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It’s time for the eighth installment of the all-encompassing breakdown of the New Jersey Devils’ pipeline, where I’m tasking myself with grading the skillsets of all 38 prospects aged 25 or younger. Without wasting any words, let’s get into it:
For part one (No. 39 - No. 35), click here.
For part two (No. 33 - No. 29), click here.
For part three (No. 28 - No. 24), click here.
For part four (No. 23 - No. 19), click here.
For part five (No. 18 - No. 14), click here.
For part six (No. 13 - No. 9), click here.
For part seven (No. 8 - No. 5), click here.
4th Round, 2022 (113th Overall) — 47 Games Played | 16 Goals | 26 Assists | 42 Total Points | Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) | 23 Years Old | 5’11 & 183 Pounds
The Devils acquired Amadeus Lombardi via trade this summer, trading their fourth-round selection for 2026 in exchange for the young center’s services. The 23-year-old most recently played a top-six role with the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he has been a near-point-per-game player for two consecutive campaigns, logging a grand total of 82 points in his 91 combined games. In the last two seasons, Lombardi ranked sixth in the AHL among players with at least 70 games in primary points per hour and ranked above the 90th percentile in GameScore per game among AHL forwards with at least 25 games played. He’s been one of the premier talents in the minor leagues, and should be regarded as such.
Lombardi is an excellent skater in every sense of the word. He particularly excels as a downhill skater, though; in a similar sense to Dylan Larkin, he is north-south oriented, preferring to power-skate right by defenders with strong acceleration and top-end speed:
Lombardi’s edges are strong, too, though they’re not quite as game-breaking as his speed and acceleration. He shifts his weight confidently and can turn around on a dime, allowing him to lose coverage quite easily without necessarily using his explosiveness or speed.
Lombardi is a very smart player in terms of his offensive instincts. He sees and scans the ice well, being a step or two ahead of the competition at all times. He has excellent anticipation of where defenders and his teammates are going to be, and playmakes accordingly.
His playmaking game itself is strong — in an interview with the Hockeytown West Podcast, Lombardi himself said that he prefers to set his teammates up rather than scoring himself. His chops showcase that mentality, as most of his passes are tape-to-tape. He can thread them through legs and through sticks, and has the creativity to make them even more threatening. You’ll see him cleverly use the boards, execute passes while spinning around, and utilize no-look plays with consistency. Check out the sequence below to get a glimpse of a few of those:
You’ll notice a few things on display there:
Lombardi is a magnet for the puck and makes a lot happen. You cannot teach that ability, nor can you really teach how to be such a driver from within a cyclical setting.
He has an innate ability to draw in and subsequently lose coverage, using his teammates, his agility, and his explosiveness to create time and space for himself as well as open up passing lanes for his teammates.
He makes spinaround passes and no-look passes often — he did so twice in this shift alone (one spinaround along the boards and one no-look that led to the goal).
From an off-puck perspective, while Lombardi far prefers to have the puck on his stick and will generally opt to get it back into his possession rather than letting his teammates facilitate play, he does have strong positional instincts. He knows how to get into open space in high-danger areas of the ice and can punish goaltenders and defensemen alike with a quality one-time look in such a spot:
On loose pucks, Lombardi is very opportunistic. He seems to be in the right place at the right time to intercept a pass or a loose puck in the offensive zone somewhat frequently, and it often results in a quality look for his team.
Where I think Lombardi could improve is in simplifying the game a bit. He’s excellent with the puck on his stick — truly excellent — but he can try to force plays a bit or hang onto the puck a little longer than he should. It’s a teachable habit, though, and one I’m not worried about whatsoever.
Lombardi’s hands are excellent as well. He has a lot of moves to pull from and can bring them out at full speed. Grand Rapids put him in the shootout every time they appeared in one for a reason — he’s manipulative, creative, and is smart enough to execute different moves depending on the context of the play. If a simple deke is needed, a simple deke is made. If a between-the-legs move is best, you can count on him to perform it. If he needs to toe drag, he toe drags.
