Photo credit: SKA Saint Petersburg
After six long years of fans waiting for his arrival in North America, Devils Russian prospect Arseniy Gritsyuk is finally moving across the Atlantic to play in New Jersey beginning next season.
Long rumored to be signing with the Devils after his KHL season, the team made the signing official Tuesday morning: “Grits are now a New Jersey delicacy.” Gritsyuk’s deal with the team is a one-year entry level contract with a cap hit of $925,000 and the potential of an extra $500,000 in performance bonuses.
The 129th overall pick (5th round) of the Devils back in 2019, yes the draft they selected Jack Hughes 1st overall, Gritsyuk has played the last five seasons in the second-best league in the world, the Kontinental Hockey League.
Standing at 6’0 and weighing 194 pounds, Gritsyuk, who celebrated his 24th birthday almost two months ago, is leaving his home country after playing 216 games in the top division and collecting 152 career points (68 Goals & 84 Assists).
Gritsyuk spent almost a full decade playing for Avangard Omsk’s academy and senior teams and even helped the club win their first ever Gagarin Cup in 2020-2021. The very next season, Gritsyuk would go on to win the Aleksei Cherepanov Award for best KHL rookie with 28 points (16 Goals & 12 Assists) in 39 games. He even added another 10 points in 13 playoff games.
After three seasons with the senior team in Omsk, Gritsyuk would depart the club in the summer of 2023, making the move to Russian giants SKA Saint Petersburg. In Russia’s second biggest city, Gritsyuk saw his game go to another level with 82 points (36 Goals & 46 Assists) in 99 games.
Gritsyuk’s move paid off as he saw more ice time, power play usage, more shots on goal, and had a career high +22 in 2024-2025.
The Devils top forward prospect not only increased his “points per game” in his two seasons with SKA, jumping from 0.76 last season to 0.90 this past year, but he also recorded an NHLe of 50+ in back-to-back seasons according to Dobber Hockey’s helpful NHLe Calculator. To put it into simpler terms, Gritsyuk’s production over the last two seasons in the KHL would translate to him being a 50+ point player in the NHL.
On the International stage, the Russian sniper is even more decorated. With the National team, Gritsyuk has won a Hlinka Gretzky Cup Bronze Medal (’18-’19), a U18 WJC Silver Medal (’18-’19), and an Olympic Silver Medal (’22). If you don’t remember, Gritsyuk was a major reason why the Russians even got to the Gold Medal game in Beijing.
So, what does the acquisition of Arseniy Gritsyuk do for the Devils’ roster in 2025-2026? Gritsyuk’s game should translate well to the NHL with his excellent skating, compared to the majority of his KHL counterparts. His shot is elite and has a one-timer that can beat almost any goalie clean from the right side of the ice. It will be fun to watch Gritsyuk and Timo Meier crank one-timers off passes from the Hughes bros and Jesper Bratt next season.
Gritsyuk is a much-needed boost to the Devils top six, which has relied heavily on the likes of Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt to carry the load on the wings the past two seasons. Since the fall of 2023, New Jersey has had only four players eclipse the 50-point mark (J. Hughes, Bratt, Hischier & Meier). Gritsyuk could end up being the 5th player in that group.
At the very least, the Devils added another 20-goal scorer to their very day lineup who has the potential to be a 30-goal scorer if everything goes right for Gritsyuk in the NHL. Gritsyuk brings an experienced playmaker with a deadly shot to New Jersey, and playing next to guys like Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes should only help his transition to the North American game.
Gritsyuk will join the Devils for training camp this fall as he looks to compete for a top-six forward spot. This is a big summer for general manager Tom Fitzgerald and head coach Sheldon Keefe as the duo looks to boost the team’s depth scoring behind the core four.
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