Ranking the Entire Devils' Pipeline: No. 29 - No. 25
Part two of my comprehensive Devils' pipeline ranking.
The time has come — my comprehensive rankings of the entire Devils’ pipeline. Most minor league and European leagues have already finished or are wrapping up their seasons shortly, so I figured now would be as good a time as any.
For this ranking, I’m taking into account every player in the Devils’ system 25 years old and younger, much like I do with the biweekly prospect updates.
In this, I will be rating players’ individual skills on a 1-10 scale, with skaters being judged on their skating, hockey sense, puck skills, shot, defensive awareness, and physicality/size. Goaltenders will be judged on their athleticism, mobility, positioning, and puck tracking. I’ll also have film examples on occasion to illustrate my points/the prospects’ skillsets.
I’ll also be including NHL comparables, though it’s very important to note that the players I list there are simply stylistically similar — the caliber of skill is obviously not synonymous here, especially at the lower parts of the ranking.
With all that in mind, let’s get into it!
For part one (No. 34 - No. 30), click here.
No. 29: Artyom Barabosha (RHD)
7th Round, 2022 (198th Overall) — 32 Games Played | 1 Goal | 4 Assists | 5 Total Points — Zvezda Moskva (VHL)
For a last-round selection, Barabosha was as good a pick as any at the time. His draft-year production left a bit to be desired, but as we all know GM Tom Fitzgerald will find any excuse to draft a physical defenseman with size, and at 198th overall, I can’t really complain. In fact, he dropped off significantly from the fourth-round consensus he was on draft day simply because of the Russia factor, though He’s bounced back and forth between the KHL and their second-tier league, the VHL, for the past two seasons.
Skating: 3/10
Skating forward, I have a limited number of qualms with Barabosha’s abilities. His acceleration is below average, as is his top speed, but his mechanics are fine and I suspect those can be changed if he lowers his center of gravity a bit while in stride. The issues really lie in when he’s skating backward, with his clunky and seemingly off-balance transitions between going forward and backward forcing him to bail on cycle situations for fear that he’s going to get beaten if he doesn’t proactively change direction.
Hockey Sense: 1/10
This is where Barabosha’s game lacks the most. With the puck, it feels like he truly doesn’t know what’s going on most of the time. He rarely scans the ice for developing plays and will shoot the puck into the corner with no rhyme or reason to it instead of taking the time to plan out a course of action or pass to an open teammate. As mentioned above, his skating is likely the culprit, but he really needs to slow the game down a bit when he’s in the offensive zone.
Puck Skills: 1/10
As you’d expect from a defense-first blueliner, Barabosha poses no threat with the puck.
Shot: 3/10
Barabosha’s shot is the best asset of his toolkit from an offensive perspective. He has a powerful slap shot which he uses to generate rebounds from the point, and will occasionally activate in anticipation of a one-timer from closer to the net. Those opportunities are few and far between, though, so it’s not like that’s a regular aspect of his game. His wrist shot is nothing to write home about, but it isn’t a detriment to his game.
Defensive Awareness: 5.5/10
Barabosha closes gaps well, being extremely quick to pounce on an opportunity to lay the body on a transitioning forward. His stickwork is fine, but he really just prefers to use physicality and shoulder checks to get the job done in that regard, especially one-on-one. In board battles, he’s generally unrelenting and doesn’t relent in abusing his target to free up the puck. He excels in systems where his defense partner can cover for him if things go awry on a mistimed body check.
Physicality/Size: 9/10
Though not necessarily the biggest defenseman stature-wise, at 6’2, 198, Barabosha definitely plays like he’s gigantic. No matter the circumstance, you can bet that he’s going to be a physical presence, making it known to opposing forwards that it’s his ice they’re skating on. In one-on-one situations, he makes risky plays with his body in an attempt to punish the attacking forward physically, which he can occasionally get caught on, but he generally has a good gauge of when to engage. He drops the mitts on occasion, too. Enjoy the two clips below of gigantic hits Barabosha has thrown:
The hit above is on former first-overall selection Juraj Slafkovský.
