The New Jersey Devils are a couple of weeks away from having training camp to prepare for what they hope is a bounce-back season.
Part of that will be making sure the young players feel good about themselves as they look to take the next step in their careers.
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Not every prospect is going to play pro hockey in 2026-27. Some of them will be in college, some of them will play major junior, and a handful will be in pro leagues across North America and Europe.
With some of the graduations the New Jersey Devils have had over the last handful of years, they are no longer seen as a team with a top-10 farm system. However, there are some good players that the organization feels can be impactful down the line.
With the off-season winding down, this is a quick look at their top-ten prospects:
1. Mikhail Yegorov – G
Unless Nico Daws starts to truly dominate in 2026-27, the New Jersey Devils don’t have their future goalie on their NHL roster. In the system, however, they have Mikhail Yegorov, who may end up being a star one day.
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Whenever a goalie is a franchise’s top prospect, they clearly have a ton of faith that they will one day see him in the crease at the NHL level.
Yegorov played in the USHL with the Omaha Lancers for a while before landing at Boston University in the middle of the 2024-25 season. He appeared in 18 games for them and lit the NCAA on fire with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage.
The Terriers rode that wave all the way to the Frozen Four. In front of him was a great team, but he really stole the show.
2025-26 wasn’t quite as strong, but still good. The team in front was much weaker, but Yegorov would tell you he’d like to be better than the 2.73 goals against and .904 save percentage that he had.
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When Yegorv eventually turns pro, he is likely to get some run in the AHL before coming to the NHL. By then, the organization would love for his skills to be defined enough to make an impact as a future pillar within the franchise.
2. Anton Silayev – D
The New Jersey Devils took a risk when they selected Anton Silayev with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. They likely would go in a different direction with the benefit of hindsight, but that doesn’t mean that Silayev isn’t a noteworthy prospect.
Silayev will play in the NHL, and it could be as soon as this upcoming season. He is a big, mean defenseman who keeps his opponents away from high-danger scoring areas with regularity.
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There isn’t much offense in his game, but as a middle-pair defender, he can make an impact by being very difficult to play against while other guys are relied on for breakout passes/offensive contribution.
3. Alexander Command – C
The New Jersey Devils selected Alexander Command with the 12th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. He is a young prospect within the organization and has a lot of development to do.
Command is a center who puts heavy emphasis on playing a 200-foot game, which would obviously translate to winning hockey in the NHL if he were to ever bring his game there with his full potential.
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If he ever reaches the heights of being a high-end third line center behind Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, with a lot of similarities to Hischier, the Devils will have gotten the player they wanted when they drafted him.
He will never have to carry the load offensively or defensively, but he could if needed, which is exactly what the Devils will need out of their long-term 3C.
4. Lenni Hämeenaho – RW
Lenni Hameenaho just finished his first pro season in North America, split between the NHL and AHL. He is sure to graduate off this list by the start of the 2027-28 season.
Hameenaho was a key force for Finland in their World Championships win, so he should enter training camp confident and ready for more.
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5. Seamus Casey – D
When Seamus Casey was dominating games at the University of Michigan, there were high hopes for him at the NHL level. Then, he had a strong 14-game stretch to begin his NHL debut in 2024-25, which heightened expectations even more.
Casey dealt with some injuries and inconsistencies in 2025-26, which has lowered his stock a little bit. He only appeared in 31 games, and 29 of them were in the AHL. Now, he has to work his way back up with good play in 2026-27.
Those key high-end skills are still there, which gives him hope; he just has to put them to good use on the ice early and often.
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6. Matias Vanhanen – LW
Matias Vanhanen was incredible for Everett en route to a Memorial Cup runner-up finish. Now, he is going to head to Boston College where he is looking to get bigger, stronger, and faster.
If Vanhanen makes it to the NHL, it will likely be as a play-making forward who adds some offensive depth to a lineup. There is work to be done physically, but his ceiling would find him in the NHL.
7. Nikita Shcherbakov – D
The New Jersey Devils selected big defenseman Nikita Scherbakov with a second round pick (44th overall) in the 2026 NHL Draft.
This player has a lot of development left to go, as he spent most of 2025-26 in Russia’s second-tier league behind the KHL. Still, you can’t teach a defenseman to be 6’5″, which gives him an advantage when it comes to pushing to become an NHL-caliber defender.
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Some believe that Scherbakov has another level to his game that he could get to offensively, because he doesn’t give much at this time, but the Devils should be focused on him becoming a great defensive defenseman with the ceiling of a shutdown third-pair guy.
8. Conrad Fondrk – C
Conrad Fondrk was a second round pick (50th overall) by the New Jersey Devils in 2025. He was with the United States National Team Development Program in his draft year before spending his D+1 year with Boston University.
Frondrk has seen his stock fall as his offensive numbers that he was capable of putting up have been declining year over year. It was a disappointing 2025-26 season at BU, and this is his chance to bounce back and show why he was a second-round pick.
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Another lackluster year with the Terriers likely gets him bumped out of the top ten by this time next year.
9. Shane Lachance – LW
The New Jersey Devils landed former BU captain Shane Lachance for bridging a trade between the Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins back in 2025. Now, he is in New Jersey’s system, trying to climb the ranks.
Over the course of his pre-NHL career, Lachance has shown the ability to create chances for himself and his teammates. Every team he’s been on seems to outshoot their opponents when he is on the ice. That is a tool that could help him become a middle-six forward on a good team.
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Being a captain of a top NCAA program like Boston University is no joke either. That level of leadership capability is sought after in NHL locker rooms.
Lachance did play in 62 games for the Utica Comets in 2025-26 and scored 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points. He made his NHL debut, as well, but he didn’t have any points in his one game.
Unless Lachance dominates training camp and the preseason, he will likely begin the year in Utica, but don’t be surprised if he plays some NHL games in 2026-27.
10. Étienne Morin – D
Etienne Morin was a part of the package that New Jersey received in the Simon Nemec trade that they made with the Calgary Flames earlier this off-season. Now, he is a hopeful NHL prospect hoping to make his way up the ranks in New Jersey’s system.
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Morin was a second round pick by the Flames (48th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft. He is a 21 year old defenseman.
In 2025-26, Morin was a bit disappointing in the AHL for the Flames. They gave up on him and let him go to get Nemec, and now he is a project for the Devils. The two first round picks were New Jersey’s top acquisition for Nemec, but Morin could turn into something if they work with him.
It is the offensive upside from the back-end that makes Morin worthy of another look. He has incredible puck skills, but it didn’t translate to more than 1 goal and 7 assists during the 2025-26 season.
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