The New Jersey Devils came into the 2017 Buffalo Sabres Prospect Challenge feeling pretty darn good about themselves and where they were as an organization in terms of prospect depth.
After the first game, the Devils had even more reason to be confident. They were able to hand the hometown Sabres a defeat while showcasing their shiny new toys, Nico Hischier and Will Butcher.
When it came to a contract for restricted free agent Damon Severson, Ray Shero only saw two options on the table.
A) Sign a two year bridge deal, watch Severson blossom and have to pay him eight or nine million a season.
B) Sign a six year contract that buys out all the arbitration years, and two years of unrestricted free agency and hope Severson develops into a top two defenseman.
The New Jersey Devils announced the re-signing of restricted free agent defenseman Damon Severson Monday morning to a six year 25 million dollar contract that will see the young right handed d-man stick around in New Jersey for a while.
If the contract number sounds familiar, it’s because the term and value was the exact same as Adam Larsson three summers ago. It’s a number that might seem a little high, but the Devils are paying for potential and Severson’s offensive capabilities and are hoping, like Larsson, he will parlay that contract into a strong season with the team.
On May 4th, 2015 the New Jersey Devils hired Ray Shero as their new General Manager, the first man to acquire that title in 27 years. Shero arrived to find a prospect pool starved of high skill level players and one that had not produced a major NHL contributor since Adam Henrique was drafted in the third round, seven years prior.
That year, the NHL Entry Draft was a mere month away, and Shero had to rely on veteran scout David Conte, who had unearthed talent like Scott Niedermayer, Martin Brodeur, Scott Gomez, Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta in the early 90’s, which led to an incredible amount of success in New Jersey for 20 years.
Shortly after the draft, Conte parted ways with the organization, and Shero reached out to Paul Castron, formerly the director of amateur scouting of the Columbus Blue Jackets, to help achieve Shero’s vision of a fast, attacking, supportive brand of hockey, that was more suited to today’s NHL.
Coming off the heels of a hotly contested victory against the Buffalo Sabres less than 24 hours earlier, the New Jersey Devils prospects found themselves on the wrong side of a good old fashioned beat down at the hands of a veteran Pittsburgh Penguins prospect squad.
Binghamton Devils head coach Rick Kowalsky has been around the Devils organization for a long time and is running his third Prospects Challenge in Buffalo New York. The Devils have seen themselves go through a complete prospect overhaul and have a couple of shiny new toys in Will Butcher and Nico Hischier.
But it was prospects Jesper Bratt and Marian Studenic that had the Binghamton bench boss raving about the change in the Devils prospect pipeline.
The probability of a fifth round draft pick making it to the NHL is very remote. Sometimes however, scouts can get the whole situation wrong from only a couple of viewings and miss out on a talented player simply because of lack of information.
In a game that was mostly about Nico Hischier and Will Butcher and a hat trick by Ryan Kujawinski, it was Marian Studenic of the Hamilton Bulldogs in the Ontario Hockey League who made a tremendous first impression.
After a whirlwind summer that saw him become the first Swiss born player drafted first overall, Nico Hischier was happy to get his NHL pre-pre-season debut at the Prospects Challenge at the Harbor Center in Buffalo, New York.
Hischier was a force all game long, showing an elite skill set with the puck as well as his play away from the puck that showed the Devils made a wise selection by choosing the slick center first overall.
It’s been five years since Ryan Kujawinski was drafted but because of injuries, his development has been slow and a new wave of Devils prospects are looking to push him off the depth chart. A hat trick to open up the Devils Prospect Challenge might be just the thing to help Kujawinski gain his confidence and force himself back into the conversation.
The Buffalo Sabres faithful, feeling spurned by Hobey Baker Award winner Will Butcher, made it known early and often that they were displeased with the young Wisconsin native choosing the New Jersey Devils over their favorite team with a crescendo of boos every time Butcher touched the puck. That did not bother Butcher at all as he used his puck creativity to fuel the Devils to victory.