For a self-proclaimed playmaker, Lombardi possesses an above-average shot. Generally speaking, he flexes his stick well and thus can provide a good bit of power on his wrist shots. His wrister is accurate, he can change the angle of his release, and he can see well through traffic, making him a shooting threat from distance:
Perhaps more importantly, given his skillset, is that he can fire a well-placed, zippy wrist shot or snap shot while mid-stride at top speed. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it makes him a dual-threat rush player, which is something he’ll need to be at the NHL level.
I think Lombardi’s one-timer is just okay. As evidenced by one of the clips in the hockey sense blurb, he is more reliant on positioning than shot mechanics when it comes to quickly firing off a one-tee. He’s accurate, but I’d like to see him drive a bit more power through his hips and legs than he does.
Lombardi is a high-effort player and has gradually been improving his defensive game throughout his development arc. He tries to be in a sound position within his own zone and tries to take away passing and shooting lanes with his body and stick, but can occasionally be drawn out of position in the name of trying to create a turnover and, subsequently, a counter-attack.
To be fair to Lombardi, he is effective in that regard, forcing an above-average number of turnovers and having the explosiveness to jump on the loose puck and create a rush chance. However, more disciplined positioning will serve him well at the NHL level, where almost everyone is manipulative enough to draw you in and then capitalize with a pass into open space.
I don’t think Lombardi is particularly physical, even if his motor never really turns off. He’s far more reliant on his work ethic and his excellent positioning in board battles than he is on crashing and banging his way to freeing up a loose puck. He tries to avoid contact when he can, but handles cross checks, slashes, and bumps as well as he can. He’s strong, and difficult to knock off the puck, but doesn’t provide a whole lot of physicality himself, simply relying on absorbing contact rather than doling it out. I think he could use to add a bit of a physical element to his game, even if it’s not what makes him a dynamic player — taking a page out of Jesper Bratt’s book might do him well in that regard.
I think it’s pretty clear Lombardi was acquired to play in the NHL to begin the 2026-27 season, given that the Devils traded draft capital for him and he is waiver-eligible. Sunny Mehta has spoken highly of him before, citing him as being “much more than depth” and a bet on upside. With that, I would be surprised if he was not on the opening night roster, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed there all season. The votes of confidence from the front office should motivate him even more to maintain that role.
2nd Round, 2026 (37th Overall) — 62 Games Played | 21 Goals | 66 Assists | 87 Total Points | Everett Silvertips (WHL) | 18 Years Old | 5’11 & 176 Pounds
The Devils moved back from the 35th overall selection in the 2026 draft to the 37th overall slot, and selected dynamic forward Matias Vanhanen with the pick. Initially, I was admittedly a bit surprised by the selection given how public rankings had placed the 18-year-old “overager,” but after watching a ton of his games and diving significantly deeper into his skillset, I’m sold.
Vanhanen was draft-eligible as one of the youngest players available in 2025, having put up solid numbers in the U20 Nationell and getting a cup of coffee or two in Liiga. He was small, though, and went overlooked. Ahead of the 2026 draft, Vanhanen made the intelligent choice to come stateside and commit to playing with the Everett Silvertips, a move that ended up being a blessing. He ultimately ended the campaign as Everett’s highest scorer, accumulating 87 points — 66 assists and 21 goals — in just 62 games. To boot, he grew a few inches and put up a near-point-per-game World Junior Championship performance. When the dust settled, he earned himself an early-second-round selection in the draft.
Vanhanen is a better skater than he gets credit for, despite his average-ish acceleration and top speed. He’s not a burner and won’t beat a defender one-on-one with either of those attributes — in fact, defenders do close their gaps somewhat confidently against him off the rush. Instead, he is reliant on excellent edgework, being able to shift weight quickly and subsequently peeling off from defenders or doing a spin-o-rama to lose coverage. He can rapidly change direction in all contexts — on the rush, he makes quick cuts to the interior of the ice, especially if a defender is attempting to close a gap, and off the cycle, he makes those same cuts into open spaces between coverage and can feign an attempt toward the slot before peeling back and opening up a passing lane after losing coverage.
There's a legitimate argument to Vanhanen being the most intelligent facilitator of play in the 2026 class. His playmaking vision is spectacular. He consistently looks like his plays are premeditated, firing off a quality look right when the puck hits his stick, and the reality is that he is steps ahead of his competition at all times. As such, you’ll see quite a few quick-touch passes.
