Devils’ Prospect Stock Market: Salminen, Bennett & More – The Hockey Writers – New Jersey Devils

With most of their former top prospects having already graduated, the New Jersey Devils‘ farm system may not be what it was a few years back. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; many of those graduates, like Arseny Gritsyuk, are now making a significant impact on the NHL squad.

This is the fifth edition of a monthly series which will take a deeper dive into notable prospect pool storylines. Remember: Just because a player’s stock is ‘up’ does not mean they’re a “better” prospect than someone whose stock is ‘down’, and vice versa.

Stock Up: F Samu Salminen (2021 Round 3, #68 Overall)

As we often see come playoff time, the best NHL teams typically employ effective role players down their lineup who can execute regularly on what’s expected of them. 6-foot-3 center Samu Salminen just won a National Championship with Denver (NCAA) and played the exact sort of role that championship teams salivate over.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll translate to the NHL level, but the potential is there. He finished out his season with 12 points (5G, 7A) in 12 games, including a perfectly executed one-timer in the Loveland Regional Final:

What a play by the Pios! Samu Salminen with a great shot to give Denver a 3-1 lead
pic.twitter.com/QbdNKxyVUY

— EVERYTHING COLLEGE HOCKEY (@TeamECH) March 29, 2026

He does a bit of everything — from some offensive flair (29 P in 43 GP), to defensive responsibility (plus-22 rating), to using his large frame effectively. He probably won’t ever play in an NHL team’s top-six, but he can still be effective in a lesser everyday role if he turns pro and continues to develop in North America.

The Devils will have to sign him by Aug. 15 if they want to keep him in the organization.

Stock Down: G Trenten Bennett (2025 Round 4, #99 Overall)

Trenten Bennett, who stands at 6-foot-8, has shown flashes of dominance. But at the end of the day, the Devils were probably looking to see a bigger step forward than the one he took this season.

With his season officially over with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Bennett went 9-10-2 with a 3.93 goals against average (GAA) and .896 save percentage (SV%).

While those don’t exactly look like numbers that will translate well to pro hockey, he furthered that with a very rough showing in the playoffs — taking the loss in both games played to the tune of a 13.48 GAA and .618 SV%. Yikes.

With that being said, Bennett has shown he has the raw talent, but hasn’t found any sort of long-term consistency. It’s very possible the just-turned 20-year-old just needs to continue to get used to his large frame, so don’t give up yet. But there’s a long way to go.

Stock Up: G Mikhail Yegorov (2024 Round 2, #49 Overall)

Boston University mightily struggled this season, as the 2025 college hockey runners-up played to a 17-17-2 record. Specifically, their defense struggled to put together any semblance of a consistent stretch, leaving the talented Yegorov out to dry on far too many occasions.

Despite his counting stats looking all out of whack early on, Yegorov — who played in 35 of their 39 games — rebounded to bring his final SV% to .904%. Despite the team struggles, he continued to grind and maintained a positive mindset, finishing out with a .930 SV% in his final five games.

While Yegorov’s plans to go pro are still unclear, his ability to only get better as the season progressed — plus his success in bigger moments (last year’s Frozen Four and this year’s Kelley-Harkness Cup shutout at Madison Square Garden) — all bodes well for his ability to handle the bright lights one day.

If you take away two starts where he was completely hung out to dry in the fall, his final SV% would have been .910%. From the eye test, he didn’t look much different than his .927 SV% season last year — he just had a larger workload and significantly worse defense in front of him.

Stock Down: D Sigge Holmgren (2025 Round 6, #178 Overall)

Typically, a sixth-round pick from a weak draft wouldn’t even be worth discussion here. But Holmgren appeared to be an interesting pick by the Devils; in 2023-24, he led all 2025-eligible defensemen in the Swedish U18 league with 16 points in 18 games, including six goals which tied the league-lead. 

But after an injury caused him to miss the entire 2024-25 season, he fell off the radar of nearly all scouts. With a promotion to the U20 team, he would’ve quickly become a talked-about prospect if he could continue his offensive success. But unfortunately for him, he had just seven points in 42 games. Compared to his counterparts of the same age, this likely signals that an NHL future is out of the equation.

There’s always the possibility that this year was simply to get his feet under him, and a breakout is looming. But like Bennett, there would have to be a pretty significant uptick in order to be taken seriously amongst the team’s top prospects.

As the Devils’ offseason moves along, be sure to continue following The Hockey Writers as your source for news, updates, and more.