The New Jersey Devils got a little bit of good news on the prospect front Monday, and it came with a familiar name attached.
Boston University forward Conrad Fondrk, one of the Devils’ 2025 second-round picks, has been added to Team USA’s roster for the 2026 World Junior Summer Showcase. He was not part of the original group announced three weeks ago, but he’s in now, which gives him a chance to work his way into the conversation for the 2027 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Fondrk’s addition matters because he had been left out of the picture entirely last season. He and fellow Devils pick Ben Kevan were not considered for the World Juniors team, and neither player was even in the mix. That was a tough outcome for a pair of players New Jersey selected with second-round picks after Tom Fitzgerald didn’t have a first-rounder in the 2025 NHL Draft because of the Jacob Markstrom trade.
The Devils used those two picks on American college-bound forwards. Kevan was headed to Arizona State, while Fondrk went to Boston University to play for Devils legend Jay Pandolfo. At the time, both looked like reasonable bets, though Kevan was viewed more favorably than Fondrk.
But second-round picks are never clean bets. Nineteen players taken in the second round in 2020 have played fewer than 50 NHL games, and nine of them still haven’t reached the league at all. So while New Jersey would obviously like more from both prospects, there was always a real chance that neither would turn into an NHL player.
That’s part of why this invitation stands out. The Devils’ prospect pool took a hit last season, and their top names are getting older, including Anton Silayev and Seamus Casey. Sunny Mehta has arrived with a pool that is not where it should be, and Fondrk and Kevan have yet to show much growth.
The Summer Showcase gives Fondrk another shot to change that. According to the Team USA website, the event will include Canada, Finland and Sweden and will serve as an evaluation for players hoping to make their national teams for the 2027 World Junior Championship, set for Dec. 26, 2026, through Jan. 5, 2027, in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
Fondrk will be trying to climb an uphill path to the final roster, and he’ll do it alongside another Devils prospect, third-round pick Mason Moe.
One notable wrinkle: Kevan is not on the showcase roster, even though he is still technically eligible. He won’t turn 20 until January 3, and the cutoff is December 31.
Still, getting two Devils prospects into the World Juniors pipeline is a meaningful step for an organization that needs its young talent to start moving in the right direction.
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For the Devils, the move gives Vanhanen a chance to keep developing against top NCAA competition while settling into a roster that already includes fellow Finnish player Oscar Hemming. Boston College is expected to use him in a middle-six role, which should give him meaningful minutes without the pressure of carrying the offense right away, and it sets up another important step in a development track New Jersey will be watching closely. [Read more 🡒]