When handed time and space, Vanhanen will find a cross-ice pass. That aforementioned vision is unbelievable, and he has the passing chops to get the puck to his teammate in a hurry and through (or over) sticks and under legs. There isn’t a shift he doesn’t find a dangerous royal road look.
Vanhanen’s ultimate goal as a player is to get the puck into the inner slot. Most of the time, that looks like a pass to an open teammate, and most of the time, he is responsible for why his teammate is open. He loves to draw in defenders and make them pay with a quick push-off and tape-to-tape pass. He loves to make short-distance, give-and-go passes that funnel the puck to the interior of the ice. He loves to playmake from the perimeter, too, diversifying his attacks and constantly keeping defenders on their toes.
All that said, Vanhanen’s off-puck positioning is equally special and equally as effective at creating high-danger looks. He is an expert at paving routes to get to the slot, messing with timing and speed in order to maximize the efficiency of his space. He is always in the right space at the right time, utilizing defenders’ legs against them in terms of reading their weight shifts and acting accordingly. Quite frequently, he’ll fire off a quick pass to a teammate in a better, more dangerous position than he is in, before sneaking up into open ice and putting himself in a great position.
I have zero notes on how Vanhanen can improve his playmaking game.
As one would expect from a player with the playmaking capabilities Vanhanen has, I think he has strong puckhandling abilities and can exploit defenders with his hands as well as his brain. Whether it’s a left-to-right move, a toe drag around a poke check attempt, or an intricate dance around a body or two, he can execute almost any play to in the name of getting the puck to a high-danger area of the ice. I will note, though, that his preference is to keep it simple — a bit more creativity in his movements will likely give him an even bigger leg up on his competition.
Where Vanhanen separates himself from the bunch in terms of puck skills is in his soft-touch interceptions of the puck. There isn’t a bad pass to him, as he can corral it and soften his grip on the stick to act as a sort of catch-and-release rubber band on passes he receives.
On one hand, I recognize that a lot of Vanhanen’s goals are a product of that impeccable off-puck positioning and ability to get into space. However, I still feel like his shot is labeled as below-average more than it should be.
I think his wrist shot is strong enough, with an accurate release that he can pull out in traffic. His soft hands allow him to fire a puck shortly after receiving it, and he can get it off his stick in a hurry.
Where positioning takes precedent over his shot is in his one-timer. I don’t think it’s all that powerful (though it is accurate), and I believe that Vanhanen needs to rotate his body a bit more in the name of getting the most out of his shot, but he is so often in the right spot at the right time that those improvements matter less.
Still, Vanhanen would be wise to improve on his shooting mechanics. He’s only going to become more threatening as a playmaker as defenders and goalies are forced to be more threatened by his shot, something that they’re a little too comfortable with at this point in time.
Vanhanen deserves credit for being an above-average defender despite a skillset that overwhelmingly favors being a cherry-picker. He’s a high-effort player from within his zone (something I misjudged in my initial scouting report of him) and, in particular, excels with his stick. His timing with stick checks is impeccable, and he is in control of it at all times. Thus, he limits the amount of time he spends in the penalty box while still generating a ton of turnovers both in a cyclical setting and against the rush in the neutral zone.
Vanhanen’s in-zone positioning is perfectly fine, but that stick allows him to intercept passing lanes and get rid of shooting lanes quite effectively. As a breakout player, he thrives as the F3 as a short-distance pass outlet. From there, he effectively gets the puck into the offensive zone through either his own legs or, more commonly, a pass to a streaking teammate.
Vanhanen isn’t very physical, relying much more on his brain than his brawn. If he ever throws a hit, it’s usually a reverse shoulder check to establish his positioning along the boards, but those moments are admittedly pretty rare.
While I think Vanhanen is an excellent player along the boards when he isn’t the one crunched against the wall — he employs a cerebral approach to board play and outwits his opponents into turning the puck over exactly where he himself is — he does get pushed out of relevance when he is the one getting mashed around.
It doesn’t really concern me, though — Vanhanen is dynamic and drives the interior of the ice regardless of how heavy he plays. Some players should be adding a layer of physicality to their games, but he doesn’t need it.