NHL Comparable: Anton Volchenkov
NHL Ceiling: Injury Call-Up
NHL Likelihood: Slim
It’s hard for me to envision a future in which Barabosha ever makes the jump overseas to North America. He hasn’t made an impact at the KHL level yet and has two more years on his contract over there, and I’d anticipate that his game will never be refined enough to play quickly. He’s fun to watch, though, by proxy of his unrelenting physicality. If he ever does make the jump, it’ll be years from now.
No. 28: Isaac Poulter (G)
Undrafted — 30 Games Played | .899 SV% | 2.87 GAA | 13-11-6 | 1 SHO — Utica Comets (AHL)
A fan favorite down in Utica, Isaac Poulter made a bit of a name for himself within the Devils organization last season with the Comets before falling off a good amount this season. Some of that is to blame on his team’s defensive woes, but there’s also just the fact that perhaps he isn’t quite as good as initially suspected.
Athleticism: 6.5/10
There’s one standout part of Poulter’s game, and that’s his athleticism. He’s a relatively small (for goaltenders) 6’2, but can compensate for that with desperation movement he needs when he can’t use his positioning to his advantage. He has an excellent glove and has shown on several occasions the ability to flash it in windmill situations.
Mobility: 3.5/10
I don’t think his side-to-side movement is a strength. Poulter can get beat on cross-crease passing plays, wrap-arounds, and in-tight plays along the posts. It’s definitely something he can work on, and I’d like to see him add a bit of width to his butterfly as well in order to better his ability to push off one leg to get across.
Positioning: 2.5/10
Poulter has a tendency to overcommit to plays once he sees them develop. This causes him to get pulled out of position more often than you’d like to see, and it’s a tough thing to teach out of a goalie — bad NHL goalies do this all the time. He has some level of athleticism to bail himself out at times, but he shouldn’t necessarily have to rely on that in the first place. It’s frustrating, because in isolation, his gloves and blocker are both somewhat strong, and he’d be able to show them off more if he positioned himself more reasonably.
Puck Tracking: 4.5/10
For a goalie his size, Poulter tracks the puck well enough. He can, on occasion, fight through screens and traffic in front to gain vision on the puck and he’ll almost never get beaten clean on low-danger opportunities. Where he struggles is in following passing plays — it takes him a second to realize where the puck is and position himself accordingly. This can lead to him getting beaten on set plays and passing chances.
NHL Comparable: Alexandar Georgiev
NHL Ceiling: NHL Backup
NHL Likelihood: Unlikely
He has seen brief call-up opportunities, but has never actually played an NHL game before, and I have no reason to believe that will be any different moving forward. It’s clear that the reason he was called up instead of Daws was to get Daws reps while Poulter rides pine. Unless he undergoes a magical transformation overnight (as some goalies do), my guess would be that he stays an AHL 1A/1B for his career.
No. 29: Mikaël Diotte (RHD)
Undrafted — 2 Games Played | 1 Goal | 1 Assist | 2 Total Points — Adirondack Thunder (ECHL)
Mikaël Diotte is admittedly a tough one to place within the Devils’ pipeline simply because he hasn’t seen ice since going down with an injury in early November (just after he’d scored his first professional goal). He was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract (ELC) in May, so the Devils have Diotte in their system for a further two years.
Skating: 4/10
Diotte’s skating is decent for what he brings to the table—solid defensive play and practically nothing on offense. He skates backward well, pivoting and changing direction quickly to react to developing plays. His acceleration is just alright, and he can occasionally get burned by quicker players off the rush, though that’s not usually an issue. Top speed-wise, there’s nothing to write home about, nor do his edges impress me, but he gets the job done when defending zone entries and tracking players in his own end.
Hockey Sense: 4/10
Offensively speaking, there isn’t a whole lot of substance to Diotte’s game, though he does possess some underrated puck-moving tendencies. I think he has a solid enough first pass to not be completely useless on the breakout and you’ll see him jump into a rush play from time to time. I don’t think his passing is all that impressive — he doesn’t have much zip when he gives the puck to his teammates, which will limit him in a cycle setting in tougher leagues.
