Scott Wheeler ranks the Devils 22nd best in his prospect pool rankings. Let’s talk about it.
Per Scott Wheeler’s most recent rankings for the Athletic (where you can read here), the Devils prospect pool ranks 22nd in the league, down from 17th last season. While Wheeler does not given a reason for the drop, comparing the two lists, it seems the graduation of Simon Nemec and the Devils trading Herman Traff for a few games of Brian Dumoulin last season are contributors to the slide.
I have some personal quibbles with his analysis, especially when it comes to the ceilings of certain players. In my opinion, Lenni Hameenaho should be in Tier 1, not Tier 2, and ahead of Seamus Casey at this point. I also do not understand why goaltender Trenten Bennett is ranked so highly and other, more established, netminders such as Jakub Malek are unranked. The analysis seems to come down to some version of he moves well for his size, which is true, but when it comes to results, Bennett is lagging behind Daws, Malek, Yegorov, and even Louhivaara. A case could also be made for Tyler Brennan performing better than Bennett, though I believe Bennett to be the better longterm prospect. In other words, Bennett has those proverbial “tools” but hasn’t put it together yet. Maybe one day he will, but it seems early to rank him so highly.
I suggest everyone read his article in the link above and make up their own minds. It’s a good read, as always, and while I have some disagreements, overall, I think it’s a very good analysis.
Post your hockey-related comments below.