I’m a huge fan of Vanhanen’s game, and the Devils’ front office is, too. He’s unbelievably smart, puts in the effort all over the ice, and the facets of the game that need work (his shooting mechanics and using his body a bit more) can be taught. It’s not often that one of a draft class’s most intelligent players falls to the second round, but it happened here. He will be matriculating to Boston College in 2026-27, a move that will almost certainly reap benefits, especially if he ends up playing in a top-six capacity. He’s dynamic enough to do so, and that role as a soon-to-be-19-year-old will solidify his likelihood of playing significant time in the NHL. He’s just too smart not to have a long career.
1st Round, 2024 (10th Overall) — 61 Games Played | 1 Goal | 2 Assists | 3 Total Points | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL) | 20 Years Old | 6’7 & 207 Pounds
Anton Silayev remains one of just three top-15 picks in the 2024 draft to not have played in the NHL yet, joining Cayden Lindstrom (who has dealt with a myriad of significant injury setbacks) and Tij Iginla (who is likely making the jump in 2026-27). In his D+2 season — one where he was expected to grow in the facets of the game that most needed improvement, like puck-movement and decision-making — he stagnated, if not backtracked, in those areas. Ultimately, Silayev’s season was his most disappointing yet, solely accruing three total points in 61 games. Sure, that’s not his game, and sure, he dealt with some typical highly-touted-young-prospect deployment by his Russian coaches, but the end result was still disappointing, independent of those factors.
Flat-out, no player on the planet can do what Silayev does. At 6’7, he skates like a player a foot shorter than him, with unbelievable acceleration and an above-average top speed. He drives a ton of power through his legs and to his skates with every stride, covering a mammoth amount of ice in just a few steps:
Silayev also has perfect weight shifting and four-way mobility. He can turn on a dime, keep pace with forward-skating rushers while skating backward, and has superb gap control by virtue of timing and, more importantly, mechanics. There isn’t a big man in the world who can move as he does.
I was aching for Silayev to improve his decision-making and puck-moving skills drastically over last season, and was disappointed to find that he really hadn’t. He still struggles upon puck retrievals when he is faced with forechecking pressure, often turning his excellent recoveries into turnovers. Rather than using his ridiculous skating chops or scanning the ice for breakout passes, Silayev typically rushes his plays, either choosing the first outlet he sees or simply firing the puck up the boards. I’m still hopeful he can develop those instincts, because there are flashes of him making the right call or being patient, even if they’re few and far between.
It’s interesting, because I don’t think he has these issues with pressure nearly as much when the puck is on his stick from within the offensive zone itself — it’s purely on the breakout. I don’t think he’s a strong facilitator by any means while playing on the cycle, just that he can handle one defender in his face without completely panicking.
Where I did see improvement was in his willingness, even eagerness, to join the rush. He capitalized on his acceleration and speed any chance he could, participating in the rush as either a facilitator or a drop-pass option. When the puck reaches his stick, he often doesn’t know what to do with it and opts to either fire an immediate shot at the goal or return it to the sender. His decision-making when he gets the puck lacks, but his instincts to join the play are strong.
Silayev has slightly better hands than one would expect for a 6’7 player. They’re not stone-like, which is an improvement on the Nikita Zadorovs and Tyler Myerses of the world. He can make the occasional lateral deke to get around someone while skating with the puck on his stick, but those moments are rare.
Silayev does have work to do on his shot. He generates a solid amount of power relative to the average defender, but considering his stature, he should be generating a whole lot more. He doesn’t drive his hips through the puck when one-timing it from the point, which is disappointing considering how much he wants to rifle the puck the moment he gets passed to on the point. Silayev needs to improve on his shot selection, too, showing a lot of impatience in the offensive zone.
I expect Silayev to become one of the league’s best shutdown defensemen upon making the jump to the NHL.
In particular, the young defenseman excels against the rush, using that unprecedented skating ability to completely nullify any downhill play from the other team. He does it in a myriad of ways, too. He can close gaps excruciatingly quickly..:
…force an opponent into the wall and prevent him from getting past..:
…and catch up with the play and take away space the opponent thought was there:
It’s honestly incredible to watch Silayev defend against the rush. His gap control is perfect, his stick is perfect, and his frame is perfect for anything that comes against him.
