Topias Vilen isn’t walking into an NHL locker room this fall as a household name. Give it time. The Devils clearly think he’s worth building around, because on Wednesday they re-signed the 23-year-old defenseman to a one-year, two-way deal, and buried inside that contract is a small detail that tells you exactly how the organization views him right now.
Here’s the breakdown. Vilen will earn $850,000 at the NHL level next season. Down in Utica, he’s slotted at $150,000, with $175,000 guaranteed regardless of where he actually plays. That guarantee matters. It’s the front office quietly signaling that this isn’t a paper transaction to keep a body in the system. General manager Sunny Mehta and assistant GM Braden Birch, who also runs the show in Utica, put their names on this one together, and that dual signature tells you the Devils see Vilen as a real two-way asset worth developing patiently rather than rushing.
And patience has actually paid off so far. Vilen just wrapped his third full pro season on this side of the Atlantic, and it was, by a decent margin, his best. He suited up in 61 games for the Comets, both a career high, and put up 27 points on four goals and 23 assists. Rank that against every other blueliner in Utica’s lineup last year and he finishes second. Rank it against the entire roster, forwards included, and he still cracks sixth. For a defenseman who’s supposed to be defense-first, that’s not nothing. He chipped in on special teams too, with two power play goals and a shorthanded tally, the kind of stat line that tells scouts this guy reads the ice well enough to be trusted in more than one situation.
The NHL cameo came on April 12 against Ottawa, Vilen’s actual debut at the highest level, where he logged 12 minutes and 28 seconds of ice time. Not a huge sample. Enough to know he belongs in the conversation. Rewind further and you’ll find his first full AHL season back in 2023-24, when he posted a then career-high 29 points in 54 games. String it all together and you get 80 points across 173 regular season games with Utica, a body of work that’s been quietly climbing every single year he’s been in the organization.
I like this signing, and I’ll say that plainly instead of hedging. Vilen’s a Lahti, Finland product, drafted by the Devils in the fifth round back in 2021, 129th overall, which is about as far from a lottery pick as you can get. Fifth-rounders who turn into legitimate two-way NHL contributors are rare, and the ones who do usually show the exact pattern Vilen’s shown: steady statistical growth, a track record of being trusted with responsibility on the international stage, and coaches who keep handing him more rope instead of less. Before he ever set foot on North American ice, he was already playing in Finland’s top league, Liiga, across four seasons starting in 2019-20. He represented his country at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge in 2020, then again at the Under-18 World Juniors in 2021, where he wore an assistant captain’s letter and racked up four assists. He shared that roster with fellow Devils prospect Samu Salminen, another name worth keeping an eye on. Vilen also suited up for Finland again at the 2023 World Juniors. A guy doesn’t get handed leadership roles on national teams by accident.
None of this means Vilen’s guaranteed a full-time roster spot in October. Two-way deals exist for exactly this reason, giving both sides flexibility while a young player keeps proving himself. But I’d rather the Devils lock in cost-controlled, steadily improving depth like this than overpay for a name on the open market that peaked three years ago. This is the boring, unglamorous roster building that actually wins in April and May, not October headlines.
Speaking of how you’ll actually watch these games unfold, there’s a much bigger shift happening behind the scenes that every Devils fan needs to know about right now, because it changes how you’re going to watch every single game this coming season.
MSG Networks, the Devils’ broadcast home, announced a partnership this week with DAZN that’s going to reshape how fans in this region watch hockey and basketball starting with the 2026-27 season. MSG Networks and the YES Network have teamed up to make DAZN the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming platform for both networks during the upcoming NBA and NHL seasons. That means live coverage of the Devils, Rangers, Islanders, Sabres, Knicks, Nets, and Yankees all funnels through one streaming home going forward, alongside round-the-clock feeds of MSG, MSG Sportsnet, and YES, plus a deep well of on-demand content including highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, and some genuinely well-produced, Emmy-winning original programming.
If you’re already paying for MSG Networks or YES through a traditional cable or satellite package, don’t panic and don’t expect a new bill. You’ll keep getting that same content through DAZN at no extra cost, it’s simply a change in the pipe the signal travels through, not a new toll booth. For anyone currently using the Gotham Sports App, the transition is being handled carefully too. Access continues uninterrupted while the migration to DAZN gets sorted out behind the scenes, and the networks say the exact timing and finer details will come in the following months rather than being dropped on fans all at once.
I’ve got mixed feelings here, honestly. DAZN’s built a real global reputation in combat sports and international soccer streaming, so the infrastructure argument makes sense on paper. Whether the app experience holds up night after night for something as routine as a Tuesday game against Buffalo, that’s the actual test, and it’s one we won’t know the answer to until puck drop this fall. Streaming migrations have a habit of looking clean in a press release and getting messy the first time real traffic hits the servers. I’m hopeful. I’m also not going anywhere near the “flip the switch and hope for the best” camp until I’ve watched it work through a full slate of games myself.
Either way, between a young defenseman quietly building a real NHL resume and an entire regional sports viewing experience about to shift underneath us, the Devils are giving fans plenty to chew on before the season even starts. We’ll be breaking both of these stories down further on tomorrow’s radio show, including what Vilen’s usage pattern in Utica actually tells us about his ceiling, and what questions you should be asking your cable or streaming provider right now before the DAZN migration lands. If you’ve got thoughts on either one, that’s exactly the kind of conversation we want on air.
