ESPN prospect analyst Corey Pronman recently released his annual organizational prospect rankings and the New Jersey Devils came in at 19.
While their prospect pool has improved over the last couple years there is still plenty of room for growth, as evident by the limited number of potential difference makers in their system.
Pronman just ranked the league's top-120 prospects (paywall), which doesn't include goalies, and only three Devils were featured: Pavel Zacha (35), Mike McLeod (50) and Steven Santini (114).
You could argue about where those three players sit in the rankings - personally I think Zacha should be a little higher - but it's almost inarguable that no other Devils prospect should be featured on this list given it doesn't include goaltenders (otherwise I think Mackenzie Blackwood deserves a spot).
John Quenneville has improved but projects to be a middle-6 forward at best. There just isn't enough offense to his game. Blake Speers has a lot of talent but has some faults is not close to being NHL-ready. Miles Wood is trending upwards, and may be ready to take on a depth role, but I'm not sure he possesses top-6 upside. Nathan Bastain had a pretty good season in Mississauga but didn't score a lot of goals and surely benefited greatly from playing with two top-15 picks in Mike McLeod and Alex Nylander. By now you all get the point.
The good news for the Devils is they do have some good, young talent on their roster, an improving core and are scheduled to pick 17 times over the next two drafts.
Ray Shero and co. have a good plan in place. It just takes time to execute.
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