As expected, the New Jersey Devils have inked another interesting prospect. Jesper Boqvist has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the team after spending the last several seasons playing in the SHL for Brynas IF.
Boqvist, 20, was the 36th overall pick in 2017 and exploded this season for Brynas, recording 35 points in 51 games to lead all team forwards. Doing that at such a young age is impressive, but that’s nothing new for the talented forward. Boqvist has long been seen as a future NHL player, and was actually ranked tenth among international skaters for the 2017 draft by NHL Central Scouting. Solid play internationally and a World Junior silver medal in 2018 only helped to improve his pedigree, as did his brother Adam Boqvist’s top-10 selection in 2018.
The Devils are about to look incredibly loaded with young talent after they complete an important draft season. Not only do they hold the first-overall selection, but also five more picks in the top 80 including three in the second round. That kind of talent infusion to a club that already has Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood, and others competing in the NHL at such a young age will make for a healthy organization for years to come.
After such a successful season in Sweden, there’s also a chance that Boqvist impresses the Devils enough at camp to step right into an NHL role. If not, he will feature greatly in the AHL and try to take the next step in his development towards being a consistent offensive threat in North America.