Defensive Devils Prospects: Who Stands Behind Silayev and Casey?
The New Jersey Devils do not have a crowded defensive pipeline. They have two names everyone knows — Anton Silayev and Seamus Casey — and a long list of defensemen trying not to disappear behind them.
That second group of defenders in our 2026 Devils Prospect Rankings consists of a different big Russian, mobile leftovers from earlier drafts, and AHL regulars who have already had a cup of coffee. None of them will steal a top-four job in September. One or two of them, however, can still become the extra defender this roster actually needs when the injuries start, whether it be in the upcoming season, or soon after.
Nikita Shcherbakov
The second-rounder from June is the one with the most room.
He is 6-foot-5, left-handed, and already has KHL, VHL, and MHL games on the résumé at 18. Last year that meant seven quiet nights with Salavat Yulaev and 10 points in 35 VHL games with Toros. The offense is not the pitch. The pitch is a rangy defender who can close with his stick, move well enough for the size, and make the first pass without panic.
He is still light for the frame at around 190 pounds. NHL forwards will finish every check until that changes. He stays in Russia this season. The test for him overseas is simple. He needs more minutes against men, more physical authority, fewer plays where the size is decoration. If that happens, he is the left-shot complement to Silayev in a couple of years. If it does not, he is a tall third-pair project who never quite arrives.
Daniil Orlov
Daniil Orlov already looks like a pro.
He produced in the KHL in real minutes. He moves the puck, keeps a clean gap, and does not need the game to be pretty. He has a third-pair profile. In an organization that has shipped out blueline depth and still has to fill seats behind Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Luke Hughes, and Jonas Siegenthaler, a steady left shot has value.
The catch is the jump to this side of the pond. Plenty of KHL defensemen look composed at home and then lose a step when an AHL player dumps the puck and a 6-foot-2 winger arrives first. Orlov’s ranking holds if the first pass survives that. He is not going to run a power play. He does not have to. He has to be safe enough that a coach will use him in the last two minutes of a period.
Étienne Morin
Étienne Morin was drafted for the skating.
The first pass and the four-way mobility are still visible. The AHL results have not matched the second-round slot he was taken in.
That is the entire file right now.
The tools without the defensive details turn into outs. He can retrieve pucks, he can join rushes, but he can also get caught making one extra play in his own end.
Utica is the right place for him. A full season of tighter gaps and fewer turnovers moves him up the depth chart. Another year of the same tape drops him behind topias Vilen and into the pile of mobile defensemen who look like prospects until the coach needs someone to defend the cycle. He is closer to the second outcome than the first until the results change.
Topias Vilen
Vilen has already played in the NHL. That used to mean more than it does now.
He is mobile, experienced, and useful in Utica. He put up 27 points in 61 AHL games last season and has a couple of NHL nights on the card. The ceiling is lower than Shcherbakov’s and less interesting than Casey’s. The floor is a seventh defenseman who can move the puck on the third pair.
That still matters. Injuries always happen. Devils fans know far too well.
Vilen is the one you call when you need a left shot who will not look lost for 12 minutes. He sits on the bubble of the rankings because the upside is modest, not because the player is empty.
Ethan Edwards
Ethan Edwards ate minutes in Utica as a first-year pro. Ten goals from the left side in 69 games is more offense than most people expected. He is 24, which puts him on the older edge of this list, and he plays with some edge.
The NHL job, if it comes, is third pair or extra. The skating is good. The decision-making is still catching up to the college version of his game. He is a depth option more than a climber. Useful. Not a reason to reshuffle the top five, although, he did make an impression on Sheldon Keefe last fall.
Perhaps there’s something about him raising his level as the stakes get higher. For now, he sits here, with the opportunity to impress the Devils head coach again next week.
Daniil Karpovich
Karpovich is the defensive defenseman in the pile. He has the size, but is limited in offense. He has a chance to kill penalties if everything breaks right. He is a bubble name for a reason. If the Devils need a big body who does not need the puck, he is in the conversation. If they need a passer, he is not.
What the depth chart actually looks like
Silayev is the future on the left. Casey is the skill play on the right. Behind them the organization has a lot of left shots and not a lot of certainty.
Shcherbakov is the long-term swing. Orlov is the safest pro. Morin is the tools bet that has to start winning. Vilen and Edwards are the call-ups. Karpovich is the extra body.
Camp in New Jersey will not be decided by this group. Hamilton, Pesce, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Declan Chisholm are ahead of all of them. The work is in Utica and, for Shcherbakov and Orlov, overseas. That is fine. Blueline prospects are supposed to take time. This wave just has to prove there is someone behind the two names everyone already knows.