New Jersey Devils fans have had genuinely little downtime this July, as the organization has moved through one of the more eventful offseason stretches in recent franchise memory, covering everything from draft prospect profiles to a full slate of free agent signings, a coaching departure, and the release of next season’s complete schedule.
Among the newer names entering the Devils’ prospect pipeline, Finnish winger Matias Vanhanen has quickly emerged as a genuinely exciting piece of New Jersey’s future forward group. Selected 37th overall in the 2026 NHL Draft out of the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League, the 5-foot-11, 176-pound left shot brought elite passing ability and a genuinely productive offensive season to Everett, finishing among the WHL’s top ten point producers with 87 points in 62 games. Vanhanen, a Nokia, Finland native who made the jump to North American hockey this past season after playing in HIFK’s junior program, has cited Jack Hughes as a player he’s long admired, a fitting parallel given the offensive creativity scouts have attached to his own game. He has since committed to Boston College, becoming the first ever BC recruit to come directly out of the WHL, and after going unselected in the 2025 draft, Vanhanen has been candid about how that disappointment fueled a genuinely strong follow-up season that ultimately got him drafted by New Jersey a year later. With Lenni Hämeenäho expected to graduate into a full-time NHL role this season, Vanhanen now slots in as New Jersey’s top winger prospect behind him, addressing a real organizational need for offensive wing depth further down the prospect pipeline.
New Jersey’s seventh-round selection, forward Quinn McKenzie, rounds out the draft’s later additions to the system. Taken 222nd overall out of the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, where he posted 51 points in 65 games this past season, the 5-foot-9, 176-pound right shot brings a genuinely relentless motor to his game, along with dual-threat scoring ability in the offensive zone and real effectiveness working the forecheck despite his smaller frame. McKenzie is headed to Penn State next season for his first year of college hockey, giving him a chance to develop within a genuinely strong program as he begins his path toward professional hockey.
Elsewhere within the organization, longtime assistant coach Sergei Brylin officially departed the Devils this month, signing on to become the new head coach of Dinamo Minsk in the KHL, a significant change behind the bench that closes out a substantial chapter of Brylin’s association with the franchise.
On the veteran side of the roster, forward Anthony Mantha officially joined the Devils on a two-year contract, bringing a fresh scoring option to New Jersey’s forward group after a career year with Pittsburgh. Reporting around his signing has specifically highlighted how much a renewed sense of mental focus fueled Mantha’s rebound season, a storyline that adds real context to why New Jersey moved to lock him up for multiple years rather than treating him as a short-term rental addition. Mantha’s signing arrived amid a genuinely busy stretch of roster moves league-wide, with general manager Sunny Mehta’s own flurry of activity drawing considerable attention across multiple feature pieces breaking down exactly how much the Devils’ roster shifted during the opening days of free agency, including the club’s attention-grabbing offer sheet tendered to Utah center Barrett Hayton, which Utah ultimately matched to retain him.
Beyond Mantha, New Jersey re-signed goaltender Jakub Malek to a two-year deal and winger Ben Steeves, acquired as part of the Jacob Markstrom trade to Florida, to his own contract, while also locking up forward Amadeus Lombardi on a two-year deal and adding veteran goaltender David Rittich on a one-year contract, giving the organization a genuinely deep and reshaped group in net and up front heading into camp. The team further re-signed forward Cody McLaughlin, defenseman Xavier Parent to a one-year, two-way deal, and forward Riley Tufte, while also adding defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok and re-signing young goaltender Nico Daws to a two-year contract, giving New Jersey a genuinely reshaped goaltending picture spanning Daws, Rittich, and Jake Allen heading into next season.
On the schedule front, the Devils officially unveiled their complete 2026-27 regular season slate, confirming an October 1 home opener against the rival Philadelphia Flyers. The schedule reveal itself came with its own bit of star power, as captain Jack Hughes headlined the team’s official schedule release video, giving fans their first real look at the marketing push surrounding next season before a single puck has been dropped. New Jersey also announced additions to its coaching and player development staff this month, rounding out the organizational moves that have accompanied the roster’s on-ice changes.
Taken together, this stretch of July represents a genuinely comprehensive reshaping of the Devils organization, from the addition of promising young prospects like Vanhanen and McKenzie, to a coaching change that sent a longtime assistant overseas, to a series of free agent and re-signing moves that have reshaped New Jersey’s forward group and goaltending depth alike. With the 2026-27 schedule now locked in and training camp still ahead, the Devils enter the back half of the offseason with a roster that looks considerably different than the one that closed out last season, giving fans plenty to watch heading into the fall.
