Devils Prospect Update: March 15
Keeping tabs on EVERY Devils' prospect through March 2025.
I made a promise to do these prospect updates bi-weekly, and 14 days later, the second iteration is here. There were some drastic personnel changes within the pipeline considering the NHL Trade Deadline, but we’ll get into those when analyzing the respective leagues within this update. As it’s just the second edition, I’m going to leave the blurbs below from the first update to give everyone an understanding of the formatting. Starting with the next volume, the descriptors will no longer be there.
Before jumping into the prospects’ performances, making a few mental notes about the charts you’re about to see is important. Firstly, some of the leagues categorize and track data differently. For example, while most of the leagues have readily available statistics for both power-play goals and power-play assists, some leagues only record power-play goals on their public statistics pages. Some leagues don’t even have public data for metrics as basic as shots on goal.
It’s also important to define NHLe — or NHL equivalency. NHLe is a tool to project a player’s NHL viability through point totals using a mathematical model. Points aren’t everything, but in terms of prospects, they’re the best metric to project success at the NHL level. Each league has a different equivalency — one point in the AHL is certainly not the same as a point in the Canadien Juniors. On that same token, don’t be surprised to see players with similar point productions in different leagues have vastly different NHLe values. NHLe is calculated on an 82-game rate for the NHL.
Next, there’s the matter of how the data is organized. For each league — or conglomeration of leagues — I organized the data into tables with distinct headings: Age, games played (GP), goals (G), assists (A), points (P), power-play points (PPP), points per game (P/GP), shots (SOG), shooting percentage (S%), penalty minutes (PIM), and NHLe. As I previously mentioned, some leagues have power-play goals (PPG) in place of PPP, so keep an eye out for those. Goaltenders are organized into similar tables, with Age, GP, goals-against average (GAA), save percentage (SV%), their records, shutouts (SO), and goals saved above expected (GSAx), if applicable.
The players in their respective leagues are organized by draft order, from highest to lowest drafted. In addition to the tables, I’ll be posting notes highlighting notable players and/or notable performances.
Finally, there’s what I consider to be the “prospect” threshold. I considered every single player in the Devils’ pipeline who is 25 years old or younger. Chances are, if a player is older than that, they’re probably never making the NHL full-time, so I excluded them from the list.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it:
Skaters
Utica Comets (AHL)
Šimon Nemec is still in the NHL, but Seamus Casey has returned to the Utica Comets — as it probably should be.
You’ll notice a couple of names are gone from two weeks ago: Chase Stillman, Daniil Misyul, and Adam Beckman. I could not care any less about Stillman departing from the Devils’ system. The chances of him actually making it to the NHL are slim to none, and he has no real attributes that would translate to the big leagues other than goonery. Beckman, though, is a legitimate loss. He was sent to the New York Islanders in exchange for defenseman Dennis Cholowski, which I suppose makes sense in a vacuum for the rest of this season but still stings a bit as someone who has liked Beckman’s game for a while. I wish him nothing but the best in the Islanders’ system. Misyul was traded for a prospect we’ll get into shortly.
Johnathan Gruden is a new appearance, as he was a part of the trade that brought Cody Glass to the Devils. He’s likely a career-AHLer, but there are some appealing levels of grit in his game. Gruden is a hard forechecker and hard worker, but the offensive instincts majorly lack.
I couldn’t be any happier to finally add Xavier Parent to this report. It’s been a long time coming, but Parent has been one of my favorite players to watch in the minor leagues since I first saw him at the Devils’ development camp in 2022. He is an exciting skater, with quickness and agility that one would expect from a 5’8 forward. He also just happens to be one of the hardest-working skaters I’ve had the pleasure of watching, and he has a great shot. Parent, despite his stature, is very strong on the puck and is an aggressive forechecker who can regain possession of the puck in the offensive zone pretty consistently. The 26 points in 45 games might sound like a middling amount, and relatively speaking to some of the more exciting prospects in the NHL, that’s true. But he’s fourth on the team in scoring now that Beckman is gone. Parent should battle for a spot on the Devils’ main roster next season, and I guarantee that those watching at training camp will notice him every shift.
