Good afternoon, everyone. While we have had some delays, in part due to shaking out the finer points of the relaunched site, we are now ready to go full-steam ahead with the Top 25 Under 25. If you have been a reader here for awhile, you already know how this works. But as always, let’s just have a bit of a refresher on how it all goes.
As always, eligibility for the AATJ Top 25 Under 25 is rather simple: if the player is a member of the New Jersey Devils organization, whether signed to a contract or on their reserve list, they can be ranked as long as their birthdate is after September 15, 2000. If someone turns 25 on September 16, 2025, they would still be eligible for the list. In total, the New Jersey Devils have 41 players in the NHL organization under the age of 25.
The New Jersey Devils have 11 new under-25 players in the organization. One of them, Xavier Parent, was a member of the Utica Comets before signing a two-way deal with the Devils as an undrafted free agent. So, while Parent was previously with a Devils affiliate, this will be the first year in which Parent is ranked. And, having been born in 2001, it will also be his last. The Devils also acquired three of the 11 through trades: those three are Shane LaChance, Thomas Bordeleau, and Jeremy Hanzel. All other new U25 Devils are 2025 draftees. You will be able to see all additions and departures below.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the Devils being in playoff contention mode did not result in a net reduction of U25 players in the organization. Had they kept all of their restricted free agents, it would have been a +4 increase. However, the Devils allowed Nolan Foote, Santeri Hatakka, and Isaac Poulter to walk, bringing that down to +1. As you can see below, six of the 10 players departing the list were sent away near the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline.
The Devils actually have an extra U25 player to rank this year.
Only Paul Cotter regularly aged out of the list. A fun fact: Paul Cotter was the last player born in the 1990s to be in an All About the Jersey Top 25 Under 25 list. Born on November 16, 1999, Cotter was very near the cutoff last season. Next year, Nico Daws, Arseni Gritsyuk, Jack Hughes, Nathan Legare, Xavier Parent, and Dylan Wendt will be aged out. Dawson Mercer will then be the elder statesman of the Top 25 Under 25.
The full history of the Top 25 Under 25 can be accessed here. One of the biggest declines in rankings last year came from Samu Salminen, who went from 18th to 25th. Tyler Brennan and Cole Brown both dropped five spots, with Brennan dropping to 27th and Brown dropping to 39th. We’ll see how those players do this year.
As far as risers went, the biggest jump up the rankings among players still with the Devils came from Arseni Gritsyuk, who went from 12th to 5th. Four players rose six spots. Daniil Orlov rose to 23rd, Cam Squires was ranked 17th, Jakub Malek ended up 13th, and Lenni Hameenaho reached the 10th spot. Nico Daws also went five spots, from 13th to 8th. The biggest rise, however, is no longer with our club. That was Santeri Hatakka, who went from 30th to 12th before an injury-riddled season led to him signing overseas. Hopefully none of our ranked players this season end up with a similar fate to Hatakka’s.
This year’s survey is hosted on polling.com: you can access it here. You may have already completed the survey through the earlier feed post from a couple days ago, as I see that 18 people have responded so far. If you have responded, thank you for your participation.
Please be careful on polling.com’s ranking system. All of the players in the list are already there. So, please be sure that you have everything in order before you click submit — the players will begin in alphabetical order, by last name. You can see the list below in spreadsheet form:
So, if you want to play it safe, you can refer to this list and order them in a document or spreadsheet. Then, when you feel like you have your order right, go into the polling.com survey and use the drag tools to order everything there. Remember: the poll will limit your responses, so double-check your list before submitting. And, if you want to share your full list as the results posts come out, save the list in your document or spreadsheet for later use.
As of now, the survey will run through Tuesday, August 19.
What do you think of the Top 25 Under 25 this season? What do you think of the subtractions of the list? Which of them, if any, do you wish were still with the organization? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.