Puck Skills: 2/10
There’s not much to say about his puck skills — Diotte is a defensive defenseman, so there’s really no need for him to show off his deking. He usually doesn’t have the puck on his stick enough to even warrant making moves, either, but when he does he is usually content to just dump it into the corner or pass it to his defense partner up top.
Shot: 2/10
I’m not impressed by Diotte’s shot whatsoever. Shooting isn’t his role, though, so his generally inaccurate slapshot and weak wrist shot don’t really matter all that much to me.
Defensive Awareness: 7/10
The calling card to Diotte’s game is his defensive play, which is legitimately good compared to his peers. He won the Kevin Lowe Trophy — awarded to the QMJHL’s best defensive defenseman — for good reason then and hasn’t faltered in that regard at the higher levels. He has a good stick, though from what I’ve seen he likes to play the body more when one-on-one.
Diotte’s strong suit, to me, is his positioning when the opposition is on the cycle. He takes away passing lanes well and is completely unafraid of sacrificing his body to block high-danger opportunities. I think he tracks the flow of play well and is able to correctly identify when to engage in a board battle and where to be in order to initiate one with a solid success rate. Once engaged in those board battles, he uses his size and motor to make sure his team comes out with the puck.
Physicality/Size: 6/10
Diotte is a big defenseman, at 6’3, 205ish pounds, and he uses his size to his advantage when defending, both on the rush and in board battles. He closes gaps with his body rather than using his stick to break plays up, separating his man from the puck when need be. I like his approach along the boards — Diotte rarely loses a puck battle, especially when the forward is smaller than him, as he knows he can just punish the forward in question to free it up. He does it rather disciplined, too, not being called for all that many penalties.
NHL Comparable: Olli Määttä
NHL Ceiling: Seventh Defenseman
NHL Likelihood: Hard to Tell
Again, it’s admittedly pretty difficult to project Diotte considering the very little time he’s spent actually playing hockey this season. I thought he looked okay in the Devils’ preseason this year, but I don’t really have much to say about his game other than that he’s solid defensively and won’t do much of anything on offense. He could be either a seventh defenseman, an injury call-up, or a career second-pairing AHLer. His defensive game is mature, to be sure, but he’s going to have to learn how to adapt to faster play from an offensive standpoint if he wants to make an impression. There’s a legit chance he could rise up these ranks next season.
No. 26: Veeti Louhivaara (G)
5th Round, 2024 (146th Overall) — 18 Games Played | .902 SV% | 2.94 GAA | 4-11-0 | 0 SHO — JYP U20 (U20 SM-sarja)
I’m definitely a bit more bullish on Veeti Louhivaara compared to most, and I attribute that to the belief that his drawbacks can be taught out of him. His strengths are truly excellent, and if he can tweak just a couple of things within his game, there’s some projectability at an NHL level. Until he proves otherwise, though, 26th is a fair ranking.
Athleticism: 4.5/10
I haven’t seen an overwhelming amount of athleticism within Louhivaara’s game, but I don’t necessarily believe it’s a problem, either. I never really saw him with a need to pull out a desperation save. For a 6’4 goalie, this is to be expected, as he doesn’t necessarily need to rely on athleticism as much. Still, his push-offs are excellent, and he can make cross-crease reaction saves when called upon to do so.
Mobility: 7/10
If ever there was a strength to Louhivaara’s game, it’s in his side-to-side mobility and butterfly. Starting with the latter, he possesses a very wide butterfly, meaning that he can reach both posts with minimal lateral movement needed when he’s playing deep in the crease by proxy of his ability to make a near-straight-line with his pads when dropping down.
This also gives him better push-off abilities from side to side, which allows him to react to quickly developing plays behind the net and across the crease. By all accounts, it’s the best part of his game.
Positioning: 3/10
The backside to Louhivaara’s wide butterfly and ability to cover the lower part of the net supremely well with his pads is that he tends to have an overreliance on doing so. He knows that it’s a strength of his game, and he positions himself accordingly, having a strange hunch when dropping into the butterfly that exposes him in the upper portions of the net. It’s by far the biggest knock on his game, in my opinion. He also stays in the butterfly for far too long at times, putting himself in a position to fail by doing so.
