Introduction

Welcome back and thanks for sticking around! Last time we started on the journey of ranking every Devils rookie this season plus Michael McLeod and got to number seven. So, how do the rest of the guys stack up?

#6 – Mikhail Maltsev

Statistics: 33GP, 6G, 3A, 9PTS, 11:27 TOI/GP

Before the season if I showed these rankings to myself I would have called myself crazy having Maltsev this high. I probably would have had Nolan Foote, Kevin Bahl and Tyce Thompson all ahead of him. However, he ended up playing his way into a pretty consistent role in the lineup and more games than the previous players on this list combined besides Nick Merkley.

Maltsev was able to convert pretty much exactly what he did at the AHL level last season to the NHL. Decent production, solid possession numbers, and really nice hands. I could see Maltsev as a fixture of the bottom-six for years to come.

#5/4 – Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian

McLeod’s Statistics: 52GP, 9G, 6A, 15PTS, 13:49 TOI/GP

Bastian’s Statistics: 41GP, 3G, 7A, 10PTS, 12:37 TOI/GP

I decided to put these two together because they’re kind of the same. Both bottom-six forwards who had decent years production-wise and exceeded most people’s expectations. I will say though that they definitely exceeded mine.

During the summer I decided to make a Devils prospect tier list and I put McLeod in basically the bust territory. I put Bastian a little higher, but still only in the average tier. Overall, if I was to redo the list now I’d probably have them both in average, but they’d be a high-end average.

As for who’s actually better, McLeod obviously produced at like a 15 goal pace over 82 games, but Bastian had only five less points in 11 less games. Plus, he hit way more and had slightly better possession numbers, so he probably gets the slight edge. But don’t take that the wrong way, it was definitely close between the two.

#3 – Janne Kuokkanen

Statistics: 50GP, 8G, 17A, 25PTS, 14:46 TOI/GP

Janne Kuokkanen was another surprise rookie for the Devils. He started the year off kind of slow, but really started to rack up the points when he was placed on a line with fellow rookie Yegor Sharangovich and veteran center Travis Zajac. Kuokkanen stayed on the same line as Sharangovich for the rest of the season.

Janne showed this season that he has solid defensive instincts and a great playmaking ability. He should be a solid fixture in the top-nine for years to come. If he is that Vatanen trade looks better and better, especially considering Vatanen signed back with New Jersey.

#2 – Ty Smith

Statistics: 48GP, 2G, 21A, 23PTS, 20:07 TOI/GP

That’s right, I don’t have Smith at number one. You probably know who I do have at that spot now though. Smith had a solid rookie season, but I couldn’t put him at the top for a few reasons. 

First, Smith was pretty weak on the defensive-side. He was pretty turnover prone and a lot of times tried to be too fancy in his own end. This might have worked in the WHL, but it won’t in the NHL. He’ll learn things like that with time and experience though.

Second, his offensive production was very inconsistent after the first 15 games or so. He had 11 points in his first 16 games, but only 12 more in his final 32 games. Of those 12 points, he recorded half of them in three games. This means that if you take out those three games he only had six points in 29 of his final 32. That’s pretty rough.

Nobody should worry though, Smith played on a team that was getting very unlucky and didn’t have any legit goal scoring talent. He will get better with time and I still think has the potential to be a 50-60 point number one defenseman for the Devils in the not so distant future.

#1 – Yegor Sharangovich

Statistics: 54GP, 16G, 14A, 30PTS, 16:48 TOI/GP

Wow, what a journey over the past 15 months for Yegor Sharangovich. In 2019-20 he was a decent bottom-six forward in the AHL who had meddling production. I have no clue what he did during quarantine though, because he went to Russia to play in the KHL before the NHL/AHL season started and lit it up. After that he came to the NHL, made the team after a great camp and scored his first NHL goal in overtime in his second ever game. After that though he kind of did nothing for a while. However, just like his linemate in Kuokkanen that all changed when he was placed with Travis Zajac.

Sharangovich was not only one of the best and most exciting players to watch on the team during the second half of the season, but he was also one of the best rookies. He ended fourth in the league in both points and goals by a rookie. He was behind only Kirill Kaprizov, Jason Robertson, and Josh Norris in both categories.

Yegor already has decent defensive instincts, but he definitely still needs to improve in that category. His bread and butter though is his goal scoring ability and shot. Yegor this season was one of the best goal scorers on the team and should be a solid depth goal scorer in the middle-six for years to come.

All stats are via. NHL and naturalstattrick