Hockey's Future Ranks Devils Prospect System 30th

by John Fischer on Dec 20, 2008 8:37 PM EST

The staff at Hockey's Future has recently ranked each NHL team's prospect organization from best to worst. They ranked St. Louis as having the best system, with LA and Columbus coming in second and third, respectively. Here's where 11-20 is slotted in, but the people at HF don't really rate the Devils' system. They stuck the Devils' organization in dead last.

They cite that there aren't any prospects beyond Nicklas Bergfors and Mattias Tedenby that could become top-six forwards. Nor do the Devils have a solid goaltending prospect in the system. They do note that the Devils are stocked with various defenders (e.g. Matt Corrente, Anssi Salmela, Brandon Burlon) and checking forwards (Mike Hoeffel, Matt Halischuk). Yet, the lack of potential top-end talent and a goalie have caused them to rate the team so low. These are all valid points. But I wouldn't fret if I were a Devils fan if only for the simple fact that the Devils have been able to call up various players from Lowell this season, as we have seen when numerous Devils were injured in late October and November, and have them (and the team) play well enough at times. Some of these guys (Salmela, Vrana, Bergfors) have what you could call "game" and they'll be up in the NHL eventually. I don't think it's fair to say that the proverbial cupboard is bare, it's just not well-stocked.

Fortunately, the Cup is won with players already playing, not prospects. What's more, with continued drafting of some good players along with the proper development, the Devils will have some of these guys ready to step in the NHL in the future and they can fill other needs via other ways (e.g. free agent prospects, NHL free agency, trades).

Continuing the prospect thoughts, Hockey's Future has a feature article on the Devils' third round selection in 2008, Corbin McPherson at Colgate University. The article focuses on how he figured Lou and David would pick him in the draft and his transition from Canadian Junior A hockey to the college game in the ECAC. It's a big challenge and it's a big adjustment. According to his player profile at College Hockey News, McPherson has 2 assists and 22 penalty minutes in 14 games this season. Since I haven't seen him play, I don't know whether he's doing well or not. But if someone at HF is doing an article about him, he should be doing something right.

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The Devs don't seem to be as proficient as uncovering

gems late in the draft as they used to be. I remember a time when David Conte and the Devils scouting staff was the envy of the rest of the NHL.

But it seems to have shifted. At the same time, the Devils successfully got someone like Parise later in the draft. Their current team still has a good portion of guys who were originally drafted or found by the Devils scouting department. Oduya was a find. Salmela was another find. And we’ll see about Corrente and how good he winds up being.

It is true that they don’t really have a goalie coming up and Conte hasn’t exactly been hitting it out of the park in recent years (Ahonen and Adrian Foster, anyone?), but that’s what happens when you continually have success over and over again. I’d much rather have that than the higher draft picks. I mean the Bruins are only getting good now because they’ve been so poor for years and have stockpiled a lot of talent because of it.

by Tyler Bleszinski on Dec 22, 2008 8:16 PM EST reply actions

Conte's had another recent hit

Travis Zajac

But the prospects hasn’t been developing into full potential; but it hasn’t been a problem because the Devils have many established players as it is. And the current crop has time to develop. There’s no rush, I don’t think, and that may be for the best overall. A strong prospect system is nice to have, but success in the NHL is always preferable than in juniors/college/AHL. And as mentioned, they have been great outside the draft with Oduya, Salmela, and Greene.

Devils in my heart! Devils in my mind! Devils in my eyes! Devils until I die!

by John Fischer on Dec 22, 2008 9:09 PM EST reply actions

not that worrying

To be honest, it doesn’t worry me too much. It seems as if we have a lot of players who are here to stay. Parise, Zajac, Elias, Rolston, Martin, Odouya, Zubrus, Langenbrunner, Clarkson , Salvador and Whitey will make up the core of the team over the next few years. Frazee seems to be playing well in Lowell right now and Salamela, Corrente, Halischuk and Tendby will hopefully be able to make the jump up as well. To be honest, no one will ever be able to replace Brodeur so not having a top goalie prospect isn’t too worrying either. It wouldn’t surprise me if Lou picks up a fee agent when it’s time. I would think a goalie would love to come here, if we can trust any Rangers fan knowledge MB is over rated anyway and is only good because of the team in front of him. So we can technically even have someone on Dan Blackburn’s level in goal for us. With the new cap system in place, it seems that more players are going to be changing teams any way.

by dsarch on Dec 26, 2008 4:13 PM EST reply actions

Its time to build

It has always been my opinion that the Devs built their franchise with a good prospect system. But at some point it appears the Devs began to trade away many prospects for active and veteran players. The worst move was trading Smith for Gilmour. All these winning seasons also affects the prospect system… I can’t help but think if we want a future we need to rebuild. Its been a while since I was able to follow closely as I live in the midwest now – St. Louis actually and gearing up for tonight’s game! I have been razzing my Blues fan friends about how good the Devs are doing but I always tell them their future is brighter than ours. What’s your thoughts on the Devs future?

by Michael Maedoc on Dec 30, 2008 11:50 AM EST reply actions