From an in-zone perspective, Silayev is also an excellent defender. His positioning is typically perfect, and when it isn’t, he has the mobility to get anywhere he needs to be in an instant. His reach is gigantic, and he uses it to block shooting and passing lanes with ease.
Again, the expectation should be that he becomes a top-tier defender at the NHL level. His habits are elite, his frame is elite, his mobility is elite, and his positioning is elite.
Silayev is assuredly strong given his size, being able to knock opponents over without even really meaning to. He makes 6’4 players look and feel small, sealing them off along the boards before retrieving the loose puck.
Silayev is also an excellent battler along the boards, both handling and doling out cross checks, slashes, shoulders, and body checks en route to getting the puck to a teammate. He works hard, and when he’s gassed, he is able to let his frame do the work for him.
I want Silayev to be a bit more assertive, though — he isn’t as big a proponent of bone-crunching hits as one would expect given his archetype and frame. He seemingly doesn’t want to hurt others, and that’s where I think he could get a leg up at the NHL level. He should want to; it’ll give him a menacing leg up defensively and impose a layer of fear in those who are trying to get past him.
Silayev did sign his entry-level contract (ELC), though, and is slated to get big minutes with the Utica Comets, who will almost certainly teach him how to be more composed and deliberate with the puck on his stick. It’s truly the only area of the game he needs to work on — his skating is unicornical1, his defensive habits are elite, and he has the frame to be a real threat physically. Even if he doesn’t develop the puck-moving chops he needs to, he’s still going to be a minute-munching, penalty-killing, top-four defenseman. It’s just that he might not hit that astronomical ceiling. The good news is, he’s still just 20 years old.
1st Round, 2026 (12th Overall) — 30 Games Played | 17 Goals | 27 Assists | 44 Total Points | Örebro HK U20 (U20 Nationell) | 18 Years Old | 6’1 & 194 Pounds
With the 12th overall selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, the Devils selected Swedish center Alexander Command out of the U20 Nationell. He played a handful of games in the SHL, something that most were hoping would be more frequent, but certainly made the most of his U20 deployment. The 6’1, 194-pound center was the fourth pivot selected in the draft behind Viggo Björck and Tynan Lawrence, and he earned that honor through his tenacity, projectable skillset, attitude, and peskiness.
Skating is Command’s “weakest” attribute, but he still seems to be average-at-worst in my eyes. The first thing that stands out is his bottomless motor — his legs never stop churning, and he can maintain the same mechanics, speed, and acceleration from his first step of the shift to the last. His edges aren’t anything to write home about, to be clear, but he is explosive enough to make do in tight areas of the ice. In fact, that explosiveness is his best attribute in terms of his skating chops; he gets to loose pucks very quickly. His top gear is ahead of his peers at the U20 level, and will be average-to-slightly-above-average at the NHL level.
Command is an extremely smart hockey player on both sides of the puck. In the offensive zone, he has an excellent feel and vision for the game, being able to draw in defenders before punishing them with a pass to a teammate he saw in his peripheral vision or already knew was there. His passes themselves are perfect, with the ability to dole them out through multiple defenders. Command positions his body quite well to receive passes and positions it equally well to dole them out both on the forehand and backhand.
Upon receiving the puck, Command knows exactly where to place the puck next in order to get it to a teammate around the net or in the slot. His anticipation is fantastic, understanding the body orientation of the defenders as well as the position his teammates are in to flutter a pass exactly where it needs to be.
Command also pre-scans the ice, which allows him to fire off quick-release passes the moment he gets the puck on his stick. Watch the sequence below and take stock of his head — you’ll see him look to his left prior to receiving the pass, seeing his teammate streak toward open ice before placing a pass exactly there.
Command’s off-puck instincts are quite strong, too, though I think he does his best work from an on-puck perspective. Still, generally speaking, he puts himself in a prime area of the ice to receive a pass and fire a shot or subsequent pass off quickly.
