The New Jersey Devils are set to play hockey Thursday evening. The team, as they have done the last several years, are sending a group of prospects up to the 2025 Prospect Challenge which is again taking place in Buffalo, New York. New Jersey joins the Sabres, Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Pittsburgh Penguins at the challenge.
The Devils’ schedule consists of three games. The first is Thursday, September 11 against Columbus at 7:00 pm ET. They follow the opener with a game Friday, September 12 and Sunday, September 14 against the Sabres and Bruins, respectively. Friday’s game is also slated for a 7:00 pm ET puck drop while Sunday’s game is set for a 12:00 pm ET start. All games can be streamed at newjerseydevils.com.
Ahead of Thursday’s opener, the Devils released their 24-man roster Wednesday evening. With that, let’s take a look at which prospects will be representing the red and black in Buffalo.
Ranking Of Prospects
Before the season, we will be releasing our organizational prospects rankings. Below is a preview, featuring only prospects participating in the challenge before we take a deeper, in-depth look at each one.
- Lenni Hameenaho, F
- Seamus Casey, D
- Jakub Malek, G
- Shane Lachance, F
- Matyas Melovsky, F
- Cam Squires, F
- Ethan Edwards, D
- Alexander Campbell, F
- Josh Filmon, F
- David Rozsival, F
- Mikael Diotte, D
- Trenten Bennett, G
- Jack Malone, F
- Jeremy Hanzel, D
- Tyler Brennan, G
- Dylan Wendt, F
- Tag Bertuzzi, F
- Nathan Lecompte, F
- Jackson van de Leest, D
- Luke Reid, D
- Cole Davis, F
- Brian Carrabes, F
- Caleb Hadland, F
- Jimmy Dowd Jr., D
Forwards
New Jersey listed 14 forwards on the roster released on Wednesday. Of the group, the most notable are Lenni Hameenaho, Shane Lachance, and Cam Squires. Fast-ascending Matyas Melovsky is also slated to join as well as 2025 draft pick David Rozsival. New Jerseu also invited some non-organizational prospects such as Alexander Campbell and Nathan Lecompte.
Top of the Group
Hameenaho, the team’s second-round pick in 2023, produced extremely well in his final two seasons over in the Liiga (top professional league in Finland). After posting 31 points in 46 games in 2023-24, he followed that up with 51 points (20 goals) in 58 games the next season. The 20-year-old also chipped in five points in 10 playoff games. He is a legit threat to make his NHL debut out of training camp with New Jersey, if all goes right. He is a top-five prospect in the team’s system.
Both Lachance and Squires made their professional debuts at the AHL level for New Jersey last season. Lachance posted two points in the final two games of the season for Utica (AHL), while Squires had four points in the final three. Lachance captained his collegiate team to a National Championship appearance, posting 30 points across 40 games for Boston University. Meanwhile, Squires had 75 points in 58 games in his last junior hockey season with Cape Brenton of the QMJHL.
Best of The Rest
Other notables that make up the Devils’ forward group is Matyas Melovsky, Josh Filmon, Dylan Wendt, Jack Malone, and David Rozsival. Melovsky shot up the organizational prospect rankings last year thanks to an explosion of 83 points across 57 QMJHL games, as well as 10 more playoff points in 11 games. The 21-year-old is a former sixth-round pick in 2024 who figures to factor into Utica’s (AHL) plans this season.
Meanwhile, Filmon was once thought of as a potential late-round steal (2022 sixth round) after scoring 47 goals in 64 games for Swift Current of the WHL. However, he regressed in his final WHL season and spent most of the 2024-25 season in the ECHL (65 games, 36 points) after being held scoreless over 12 games at the AHL level in 2024-25.
Wendt is an undrafted free agent New Jersey signed out of Western Michigan after the 2023-24 collegiate season concluded. In his final season for the Broncos, he posted 44 points in 38 games. Wendt then got a five-game run with AHL Utica to end the 2023-24 season, posting two points. His first full professional season in 2024-25 did not exactly go well, as the 24-year-old only played in 12 AHL games (three points), spending a majority of his season in the ECHL, posting 28 points in 43 games. Along with Filmon, Wendt is likely to find himself either with Utica in the AHL or once again in the ECHL this upcoming season.
Malone got a run with Utica (AHL) last season. He played in 57 games for the club, potting nine goals and 13 points overall. Malone had a game where he scored a first-period hat trick for the Comets. The 24-year-old was drafted in the sixth-round by Vancouver back in 2019. His first taste of AHL action was one game in 2023-24, after his final collegiate season. He is due to be with Utica (AHL) again this year.
The only 2025-drafted prospect among the forward group is 18-year-old Rozsival. The Czechia forward was selected in the sixth round. He posted 37 points in 30 Czechia under-20 junior league games. He did get a five-game run in Czechia’s top professional league, but was held scoreless. He is slated to begin 2025-26 in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers.