The other name added to this list is 25-year-old center Marc McLaughlin, who is who Misyul was traded for. McLaughlin is unexciting, but is center depth nonetheless. I don’t think there’s much NHL potential for him, either. He, like Misyul, has received limited time in the big leagues by proxy of being an injury call-up, but that’s likely where his potential caps out.
NCAA
Ethan Edwards is continuing his excellent campaign despite the unimpressive stat line. He has been one of the NCAA’s very best defensemen from a microstatistical standpoint and very well may be making the jump to Utica after his playoffs end.
Artem Shlaine has continued to produce, but his microstatistics are pretty dismal. I’m also not sure he’s going to sign with the Devils after this season.
The Devils made an extremely heady move acquiring Shane LaChance from the Edmonton Oilers for retaining 25% of Trent Frederic’s contract. LaChance has legitimate NHL potential and has been an integral part of Boston University’s team, captaining it this season. He profiles as a sort of Nate Bastian-type player with higher offensive upside. At 6’5, LaChance is gigantic and uses his strength and size effectively, especially when in-tight. He has great hand-eye coordination and is a dog along the boards and on the forecheck. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him push for Bastian’s role next season.
Canadian Juniors (CHL)
Max Graham is now gone — he too was in the deal that brought Glass to New Jersey — but the three other CHL prospects in the Devils’ pipeline are still chugging along and producing well for their leagues. Cam Squires has had a strong last two weeks, logging 13 points in his last seven games. Cole Brown’s microstatistics are strong, but considering it’s his D+2, I would hope they are. Matyas Melovsky has continued cementing his stature as the Devils’ best center prospect.
KHL
Anton Silayev, for being an 18-year-old playing solid minutes for his team, is having an extremely impressive season. The points obviously don’t tell the whole story here. I’m intrigued to see what happens with him next season, one in which he should be playing in a massive role. He’s shown a lot more offensive jump as of late, being unafraid to hop into a rush play or cheat in the cycle to provide his team with a high-danger scoring chance, which is, like much of his game, unicornical for a 6’7 defender. I reached out to his agent to check on what he thinks his timeline to the NHL is.
Arseni Gritsyuk, meanwhile, has continued his torrid pace since returning from injury. He’s logged five points in his last three games, including this awesome power-play one-timer. It’s also his 24th birthday today, so happy birthday to him. I can’t express how excited I am to see him in a Devils uniform next season.
Rest of Europe
Lenni Hämeenaho has continued to produce well over in Liiga. It’s encouraging to see him shoot nearly four times per game and continue to blossom into a near-point-per-game player in his league. Again, he should be a player to watch next season, but I don’t think he’s going to make the jump to the NHL right off the bat — he’ll need some time to marinate in the AHL beforehand.
You’ll notice two players are missing from this list: Herman Träff and Petr Hauser. I couldn’t care any less about losing Hauser, but Träff stings quite a bit, especially considering who the Devils got in return (Brian Dumoulin). I’ve been very openly critical of that trade, and while Dumoulin has been great for the Devils since the trade deadline, a second-rounder and one of the Devils’ better prospects is a rough price to pay. I feel like they could have sent someone with less upside for sure.
Goalies
There has been less attention around him of late, but Mikhail Yegorov has been even better lately than he was at the start of his collegiate career. He’s upped his SV% to .936 and lowered his GAA to 1.82. He’s already Boston University’s starter despite just turning 19 years old, and he’s so easy to project as the workhorse goaltender for them for at least next season (and probably the year after, too). He’s been unreal.
Nico Daws has returned to the AHL, and it appears as though his NHL stint was a bit of a confidence boost that has translated back to Utica. His counting stats are still pretty unimpressive, but I think that has more to do with his (and Utica’s) abysmal start than his last 15-plus games or so. With how well he played with the main squad, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Devils were comfortable rolling him as the backup next season.
There you have it: the second iteration of my Devils’ prospect report. Several leagues are wrapping up their seasons by the end of the month, so we’ll see how far I’m able to go without repeating the same statistics. I hope you enjoyed keeping tabs on all of the Devils’ youngsters!
you're the man JP, I appreciate you. keep up the great work and I'll be reading !
Fantastic stuff JP. This is one of my favorite reads. Keep up the good work