that Fitz was meddling with the system, leaving Keefe handcuffed, or is that unheard of?

I think it’s a healthy mix of both. Getting a healthy, on-top-of-the-world Jack Hughes to run the rush game was a boon to be sure, and the Devils would not have looked the same without him. That said, it was also noticeable that the defensemen were more eager to look for breakout and stretch passes after the break — Keefe himself said that there would be adjustments after the Olympics, and that seems to be what the adjustments entailed. The entire team looked faster and more inclined to play off of counter-attacks.

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I think Fitzgerald definitely left Keefe handcuffed from a roster construction standpoint. There was a clear emphasis on playing physically, methodically, and slowly given who was actually getting paid, especially when taking into account injuries. In speaking to some executives and former coaches, I had also been given the impression that Fitzgerald had his hands in the system. CJ Turtoro heard the same, so it’s definitely possible.

From MuseumEnjoyer on Substack: What’s your favorite color?

I have a tough time deciding between candy apple red and violet purple — they’re both great!

Thank you again for all of the submissions! If your question isn’t on here, don’t fret — I’ll be doing one more mailbag! Feel free to pop any more questions in the comment section below and I’ll be sure to include them in subsequent iterations of the mailbag posts.

Consider checking out the Devils’ Advocates Podcast, which features weekly episodes chock-full of in-depth content and exciting guest appearances. They’ll be available on this Substack, but you can also listen on your favorite platforms at the following links:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts

A couple of days ago, I put out a request for some mailbag questions on Reddit, Twitter/X, and Discord.

Thank you all for the submissions! All in all, there were about 35 questions to comb through, and so I’ll be putting out a few installments of this so that I can answer as many as possible. Without wasting time, let’s jump right in:

From u/Then-Horror2238 on Reddit: With you being a proponent of advanced stats, and using them as a tool to grade players, are there any players in the NHL that have bad underlying stats that you believe may actually make a positive difference?

Are there any players with good underlying numbers that you would not want anywhere near the team?

I definitely value underlying statistics very highly, but I can’t deny that there are players with poor conventional numbers (expected goal shares, wins above replacement) who would do well in the Devils’ system. I’ve written a piece on him before, but I think Patrik Laine would be a superb fit to put alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. He’s always had atrocious xG numbers — not once in his career has Laine had an xGF% over 50% — and he consistently has putrid isolated impacts, but I cannot help but salivate at the thought of him ripping shots in high-danger areas of the ice off of passes from 86 & 63. A lot of passenger players have that archetype (awful on-ice numbers but are excellent shooters), and I think there are a good few who would do well in New Jersey.

As far as the opposite — players who have historically sported strong underlying metrics — I’m not sure there is a player I wouldn’t want, barring some crazy off-ice stuff that would be detrimental to the locker room. Winning one’s minutes generally results in winning one’s games, so more players who aid in that endeavor will almost never be shooed away by me.

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From dml2662 on Discord: What concerns you more for next season, the defense or the goaltenders?

As much as I’m confident in the moneyball approach and unquestionably trust Sunny Mehta’s decision-making, I would be lying if I said I didn’t know full-well that the Devils’ goalie rotation could potentially backfire. As has been established, none of the netminders are particularly apt at handling a true starter’s workload and thus will need to be rotated regularly, barring some major development from Nico Daws (which isn’t necessarily out of the realm of possibility, though I’m not sure how likely it is, either). Goaltending by committee certainly has its merits, but they’re also one injury away from having to put Jakub Málek — who has never played an NHL game — in net, and neither Jake Allen nor David Rittich have the best luck with staying healthy.

As far as the defense goes, I am genuinely interested to see if the puck-moving woes can be solved through marginal improvement in personnel in that regard (Declan Chisholm as the third-pair lefty, a fully healthy Johnathan Kovacevic and Brett Pesce) and systemic tweaks. Luke Hughes should be taking a tangible leap forward, too. If all three of those things happen, I think the league’s highest-paid defense crew can rebound in a big way. The puck-moving is most definitely a concern, but I think there are several layers to why it will be improved and/or not a problem.

From metropuckjeremy on Twitter/X: (As of Mantha being the latest move) how would you grade Mehta’s offseason so far? What other moves would you want him to make this summer for you to call it perfect?

