The New Jersey Devils' farm system has come a long way since Ray Shero took over as GM.
His draft record is far from perfect – for example, the early returns from Pavel Zacha and Michael McLeod are underwhelming based on where they were chosen – but he has made some good picks and added some much-needed depth to the organization.
Still, there isn't much in the way of high-end talent *outside* of the NHL. That's why the Devils' prospect pipeline was deemed 20th best by The Athletic's Corey Pronman.
The only two players Pronman listed under the Very Good Prospect category, which means they have top-6/top-4 upside, are Ty Smith and Jesper Boqvist. And it's hard to disagree.
McLeod, Joey Anderson, Fabian Zetterlund, Reilly Walsh, and co. are good prospects but they're not high-upside guys who project to be impact players at the next level.
I think the Devils' pipeline slotting 20th is very reasonable and, quite frankly, encouraging based on where they were not that long ago.
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Today NBC announced its broadcast schedule for the 2018-19 NHL season.
As per usual, the New Jersey Devils won't be featured very often. Just twice, in fact.
NBC is diversifying their NHL coverage this season. You'll be able to catch both Washington at Chicago *and* Chicago at Washington. pic.twitter.com/ycnevhUkOC
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) August 13, 2018
The best part is both nationally televised games come in March. Casual, out-of-market hockey fans who don't pay for NHL Gamecenter, or NHL Center Ice, will have to wait until the *6th* month of the season to get a look at the 2017-18 MVP, Taylor Hall. Talk about marketing your stars.
NBC is hyping up a new, diverse, schedule but it looks the same cast of characters will once again be getting all the air time.