Today begins the 2024 Prospects Challenge for the New Jersey Devils. This is a general preview for the Devils and their three opponents over the next four days of exhibition games. Learn who to look for and more.
Later today, the New Jersey Devils prospects and other members of the Utica Comets and/or Adirondack Thunder will participate in the 2024 Prospects Challenge. These are exhibition games that are meant to give some players some playing time ahead of the full training camp that starts next week and the preseason that follows. Rather than previewing three separate exhibition games full of prospective players that are not yet or not going to be in the NHL, this is a general preview for all three.
The Event Information
The Location: The LECOM HarborCenter in Buffalo, New York
The Teams: The New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins
The Broadcasts: The New Jersey Devils website will be livestreaming each of their games. As will the Devils’ mobile app. Matt Loughlin and Sam Kasan will be your broadcasters for all three games. Please refer to the official websites of other teams for their broadcasts.
The Devils’ Schedule: They will play three games.
Friday, September 13 – vs. Ottawa Senators, 3:30 PM ET
Saturday, September 14 – vs. Buffalo Sabres, 7 PM ET
Monday, September 16 – vs. Boston Bruins, 10 AM ET
The Stakes: It’s pre-preseason exhibition hockey. The only stakes are for individual players to impress their teams enough to warrant a closer look in future. For any invited players, it could be being in management’s mind when it comes time to add a free agent to their system. Even an AHL-only contract. For any signed players and prospects for the future, it is to get ready ahead of the main training camp. Hopefully, no injuries. Wins are nice but not a priority for these games.
The New Jersey Devils
They released their rookie camp roster yesterday. It is already missing Josh Filmon, an offensive forward that – on paper – this roster could really use.
The Big Prospect to Watch: Seamus Casey did pretty much everything for Michigan. He showed that he is an offensively skilled defender both as a supporting player and later as someone to lead the Wolverine blueline. He showed off his stuff at the WJCs for America. Casey is ready for pro hockey and his future absolutely includes the NHL. Where he fits for the Devils in the long-term remains to be seen. He is still the top prospect on this roster for New Jersey and is the most likely to eventually make it to the best league in hockey.
Other Notables: This may depend on how you view each prospect, but it will be interesting to see how Cam Squires, Topias Vilen, Isaac Poulter, and Chase Stillman perform. For Squires and Vilen, this is a second camp where they can demonstrate their growth. For Poulter, who earned a contract last season, it is a chance to reward the decision to sign him to New Jersey. For Stillman, it is an opportunity to be something more than just a bottom-six guy – which he was with Utica for much of last season.
2024 Draftees: The Devils will have 3 in Buffalo: Kasper Pikkarainen, Matyas Melovsky, and Max Graham. Pikkarainen is making the switch to major junior, whereas Melovsky and Graham are eligible to play in the AHL right away. Their performances here will give the organization an idea as to what their pathways forward look like.
Opponent #1: The Ottawa Senators
Full credit to Sydney D’Amico at the Senators official website. The roster announcement there helpfully includes how many prospect tournaments each player has participated in. This is how I can tell you that Tyler Boucher is a veteran of this process.
The Big Prospect to Watch: In my view, that’s Tyler Boucher. The tenth overall pick in 2021 has had a trying time since his selection. Injuries cut short his 2022-23 season with the 67’s, what was to be his first full season after transitioning to major junior in 2021-22 from Boston University. Injuries have kept him to just 21 games last season, whereupon he put up five points with Belleville. This tourney should be one where he stands out in as a veteran. It may also be his first chance to show Ottawa he actually has a future in the organization.
Other Notables: Just for the name alone, Elliot L’Italien will be popular. More seriously, defenseman Matthew Andonovski had a growing season with Kitchener last season and will be their captain this season. I’m sure Ottawa wants to see how he progresses. Goaltender Leevi Merilainen split last season with Allen in the ECHL and Belleville in the AHL with solid numbers. He should help the team perform in these games coming up as he looks to battle for a more permanent spot in Belleville in 2024-25.
2024 Draftees: The Senators have three on their roster: Defenseman Carter Yakemchuk, defenseman Gabriel Eliasson, and left winger Luke Ellinas. Yakemchuk may actually be the big prospect to watch. He went seventh overall due to his outstanding 30-goal, 71 point season with Calgary last season. This is a good forum to show off what he can do against minor pros. Whether he goes back to Calgary will be determined by the remainder of training camp. He is signed to an ELC. I am curious to Eliasson’s participation as he is set to go to Michigan in 2025-26. I know the NCAA is still particular about maintaining eligibility at these camps. When he plays, do look out. He is big (6’7”, 216 pounds) and evidently very, very physical.
