The first weekend of the NCAA hockey season has already given several New Jersey Devils prospects a chance to get moving, and the early setup looks far better than it did a year ago.
For a group that includes Mikhail Yegorov, Conrad Fondrk and Ben Kevan, the most important development may not be the box score itself. It’s where these players are being used. In a lot of cases, their roles are stronger, their minutes are more meaningful, and the path to real growth is much clearer.
Fondrk is a good example. His first season at Boston University in 2025-26 was described as nightmarish, with injury and an oddly underperforming roster dragging everything down.
This fall, he’s opened his sophomore year on the top line alongside Tynan Lawrence and Jack Murtagh, two highly-touted talents in their own right. He still hasn’t registered a point, but this is a major step up from the fringe-roster spot he occupied last season, and it should help his standing as a prospect.
Yegorov is in a different place entirely. Already one of the NHL’s most promising goaltending prospects, he now has a stronger group in front of him in 2026-27.
Boston College’s incoming freshmen include Caleb Malhotra, Xavier Villeneuve, Haoxi Wang and Niklas Aaram-Olsen, while projected improvement from Lawrence, Murtagh, Fondrk and Carter Amico should only make the environment better. The early results have backed that up.
Yegorov has won both of his games, allowed one goal on 42 shots, and looked as steady as the self-tracked advanced numbers suggested he would.
Ben Kevan is another prospect benefiting from a cleaner runway. At Arizona State University, he’s finally getting consistent top-six work and time on the Sun Devils’ top power-play unit.
That usage has already paid off with a goal and an assist in two games, which lines up with the production he showed in limited chances in that role last season. If he keeps scoring at this pace, it should be a big year for him.
There are more Devils prospects in positions to move up as the season unfolds. Mason Moe is starting at the University of Minnesota on the third line, though the expectation is that he climbs into more of a middle-six role as the year goes on.
He has one goal in his first two games. 2026 second-round pick Matias Vanhanen is set to begin in a top-six role and on the first power-play unit. Chase Cheslock remains St.
Thomas’s clear No. 1 defenseman, with David Rozsíval joining him for his first college season. Veeti Louhivaara is pushing for a starting job at the University of Connecticut, and Cole Brown should be a regular top-nine piece at Notre Dame.
Taken together, the picture is pretty clear: the Devils’ college pipeline is lined up for a meaningful step forward. Better roles for skaters and stronger teams in front of the goalies should give this group a real chance to improve across the board this season.
In Other News...
Devils Have An Early Weakness Keefe Cant Ignore
The Devils early season has already shown a familiar stress point, and it is not hard to spot why Sheldon Keefe is paying close attention. New Jersey has been giving up too many goals in bunches, including recent games against the Islanders and Utah Mammoth, and the issue has quickly moved beyond a one-off bad night. Keefe has pointed to defensive habits and the little details in front of the net, the kind of breakdowns that can make a game feel much harder than it should.
Penalty killing has also been part of the concern, which only adds to the urgency as the schedule keeps moving. The Devils are working to clean up those issues before they harden into something bigger, because early defensive slippage can linger if it is not addressed quickly. For a team trying to establish its identity, the next few games will say plenty about whether this is just a rough patch or a problem that needs more than a few corrections. [Read more 🡒]
ESPN Just Gave Devils Fans Another Reason To Defend Nico Hischier
ESPNs latest ranking of the NHLs top 100 players for the 2026-27 season gave Devils fans another familiar debate to pick at, with Nico Hischier landing 54th after being placed 23rd in the previous version. For a player who has become the face of New Jerseys leadership group and one of the steadier two-way centers in the league, the slide raised eyebrows well beyond Newark, especially given the way the list is framed as a look ahead rather than a simple recap of last season.
The comparison points make the ranking even harder to square. Aleksander Barkov, who missed the entire prior season, was placed ahead of Hischier, while Connor Bedard came in at 43rd despite an expected injury absence early in the year. For Devils fans, it is the kind of list that invites an instant defensive reaction, because Hischiers value has never been tied to flash alone, and the gap between reputation, production and outside perception still seems to be widening. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Loss Exposed A Roster Problem Fans Cant Ignore
The loss to the Utah Mammoth put a familiar Devils issue back in the spotlight: once the top six stop driving play, the offense can run dry in a hurry. Sheldon Keefe pointed to the gap in talent and scoring support beyond Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and the rest of the clubs best forwards, a problem that has lingered whenever the top group is quiet or dealing with injury.
For a while, New Jersey could lean on speed as a separator, but that edge has narrowed as more teams around the league have caught up. With that in mind, management has already started looking for ways to rework the roster, and Sunny Mehtas group now faces a clear test of whether it can add the kind of depth that keeps the Devils dangerous even when the stars are not carrying everything. [Read more 🡒]