The other positional issue that he has is that he can be caught playing extremely deep in his crease, giving opposing shooters more angles to beat him. The great part about all of this is that it’s teachable, but for now, it’s a real detriment to his projectability.
Puck Tracking: 6/10
I do think he tracks the puck pretty well, being able to fight through screens when applicable and seldom losing sight of pucks he can see from the get go. He anticipates play somewhat well, even if his positioning might not tell that story.
NHL Comparable: Ville Husso
NHL Ceiling: NHL Backup
NHL Likelihood: Slim
As with every goalie picked in the later rounds, Louhivaara is very raw. What he does well, he does well, and what he lacks at, he really lacks at. It will certainly take some time for him to figure things out. We all know that goalies are impossible to project, but I can see an NHL backup role for him five or six years down the line if he adjusts his approach a bit from a positioning standpoint.
No. 25: Jonathan Gruden (LW/RW)
4th Round, 2018 (95th Overall) — 46 Games Played | 7 Goals | 6 Assists | 13 total Points — Utica Comets (AHL)
Jonathan Gruden was acquired at this year’s trade deadline in the trade that brought Cody Glass to the Devils. Once upon a time, Gruden was a decent prospect, but things have tempered out over the years and he no longer looks like the surefire fourth-liner he was projected to become.
Skating: 5.5/10
In a straight line, Gruden can outskate most of his peers. His acceleration is decent to above average, too, so he gets to that top speed relatively quickly. I don’t think his edgework and ability to pivot is all that impressive, though, which has probably held him back from furthering his career and offensive output. He relies much more on the straight-line speed to get around defenders in one-on-one situations.
Hockey Sense: 4.5/10
From my limited viewings, Gruden’s hockey sense is decent for what he provides. He has a general understanding of where his teammates will be and can execute nifty give-and-go’s, like this:
Beyond that, he finds himself in good positioning when he doesn’t have the puck, either putting himself in areas of the ice to capitalize on passing opportunities or having the wherewithal to preemptively start skating back into the neutral zone in anticipation of a breakout the other way.
Puck Skills: 3/10
Gruden relies much more on hard work than individual skill to make things happen on the ice. I haven’t seen much of his stick skills, but he can occasionally deke out a goaltender from in-tight when called upon.
Shot: 4/10
Gruden has a bit of an underrated shot, though I don’t think there’s enough there to warrant a plus rating. He doesn’t shoot particularly often, and that is probably due to some level of a lack of confidence in the product. His wrist shot can beat goalies clean, though, and his release is pretty quick. His one-timer is also decent, but seeing it is a rarity which he only really pulls out in odd-man opportunities when they arise.
Defensive Awareness: 5/10
As with all hardworking energy-line-type players, his defensive work is rooted in his willingness to be a pest to puck carriers. He is an active puck pursuer in cycle situations and will absolutely annoy pointmen to the point where they will, on occasion, turn the puck over to him. Gruden also shows no fear in getting in shooting lanes when need be.
Physicality/Size: 6/10
Despite his 6’0, 172-pound stature, Gruden plays the body a lot, being a key member of AHL checking lines. He is aggressive on the forecheck and is a very hard worker, which has been the reason he’s seen NHL time in his career and was a fan-favorite with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins. His grit and work ethic are undeniable, which sometimes bites him in the form of taking needless penalties because he tries too hard to get the puck back.
NHL Comparable: Garnet Hathaway
NHL Ceiling: 4th Line Energy Forward
NHL Likelihood: Somewhat Likely
Gruden has already spent some time in the NHL in his career, having played 16 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. There’s a chance he has the same role in New Jersey as an energy-spark fourth-line injury call-up or carves out a niche role for himself down the line. Time is ticking, though, for the 24-year-old.
I hope you enjoyed part two of the Devils’ pipeline breakdown. Stay tuned for the next edition, covering prospects No. 24 through No. 20.