Here we are entering the middle of August with training camp still a few weeks away from commencing. This year's training camp will give us a look at the young players in the Devils professional system and those that they hold the rights to that are still in juniors and college. The Devils have added 11 new players under 25 in the system which makes this year's list all the more exciting. We will use a combination of rankings from the ILWT writers as well as a survey for the community to give their rankings. Join us for the 4th annual ILWT Top 25 Under 25 list.

Recap of 2014's List

The Top 25 Under 25 list started in 2012 and has featured community involvement since 2013. Last year, Adam Henrique finished #1 for the 3rd year in a row. Henrique no longer qualifies due to age which means we will have a new #1. Jon Merrill, Adam Larsson, Eric Gelinas, and Reid Boucher filled out the rest of the top 5. Last season's breakout player, Damon Severson was 6th on last year's list. Stefan Matteau, Jacob Josefson, Steve Santini, and John Quenneville comprised the rest of the top 10. Obviously players that have reached and had success at the NHL level were valued a bit more than prospects with promise. It will be interesting to see how the rankings change for this year's list as some of these players have more NHL experience, others are a year further along in their development, and there are quite a few new additions to the list that could see NHL action this season.



Here are the links to last year's posts on the Top 25 Under 25:



Top 5, 10-6, 15-11, 20-16, 25-21, and The Outsiders

New Additions

Name Position Acquired 2015-16 Team Pavel Zacha C 2015 Draft (1/6) Sarnia (OHL) Mackenzie Blackwood G 2015 Draft (2/42) Barrie (OHL) Blake Speers RW 2015 Draft (3/67) Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) Colton White D 2015 Draft (4/97) Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) Brett Seney LW 2015 Draft (6/157) Merrimack (NCAA) Joseph Blandisi C Free Agent (1/15/15) Albany (AHL) Kyle Palmieri RW Trade (6/27/15) New Jersey (NHL) John Moore D Free Agent (7/1/15) New Jersey (NHL) Vojtech Mozik D Free Agent (6/15/15) Albany (AHL) Sergey Kalinin C/RW Free Agent (5/29/15) New Jersey (NHL) Max Novak RW Free Agent (3/20/15) Albany (AHL)

As you can see, the Devils have added quite a few prospects and young players over the past few months. You can find each draft prospect's post and John's recap of the draft archived here. Also, the Prospects - Devils and Otherwise tag has a bunch of prospect related post that could help you in deciding your rankings on some of the lesser known players. Please note that I put Sarnia down as Zacha's 2015-16 team but the possibility remains that he could play in New Jersey (if he signs in the next few days) or in the Czech Republic for Bili Tygri Liberec. It is nice to see the Devils add some young free agents and make a trade for a proven NHL player in Kyle Palmieri.

Departures

Players

Player (ABC Order) Position DOB 9/15 Age Contract/Notes Adam Larsson D 11/12/1992 22.85 NHL Alex Kerfoot C 8/11/1994 21.11 Rights Owned Artur Gavrus RW 1/3/1994 21.71 Rights Owned Ben Johnson C 6/7/1994 21.29 ELC Ben Thomson LW 1/16/1993 22.68 ELC Blake Coleman C 11/28/1991 23.81 ELC Blake Pietila LW 2/20/1993 22.58 ELC Blake Speers RW 1/2/1997 18.71 Rights Owned Brandon Baddock LW 3/29/1995 20.48 Rights Owned Brett Seney LW 2/29/1996 19.56 Rights Owned Colton White D 5/3/1997 18.38 Rights Owned Connor Chatham RW 10/30/1995 19.89 Rights Owned Damon Severson D 8/7/1994 21.12 ELC Eric Gelinas D 5/8/1991 24.37 NHL Graham Black C 1/13/1993 22.68 ELC Jacob Josefson LW/C 3/2/1991 24.56 NHL JD Dudek C 1/29/1996 19.64 Rights Owned John Moore D 11/19/1990 24.84 NHL John Quenneville C 4/16/1996 19.43 Rights Owned Jon Merrill D 2/3/1992 23.63 ELC Joseph Blandisi C 7/18/1994 21.18 ELC Josh Jacobs D 2/15/1996 19.59 Rights Owned Kyle Palmieri RW 2/1/1991 24.64 NHL Mackenzie Blackwood G 12/9/1996 18.78 Rights Owned Max Novak RW 4/15/1991 24.44 AHL Miles Wood LW 9/13/1995 20.02 Rights Owned Pavel Zacha C 4/6/1997 18.45 Rights Owned Raman Hrabarenka D 8/24/1992 23.07 ELC Reece Scarlett D 3/31/1993 22.47 ELC Reid Boucher LW 9/8/1993 22.03 ELC Ryan Kujawinski C 3/30/1995 20.48 ELC Ryan Rehill D 11/7/1995 19.87 Rights Owned Scott Wedgewood G 8/14/1992 23.10 NHL Sergey Kalinin C/RW 3/17/1991 24.52 ELC Seth Helgeson D 10/8/1990 24.95 NHL Stefan Matteau C 2/23/1994 21.57 NHL Steve Santini D 3/7/1995 20.54 Rights Owned Vojtech Mozik D 12/26/1992 22.73 ELC

The Survey

As I mentioned earlier, this year's rankings will be a combination of the ILWT writers and the community. John has set up this survey where you can go and rank all 38 players. Please make sure to rank all 38 players to avoid any fringe prospects getting a high ranking over legitimate NHL players. The survey will last for roughly a week which should be ample time to get your rankings in. Casting your vote is as simple as clicking the drop down menu next to the player's name and choosing the ranking you feel they deserve. Once you have all 38 ranked, just hit the "done" button on the bottom. We'll start to post the results soon after that.

Voice your opinion on these players in the comments. Feel free to make a case for or against a player and debate with other Devils fans. Talk about your ranking strategy. Do you give players with more professional experience the edge or do you value potential higher? Are there players whose 2014-15 form will impact your rankings? Thank you for reading and have fun ranking these players. I'm really interested to see what the ILWT writers and community can come up with together this year.