What to expect from Arseniy Gritsyuk in 2025-26
One of the Devils' top prospects will enter the picture this coming season. What should we expect?
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By JP Gambatese (@JP_Gambatese)
While the New Jersey Devils have needs in the forward corps for a bona fide top-six winger and a third-line center, one area in which they should expect obvious improvement is their depth scoring outlook.
GM Tom Fitzgerald has had a strong push for bottom/middle-six scoring so far this off-season, inking Evgenii Dadonov and Connor Brown to new contracts and trading for Thomas Bordeleau while parting ways with the likes of Tomas Tatar, Justin Dowling, Nathan Bastian, and Erik Haula. Safe to say that this was the number one priority for the team to address given the circumstances.
Another factor in the middle-six who could be a difference maker is none other than Arseniy Gritsyuk, whose arrival most Devils fans have anxiously been awaiting since he burst onto the scene as a prospect back in 2021-22.
Gritsyuk, now 24, is on a one-year contract with an out clause, giving him a real opportunity to not only make the team but prove his worth to the squad as a talented middle-six winger.
His toolset is quite appealing, considering the overall outlook of the team entering the 2025-26 season. Gritsyuk is fast and plays with pace, standing out as a speedster in the generally slow KHL over the last few campaigns.
He was one of the more dangerous rush forwards in Russia over that span of time, though that doesn’t mean he wasn’t effective off the cycle, too.
Gritsyuk’s reasonably high offensive IQ lent itself to finding open ice, and if he has teammates who are smart enough to find him – which the Devils do have – he will be a positive there, too.
Then, there’s his shot, which happens to be his most appealing asset.
From practically every distance and angle, Gritsyuk is a threat to score and should have goalies on high alert.
His wrist shot is compact and deceiving, and he used it off the rush better than 99% of players in the KHL.
It sounds niche to say that his shot was at its best when in an odd-man situation where Gritsyuk was carrying the puck near to the perimeter on the left side of the ice, but I saw him beat goalies clean under those circumstances way more often than I’d ever seen any other player do it.
Gritsyuk’s one-timer, while best used in a power-play setting (in which he should have no issue getting playing time), could be of use off the cycle, too.
Sheldon Keefe’s system is relatively balanced between rush opportunities and cyclical play, so having a dual-threat player whose speed and wrist shot are dangerous off the rush and whose IQ and quick-triggered one-timer are of use in the cycle will be particularly helpful to the team.
With all that laid out, and his skillset fully pumped up, it’s now time to say that you should probably temper expectations.
If you’re expecting him to jump into the league and immediately slot into a position with Jack and Bratt, pot 60-plus points, and never look back, I do have some rough news to tell you on that front.
In all likelihood, he begins the season on the third line and second power play unit, and probably won’t budge from that position unless 1) the Devils finally realize that Ondrej Palat is a waste of space alongside the two most talented players in the organization and try him out there instead, or 2) Gritsyuk proves to be so far ahead of his linemates talent-wise that he forces the Devils’ hand.
While he’s probably going to be a solid player right off the rip, there isn’t a fiber in my body that believes Gritsyuk is going to be enough of a game-changer for scenario #2 to come true.
His skillset stood out among KHL competition, but the reality is that the KHL has gradually become less and less indicative of high-performing players translating to the NHL over time.
It’s no longer the sure-fire second-best league beyond the NHL that it was for so long.
Yes, he stood out among his competitors in Russia as a high-speed, high-octane offensive player who looks the part of a real NHL contributor. Yes, his tools are objectively strong, and he likely becomes some sort of impact player in North America. Yes, he’s only 24 years old and still has some room to grow.
With all that in mind, though, Maxim Tsyplakov had similar production to Gritsyuk in 2023-24 on a per-game basis and was regarded as one of the top KHL free agents, and he “only” scored 10 goals and 35 total points with the Islanders.
Just to be clear, these are two separate players with two separate toolkits, and it’s entirely possible that Gritsyuk’s skills translate better to the NHL, but the reality is that KHL studs aren’t a surefire thing.
I hope I’m wrong – I really do – but for now, I would expect a full season on the third line and 30-40-point production out of the Devils’ top forward prospect.
Considering the lack of production from the bottom-six last season, I certainly won’t be complaining about that.
The guy from the Islanders had worse production on a game by game basis than Grits, and he's 2.5 years older, as well, and he only had one good year of production, whereas Grits has had good production every year. Tsyp had 47 points in 65 games, which is .72 ppg in his year 25 season. Grits had 44 in 49, which is .90 ppd in his year 23 season (turned 24 at end of season). If Tsyp had 35 points in 77 games for the Isles, I think Grits should do better. How much better I'm not sure. But I see an opening on Nico's left wing. If he fill it, he could do very well.
So the savior we have been reading about on the boards for years is most likely going to be another mid-level forward.