ECHL Contributors
Rounding out the Devils’ roster are a number of forwards who have played professionally in the ECHL. Tag Bertuzzi, Alexander Campbell, and Brian Carrabes. Bertuzzi, 24 years old, has the most professional experience of the group. He has 132 ECHL games under his belt (99 points) and 16 AHL games. Last season, he played in 11 ECHL games with Adirondack, posting 10 points. He got a six-game run with Utica (AHL) where he was held scoreless. He has emerged as a strong offensive contributor the ECHL early in his career.
Campbell was a third-round pick by Nashville back in 2019. The 24-year-old has not quite lived up to the billing, as he has nine points across 27 career AHL games. He spent five games in the ECHL last season, scoring at a point-per-game pace. His final seas at the collegiate level was a success back in 2023-24, as he posted 42 games in 36 games for Northeastern University.
Lastly, Carrabes, 24 years old, was an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State University. He only has three professional games in his career, all coming at the ECHL level for Adirondack last season, where he figures to play in 2025-26.
Young, Undrafted, Guns
The Devils invited three forwards who are younger than 20 years old and are still playing in the Canadian junior hockey system. Cole Davis of Windsor (OHL), Caleb Hadland of Brandon (WHL), and Nathan Lecompte of Chicoutimi (QMJHL). Of the group, Lecompte was the highest scorer last season, posting 49 points in 56 games, he is also the youngest, at only 18 years old. Davis 45 points in 57 OHL games and Hadland had 42 points in 65 WHL games.
None of them were drafted when they were draft eligible.
Defensemen
The defensive group the Devils are brining are headlined by a pair of former Michigan teammates in Seamus Casey and Ethan Edwards. The Devils are also bringing organizational prospects in Mikael Diotte Jeremy Hanzel, and Jackson van de Leest, among others. This is a veteran group as far as prospect challenges go.
Former, and Current, Teammates
Both Seamus Casey and Ethan Edwards played their collegiate hockey at the University of Michigan. Casey’s offensive skills were on full display last season, as he scored four goals and posted eight points in his first 14 NHL games. He had 18 points in 30 AHL games. The Devils’ blue line seems pretty packed as it stands, so it remains to be seen if he will factor in at the NHL level again this year.
Edwards, who was at Michigan for two more seasons, appeared in 10 AHL games for Utica (AHL) down the stretch. He posted three points after scoring 21 in 36 games in his final season with Michigan. He will be with Utica this season.
AHL/ECHL Contributors
As mentioned above, the defensive group the Devils are bringing to Buffalo almost all have professional experience. Jeremy Hanzel and Jackson van de Leest are by far the most experienced of the group. Hanzel, acquired in the deal that sent forward Erik Haula to Nashville this offseason, has 61 ECHL games and nine AHL games under his belt. The former sixth-round pick in 2023 had 22 points in 62 games with Atlanta of the ECHL last season.
Van de Leest, 24 years old, has been within the Devils’ system since his junior career ended, outside of a short loan to the South Carolina Stingray (ECHL) last season. He has 63 career ECHL games and 12 AHL games under his belt. He played 49 ECHL games between Adirondack and South Carolina last season, posting four points and 59 penalty minutes.
Mikael Diotte and Luke Reid also have some professional experience. Diotte, 22 years old, played in five AHL games and two ECHL games last season. In his final junior hockey season, he was awarded the Kevin-Lowe Trophy, awarded to the QMJHL’s top defensive defenseman. Reid, 23 years old, got a taste of his professional action last year, played11 games between the ECHL and AHL. The undrafted free agent played his college hockey at the University of New Hampshire from 2020-2025.
Family Ties
The last defenseman of the group is Jimmy Dowd Jr. The son of former Devil forward, Jim Dowd, Jimmy Jr. played five seasons at Penn State at the collegiate level, totaling 150 games and 73 career points. He is slated to join Adirondack of the ECHL this season.
Goaltenders
The Devils are sending three goaltenders to the challenge in Buffalo, headlined by a top-10 organizational prospect in Jakub Malek and two previous organizational draft picks in Tyler Brennan and Trenton Bennett.
Malek has had an extremely consistent professional career in the Liiga. The former fourth-round pick in 2021 is now 23 years old and slated to make the North American jump this year. He posted back-to-back save percentages of 0.915 and 0.910, respectively, in Finland’s top professional league over the last two seasons. He should be regarded as a top-10 prospect in the system.
Brennan, 21 years old, was drafted in the fourth round in 2022. He has struggled in his first two professional seasons, playing specifically in the ECHL, with save percentage figures of 0.896 in 203-24 (13 games) and 0.878 in 2024-25 (29 games). Lastly, Bennett, was drafted this past season in the fourth round. He is only 19 years old and had a 0.923 save percentage in the OHL (six games) this past season. He is slated to continue his career at the NCAA level at St. Lawrence University.