I think I would give it an A-. Mehta hasn’t yet made the splash some were hoping he would with his newfound draft capital after the Simon Nemec trade, but it’s impossible to ignore the improvements he has made to the roster. Every decision he has made has been calculated and has brought the Devils positive value and a ton of depth. His UFA signings have been tidy. His trades have been impeccable. Even the draft had a far better process than what was previously implemented. He rebuilt Utica from the top down and gutted (and subsequently fixed) parts of the front office and coaching staff. He has given the Devils flexibility that otherwise wasn’t there. The only reason I haven’t given him an A+ is because I still feel the Devils need a big piece, but I think that’s solvable closer to the trade deadline.

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For now, I would say Mehta is a couple of roster-clearing moves from having an under-the-radar perfect first offseason as General Manager. Clear some cap and acquire some mid-round draft capital or prospects with upside, and call it a day.

From u/quinnhughestodevils on Reddit: Out of every past player who hasn’t had their number retired, who would you retire and why?

I’m not sure anyone is truly deserving of having their number retired just yet, but if it’s anyone, it’s Travis Zajac. He’s fourth all-time in games played in the Devils’ uniform (1024), third all-time in points with the organization (550), and played some really tough minutes on some really bad teams. I feel like he is one of the more under-appreciated Devils of all time — even if he probably isn’t a good enough player to get his number retired, he’s probably the most deserving just from a statistical and leadership perspective.

From u/MountainBaker8217 on Reddit: Without considering the “was Fitzgerald overly involved or dictating things” theory, wha adjustments do you think Sheldon Keefe needs to make to find offensive success with this group? What does he need to adjust in player deployment and in overall game strategy to have more consistent success? Do you think he can do it, and how long of a runway are you giving him to show he can?

I think Keefe just needs to let them play more freely.

I spent some time on a video call with Jack Han, who worked with Keefe both with the Marlies and Maple Leafs, not too long ago, and asked him if Keefe was doing anything differently. He had said that, typically, as time goes on, coaches become more rigid. He also noted that Keefe was probably doing the best he could with the roster that he was handed. Both probably contributed to why the Devils played such structured hockey despite having some of the very best counter-attack players in the league.

Without mentioning the possibility of Fitzgerald puppeteering the system itself, we certainly know he was keen on building a roster that would “play the right way,” and I have a feeling that having a more progressive GM who is more inclined to build a roster centered around speed and skill will do both Keefe and the Devils a lot of good.

In Toronto, Keefe and Dubas ran a system that was structured in the defensive zone but not necessarily conservative. We saw the Devils, in 2025-26, play catch behind their own net rather than opting for breakout passes in an attempt to prevent defensive-zone turnovers. The end result was a stymied offense that didn’t do much off the rush. I think, with an off-season full of rumination and a progressive GM who added speed throughout the lineup will force Keefe into playing a freer system. I have confidence that he’s still the man for the job, but if things still aren’t clicking by Thanksgiving, it’ll probably be time for a change.

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From u/laswawas on Reddit: Top 5 Saturday morning/overall cartoons growing up?

This puts me squarely in the early-2010s for cartoons, though I suppose I was a huge proponent of Spongebob early on (my very first word was allegedly “Bob-Bob,” which is presumably some babbled version of Spongebob). With that, my clear-cut #1 is Adventure Time. I watched it from the second I finished up my homework until I was kicked off the television by my parents or siblings, have watched it many times over, and have the entire collection on DVD. As an aside, I rewatched it recently and never truly realized how great the writing and storyline really is.

Past that, I think my rounded-out top-five (in no particular order) includes The Misadventures of Flapjack, Courage the Cowardly Dog (which I had to watch On-Demand because it was before my time), The Fairly OddParents, and the original Teen Titans (which I also had to watch On-Demand). Honorable mention goes to Regular Show.

From u/fartswhenhappy on Reddit: I’d be curious to get your take on Nico’s zone deployment, the impact it’s had on his production, and the impact it’s had on the team success.

First off, excellent username. Secondly, I’m actually working on a piece of this very nature, so stay tuned! I’ll have it out soon.

Thank you again for all of the submissions! If your question isn’t on here, don’t fret — I’ll be answering more of them shortly! Feel free to pop any more questions in the comment section below and I’ll be sure to include them in subsequent iterations of the mailbag posts.