It is time for another five! This one is an interesting group: these are the first group of five who are all on NHL two-way contracts, meaning all five could play for the New Jersey Devils this year and
will almost certainly all suit up for the Utica Comets. Let’s begin with one of our favorite Michigan draftees!
15. Ethan Edwards (D) — Last Rank: 21 — Age: 23 — 2024-25 Teams: Michigan Wolverines (NCAA — 36 games), Utica Comets (AHL — 10 games)
Drafted back in 2020, Ethan Edwards has been a question mark for the New Jersey Devils’ future as a result of the stacking of the blueline since then. With Luke Hughes expected to lead the defensemen for years to come, along with other possible long-term Devils in Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey, and Anton Silayev, it has been difficult to conceive of a place for Ethan Edwards on the team. With Jonas Siegenthaler returning to form last season, the left side of the defense has become quite formidable on paper, both in the present and the future.
With a bit of patience, AHL seasoning, and careful management, though, Edwards may still be a Devil: he has a lot of tools that Sheldon Keefe and Tom Fitzgerald value. He is an excellent skater, and strong despite his shorter stature. He was not a massive point producer at Michigan, topping out at 21 points in his senior year, but has shown the willingness to go to the net on offense — and his skating ability allows him to do that with recovering to his position in mind.
In my view of the current Devils roster, Edwards may very well be the fourth best left-handed defensive option behind Siegenthaler, Hughes, and Dillon. When the season begins to approach the playoffs, I would hope that the Devils’ front office has a look at Edwards’s performance in the AHL (alongside Seamus Casey, if he plays there) before trying to use the trade market to bolster the defense. His individual growth is most important right now, but I would take an older defenseman with Edwards’s exact skillset as the seventh defenseman on any day of the week.
14. Thomas Bordeleau (C/W) — Last Rank: N/A — Age: 23 — 2024-25 Teams: San Jose Barracuda (AHL — 68 games), San Jose Sharks (1 game)
Acquired in a trade for Shane Bowers during the offseason, Thomas Bordeleau looks to restart his career with the Devils. At 5’9” and 174 pounds, Bordeleau had 14 goals and 24 assists for the Barracuda last season. I thought to compare him to Xavier Parent (ranked 26th in our list), who is just an inch shorter and about the same weight, who had 17 goals and 19 assists in 61 games for the Comets last year. Of course, Bordeleau has played 44 NHL games for the San Jose Sharks in his career, but the breakdown of his play is not very pretty. He has averaged about 15 minutes of ice time per NHL appearance with six goals and 12 assists with a -22 rating, while going 48.9% in the faceoff dot. In his most extensive NHL season (27 games in the 2023-24 season), the Sharks scored five times and gave up 18 goals with Bordeleau on the ice at five-on-five, while Bordeleau put up seven of his 11 points on the power play.
I do think a ranking of 14 might set expectations a bit too high for Bordeleau, who may be lauded as an NHL option by some fans because they see he’s played there before, while not having any pessimistic sentiment towards him because he’s played for a different team. And, yes, the San Jose Sharks have been a very bad team, and good players can be buried by bad team play. But I would hope that a guy competing for a spot on this year’s Devils team, with their playoff and contending aspirations, would have been able to crack the Sharks’ lineup for more than one game last season. He has a lot to prove, even if he has shown skill before. He almost makes me think of a guy like Joseph Blandisi — someone who showed a lot of skill on a bad Devils team in The Second Devils Dark Ages, but couldn’t stick in the NHL after his first big stint. Hopefully, Bordeleau explodes in the AHL and sets him up for a real NHL shot.
Bordeleau was a second round pick in 2020, a lauded prospect of the United States National Development Program, and a productive player at Michigan. Perhaps he was just incredibly unlucky in San Jose, but I do not currently see a great way for him to make the roster as it stands today. He is a skilled, undersized forward trying to break onto a team that needs a fourth line center. If the Devils needed a scoring winger, I would have more hope for his case. He did have a good preseason debut against the Rangers as a winger for Kevin Rooney, in which he led the team in expected goals percentage, but he has yet to get back onto the ice. Perhaps when the Devils play their split-squad games, Bordeleau may get a shot with more ice time.
13. Jakub Malek (G) — Last Rank: 13 — Age: 23 — 2024-25 Team: Ilves (Liiga — 33 games)
Staying steady at 13, Jakub Malek has finally appeared in a preseason game for the New Jersey Devils. After being loaned to Ilves in the first year of his entry-level contract, Malek did not suit up for the Devils last year in the preseason. This was best for the team at the time, as they were carrying Nico Daws and Isaac Poulter in the AHL along with Jeremy Brodeur and Tyler Brennan in the ECHL. With Poulter off to Winnipeg and Daws’s status for the upcoming season up in the air, Malek has a chance to solidify himself as a future NHL starting goaltender with a strong season at Utica. When Sam Kasan interviewed him for the team’s prospect profiles on NHL.com, Malek said about his goals for playing in Utica:
To win the Calder Cup. I can’t wait to be there because it will be something totally new for me. I can’t wait for the fun, I can’t wait for the games, I can’t wait to be there with the guys.
