Nov. 19: The Panthers made Devine’s recall official this morning and placed winger Jonah Gadjovich on injured reserve in the corresponding move, per PuckPedia. Gadjovich won’t be back anytime soon after undergoing surgery to address an upper-body injury earlier this month, putting him out through early February.
Nov. 18: The Florida Panthers have recalled top prospect Jack Devine and could award him his NHL debut in Thursday’s matchup against the New Jersey Devils, per George Richards of Florida Hockey Now. Devine currently leads the Charlotte Checkers in scoring with 12 points in 13 games.
Devine has continued the hot start to his pro career that began when he scored seven points in his first 10 AHL games at the end of last season. It continues a streak of scoring that stretches back to his days with the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2019-20 and 2020-21. He scored 34 points in 42 games in the USHL, but had his U18 season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. That gave him little runway into a quiet freshman year at the University of Denver. He recorded 19 points and a plus-12 in 36 games while operating from the fourth line of a Pioneers squad that’d run all the way to a National Championship. Still, that performance flew under the radar enough for Florida to land Devine with the third-to-final pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
He took off after the draft, climbing to 31 points in 38 games as a sophomore, then emerging as Denver’s star in his junior year. Devine posted Denver with 27 goals, 56 points, and a plus-29 in 44 games – leading the Pioneers in scoring en route to their second National Championship in three years. He led the team again last year, with 57 points in 44 games.
Devine has had the arc of a draft gem and will get his first chance to prove it on Thursday. He’s a true playmaker with a strong build and sharp thinking under pressure. That could be an X-factor addition to the Panthers, who have posted a 3-2-0 record across their last five games.