New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: Cole Brown Pots 30th

Winger Cole Brown is the first Devils prospect to reach 30 goals this season. This post covers Brown’s breakout year, what his future may be, and other prospect news.

A Strong Season

Winger Cole Brown has had a breakout season in the OHL for the Brantford Bulldogs with 31 goals and 64 points in only 59 games, a giant leap from the 39 points Brown put up last season. Some caution is warranted as much of the explosion may be explained as Brown improving in his D+2 season against mostly younger players and benefiting from sharing a line at times with Nick Lardis, the second-leading scorer in the league with 108 points.

That said, Brown deserves credit for earning his opportunities and has performed well overall. It’s also worth noting that Brown is the first Devils prospect in any league to reach the 30 goal mark this year and is second overall in points amongst Devils prospects behind Matyas Melovsky. The aforementioned Melovsky (24) and Utica’s Brian Halonen (20) are the only other two Devils prospects to even score 20 or more goals this season as of Sunday night. So, Brown’s feat is impressive, regardless of linemates and other factors.

Here’s a look at the goal. Brown would go on to score his 31st later that game.

Recently, Cole Brown, who is still only 19-years-old, committed to Notre Dame after this season. However, as Brian Smiley writes for the Expositor:

While it’s expected that the six-foot-three, 190-pound forward will attend Notre Dame for the 2025-26 season, that could change if he’s signed by the Devils.

This is a new rule change in the NHL allowing CHL players into the NCAA effective August 2025. More on the new rule here.

Whether Brown ends up in Notre Dame or in the Devils system next year will be decided this summer. For the record, I believe the Devils should sign Brown as I think he’s done enough to be worth taking a chance on and an ELC is a low risk gamble. Until then, Brown has taken a strong step forward in his development. We shall find out soon where that leads next.

Around the Pool:

• Utica defeated Syracuse 5-4 on Sunday thanks to an overtime goal by Adam Beckman (see the goal below), his second of the game. Nolan Foote tallied a goal and an assist and Topias Vilen added two helpers to round out the multi-point efforts. Vilen has been hot as of late, after a slow start coming back from injury. Goaltender Isaac Poulter earned the win. Here’s a look at the goal.

• Sunday’s effort capped the second of two wins for the Comets this past weekend as Utica also defeated Hartford 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday. Defenseman Santeri Hatakka scored his first goal of the season since returning from injury in the contest and Topias Vilen scored the shootout winner, earning first star honors. Goaltender Jeremy Brodeur was second star with 34 saves on 36 shots. Here’s a look at some slick hands and slicker pads.

• Lenni Hameenaho continues developing well. Take a look at this chart:

• Catherine Bogart has this piece on goaltending phenom prospect Mikhail Yegorov.

• Winger Peter Hauser seems to be settling into his new home in the top Czechia league, even helping save Vitkovice’s season.

• Lastly, some news that fell through the cracks. Congratulations to goaltender Veeti Louhivaara on his first professional hockey start. Louhivaara has played well platooning for a low-scoring JYP U20 team most of this season.

Your Take

That’s the prospect news for the week. Tell us what you think.