Given the Comets’ lack of success over the last few years as a Devils affiliate, that should be music to their ears. When Malek was last a member of VHK Vsetin in the second Czech league, Malek put up a .932 save percentage in the regular season along with a 7-4 record and .933 save percentage in the playoffs, turning 20 years old at the end of that 2021-22 season. Since then, Malek has grown in the Finnish Liiga, going from 22 to 27 to 33 games played, while continuing to show that he can handle professional competition with a .910 save percentage and a 40-22-15 record across those games.
In the long-term, Malek still projects as a goaltending option for the New Jersey Devils once Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen no longer hold down the fort in goal. Having primarily played European professional hockey since he was 18 years old, Malek might be ready for the NHL as soon as this season, but circumstances dictate that he works to master the AHL first. In the process, he will likely have the opportunity to play with everyone in this section of our Top 25 in his first North American season.
In the short-term, Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen need to hook him up with a good mask.
12. Cam Squires (RW) — Last Rank: 17 — Age: 20 — 2024-25 Teams: Cape Breton Eagles (QMJHL — 58 games), Utica Comets (AHL — 3 games)
Since being drafted in the fourth round in 2023, Cam Squires has continued to be a solid forward prospect for the Devils. When he was drafted, I was intrigued by his higher-end production profile for a fourth-round pick while cautioning that it would take him some time to become NHL-ready due to his low weight at the time. But it has been a couple years since then, Squires has aged out of the QMJHL, and he had four points in his first three games for Utica last season, which bodes well for his first full season there this year. If he plays in the AHL like he did in the QMJHL (as he signaled an ability to in the spring), it won’t be long before he’s an NHL option. This was how Mitchell Brown tracked Cam Squires in his D+1 season (the only year with enough tracking data for Squires):
Cam has yet to play in a preseason game, but he did play for the Devils in the recent prospect challenge, where he had a fight (in which he actually did well against a larger opponent, who Squires was familiar with from the QMJHL) while showing off a bit of his skill. Hopefully, Squires actually plays on the split-squad day, as he was an extra for the Devils’ game group last night. But, as the youngest player at camp for the New Jersey Devils this season (having turned 20 in April), he does not seem very likely to get consideration for more than a top six role in Utica this fall. Still, if he plays like this in Utica, it won’t be long until he needs the next level of competition.
11. Shane LaChance (LW) — Last Rank: N/A — Age: 22 — 2024-25 Teams: Boston University (NCAA — 40 games), Utica Comets (AHL — 2 games)
Tomorrow will be a big day for Shane LaChance. After getting banged up in the Prospect’s Challenge, LaChance is only returning to play tomorrow, having missed the first three games of the preseason. The 6’5”, 220-pound forward was a fixture at the front of the net for Boston University last season, scoring one of their two goals in their stunning loss to Western Michigan in the Frozen Four Final. After signing an ELC with the Devils, he scored a goal and an assist for the Comets in two games at the end of the season.
His acquisition first flew under the radar for many Devils fans because of misdirected anger over Tom Fitzgerald facilitating the Trent Frederic trade from Boston to Edmonton, in which the Devils traded Petr Hauser to Boston, retained Frederic’s salary, and traded him to Edmonton for LaChance. LaChance, the son of Devils Director of US Scouting Scott LaChance (himself an accomplished NHLer of over 800 games played), was simply not the focus of the fan reaction to that trade. It was only as the Frozen Four rolled around that more people took notice of LaChance, whose build and goalscoring profile fits the bottom six needs that fans have been clamoring for Fitzgerald to remedy. He can park right in front of the goalie and do all the things you need a power forward to do there.
LaChance could have spent another year or two at college if he so wished, having only turned 22 on August 30 after two years of playing hockey for Boston University, but the move to the AHL is probably best for his career. Playing upwards of 60 games, with the chance to get a cup of coffee in the NHL (possibly soon, if he performs well for the rest of the preseason), will do him good. This is especially true considering LaChance’s size, as the AHL and NHL will present bigger challenges for a forward of his stature.
The Rankings
Please see the full rankings below:
The community was almost perfectly on point for what the final results ended up, with just the exact order out of place. This will be an interesting five to follow. As I mentioned above, all five are most likely to spend the majority of their seasons with the Utica Comets, and their successes or failures will largely determine whether Utica can make the Calder Cup Playoffs. Squires sticks out a bit in terms of age, while LaChance does in terms of his skillset. Jakub Malek has the most professional experience of these five, and clearly should not be counted out from the Devils’ future. Bordeleau has plenty of skill, but has yet to really put it all together at the professional level. And Ethan Edwards looks smooth as butter on skates, and I hope he takes to the physical stylings of the AHL while not limiting himself on offense.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of these five? Do you think any will make the NHL this season? Who do you think will have the best year with Utica? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