With the puck on his stick, Command is pretty creative. He has a wider bag of tricks than one would expect given his bruiser mentality, but he does have legitimate skill to go along with it. His hands are relatively quick-twitch, being able to string together multiple rapid lateral moves to escape danger while trying to get to the interior of the ice. On occasion, you’ll see him pull out a more complex dangle to create space or get around a defender one-on-one, sometimes pulling the puck through his or his opponent’s legs. He’s patient, knows when the time to strike is, and has the moveset to make a defender look silly.
Command is a true dual-threat player, meaning that he can playmake at a high level and possesses a threatening shot to boot. His wrister is deceptive — without necessarily having to draw the puck in for very long, he gets a powerful, quick-touch shot off that catches goalies by surprise. It’s powerful and accurate enough to be a threat from distance, at least at the junior level.
Command’s one-timer is pretty strong as well, generating a good amount of power without projecting it too much. He knows how to fire it while shifting from side to side, too, allowing his teammates to hit him with a pass that isn’t perfect before rifling a shot off.
I think Command should be shooting more than he does, though — he shoots a perfectly fine amount but oftentimes tries to find the highest-danger play rather than keeping a goalie on his toes. His shot is strong, and he should use it more.
Command is defensively apt, to be sure — his two-way game is easily one of the most projectable assets to the NHL. His positioning is superb, and he knows when to activate towards the puck carrier in order to take away space and potentially force a turnover. His stick, though a tad undisciplined, is extremely active and is used to both take away lanes and create loose pucks for either him or his teammates to pounce on.
In board battles, there is no forward I’d rather have than Command. His tenacity, motor, and work ethic are one-of-one, and he uses it to come on top of such instances whenever they arise.
Beyond that, he was excellent in the dot in 2025-26 (at least at the U20 level), winning over 60% of his draws. As such, he was deployed down the middle in defensive situations and on the penalty kill, tasked with winning important face-offs. At the NHL level, he will be afforded the same or similar deployment.
Many have drawn comparisons to Sam Bennett while watching Command play, and for good reason (even though that sells short the other aspects of his game, in my eyes). Despite not being the biggest on the ice at any given moment, he is far and away the most aggressive. He’s incessant in his pursuit of body checks, with timing bordering on too-late but never so much so that a whistle is blown. He checks hard, too, with the intent of putting his opponents through the boards.
This, combined with his expert route planning, makes him a perfect forechecker. He’s a pinballer in the sense that he bounces around from check to check to free up the puck, but he does so intelligently enough that his teammate can retrieve it.
Even beyond the body checks, Command is a pest in every sense of the word. He chirps the opposition. He throws cross-checks and slashes constantly. He toes the line between acceptable and not, and it’s a treat to watch in action because you can see how frustrated the opposition gets. He hates to lose, be it a game or a period or a battle, and takes that hatred to the opposition.
I am absolutely certain Command will have a long, fruitful NHL career. Despite average-ish skating, his smarts, hands, shot, defensive game, and penchant for playing an annoying game and getting under the opponent’s skin will serve him well. He’s a shoo-in for middle-six minutes at the NHL level, even if he needs a year or two of development to get there. I would be stunned if he didn’t end up being one of the best third-line centers in the NHL while playing behind Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, and the Devils, as a result, are poised to have one of the deepest down-the-middle groups in the league for a very, very long time. Command’s attitude is one-of-one — I’ve never seen a prospect hate losing as much as he does. That will work wonders in the big leagues.
I had a tough time deciding between Silayev and Command for the top spot, but I ultimately had to give it to the premium-position player with the higher offensive ceiling and higher work ethic. The Devils’ top two prospects are absolutely in a league of their own relative to the rest of the pipeline.
The 30-second clip of Lombardi cycling in the offensive zone was taken from the Hockeytown West Podcast on Twitter/X. The clips of Command at the 2025 Junior A Championship and his hit were from Derek Neumeier on Twitter/X. All other clips from this piece were recorded from my own viewings of these prospects. All clips were edited by me.
Thank you all for staying in tune with this entire series — it’s been a ton of work, but the support has been incredible. I’ll have the entire list, as well as a tier list of all of the players and some extra notes, out tomorrow!
Still trying to make this a word. Notice me, Merriam-Webster.
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