Opponent #2: The Buffalo Sabres
The tourney hosts will have the best roster potential-wise on paper per their officially announced roster. This is a bit of a backhanded compliment as to get a roster with plenty of prospects with a future, the team has to be rather bad for a while. And the Buffalo Sabres have been rather bad for a while. Jourdon LaBarber wrote up a top 10 players to watch from this roster, which notes there are five first round picks on this team. Again, a result of being rather bad for a while.
The Big Prospect to Watch: It is hard to pick one, so I will go with the new guy, Konsta Helenius. Selected at 14th overall, the center is just good at a lot of things and the hope is that he can carry that to the next level. He was picked after a strong 2023-24 between international play – including the World Championships – and a full season with Jukurit in Liiga. He is signed by Buffalo and this tourney will be his first chance to show to management that he could stick around in Buffalo for 2024-25.
Other Notables: Take your pick. Ryan Johnson may be among the oldest players on this roster at 23, but the defenseman split time between Buffalo and Rochester last season after four seasons with the University of Minnesota. Forty-one games of actual NHL experience makes him a potential standout for that alone. Far more than the tastes of the NHL received by Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen – who are definitely notable and future NHLers on this roster. Noah Ostlund will be joining Rochester this season and he can show progress since his 2022 first round selection ahead of joining the AHL roster. Do not sleep on Viktor Neuchev. He was a rookie with Rochester, he has performed and performed well in past Prospect Challenges, and he could grow further to fight for a NHL job.
2024 Draftees: The Sabres will have three: Helenius, defenseman Simon-Pier Brunet, and goaltender Ryerson Leenders. Brunet was picked in the fourth round from Drummondville. As one of the two major junior selections, he could attend this camp without breaking a contract or risking eligibility for college. The other is Leenders, who is one of two goalies on the roster. Given that there are three games over four days, the decision to have just two goalies is odd to me. More work for Leenders and Scott Ratzlaff.
Opponent #3: The Boston Bruins
Boston is the exact opposite of Buffalo in that the Bruins have been a consistent playoff team (eight seasons running) and frequently taking a top three spot in their division (seven out of last eight seasons). As a result, their prospect pool is not big and a roster for a tourney like this has 11 invited players per their team’s official announcement. Still, the purpose for them is the same: to get minor leaguers ready and give prospects – and invitees – a chance to show management they have a potential future.
The Big Prospect to Watch: It is hard to pick one and claim they are a name. I will let my bias show and highlight John Farinacci. The Red Bank-born, Colonials-and-Delbarton alumnus center was picked in 2019 in the third round by Arizona. While at Harvard for three seasons – he spent the COVID season with Muskegon of the USHL – he opted to hit the market. The Bruins picked him up. He put up 12 goals and 38 points with Providence last season, good for fifth on the team in scoring. and will likely use this camp to try to claw his way up the depth chart. Among the players on this roster on paper, he should be one of their top forwards. (Aside: If Fabian Lysell was in this camp, then he’s in this section. I think Boston wants him to make the main team this season.)
Other Notables: Out of the many invited players and guys making up the numbers, one notable player to me is defenseman Tomas Cibulka. The 20-year old defenseman made the jump from Czechia to the QMJHL back in 2021-22 and seemingly did well at that level for Val-d’Or. The Czechian youth national teams thought so. Cibulka was dealt to Cape Breton last season amid a 49 point season and made the Czech WJC roster that Matyas Melovsky played on. He may be playing for a contract and so I am most interested in how he does. As far as a notable that the Bruins drafted, defenseman Frederic Brunet could be one. The 2022 fifth rounder finished his first pro season with Providence last season. Should he show any growth, starting with games like these, then he could work his way up the depth chart.
2024 Draftees: The Bruins have one: defenseman Loke Johansson. He was Boston’s fourth pick out of their four at the 2024 NHL Draft. He is also the only one out of the four without college in his future. Johansson is making the jump from AIK’s U-20 team (and AIK too since he played in 19 games for their senior team) to Moncton of the QMJHL this season. The three games the defenseman will play here will be his first taste of games in North America. He did appear for Sweden at the Four Nations U-20 tourney in August.
General Thoughts
While the wins and losses do not matter much, I do want the Devils to at least show up and compete – and not get injured. While they are playing the same three teams they played last year, it is a good mix. Buffalo’s roster has multiple players with real shots at playing in the NHL and for a long time. Ottawa, not as much, and Boston’s approach may be a load of hard-working, not-high-ceiling guys that some just works. The games should be competitive and New Jersey should have a chance to show up well against any of them. Again, the best possible scenario is for a player (or players?) to do well enough to warrant extra looks in training camp next week and the preseason that follows. Even if the future for the player is Utica, make a good impression: Comets head coach Kevin Dineen and his staff are behind the bench for the Devils for these games.
As this is pre-preseason for the Devils, it is pre-preseason for us. Gamethreads will be up about an hour before each game. Expect more previews and recaps as preseason games begin in just over a week from now. The 2024-25 campaign shall begin soon enough. Thank you for reading.