I truly want Foote to get an honest shot next year on the team. He should have a chance with the number of winger contracts coming off the books.
He needs to skate his balls off with a super power skating coach. Right now he so often looks like he is skating in mud with a plodding gait. He tries to power himself down the boards between said boards and an opponent. Inevitably he fails, loses the puck and very often ends up on the ice. Hardly the effort you want from a "power forward". It would be hard to find a way to carry a player on every gameday roster for the sole purpose of standing in front of the net on the power play. He is good there for the Comets , but the NHL D in net front coverage are much better than the AHL D.
Like all Comets fans, I hope he makes it to the NHL along with all of the other prospects, but reality is most of them won't. The Devils have a lot of high selection prospects so, maybe a few more than many other teams will arrive in the NHL, but beyond the blue chip-can't miss top selections, again, most won't beyond a look-see or 2 and maybe a part of a season or 2 and that will be it. Just like most of the prospects in most NHL prospect pools.
The Comets currently have a perfect example in a #1 failed prospect in Zach Senyshyn. At the AHL level we see lots of prospects from our own franchise as well as every team that visits here. During the past 10 years with we witnessed a bunch more from both Vancouver and New Jersey:
Alexander Grenier (3rd round)
Nicklas Jensen (1st round)
Yann Sauve (2nd round)
Zach Hamill (#8 OA selection)
Alex Mallet (Round 2)
Bobby Sanguinetti (1st Round)
Hunter Shinkaruk (1st Round)
Adam Clendening (Round 2)
Andre Pedan (Round 3)
Cole Cassels (Round 3)
Danny Syrvet (Round 3)
Nikolay Goldobin (1st Round)
Colby Robak (Round 2)
Anton Rodin (Round 2)
Guillaume Brisebois (Round 3)
Dylan Blujus (Round 2)
Jonathan Dahlen (Round 2)
Mathieu Brodeur (Round 3)
Kole Lind (Round 2)
Olli Juolevi (#5 OA selection)
Justin Bailey (Round 2)
Michael DiPietro (Round 3)
Will Lockwood (Round 3)
Jett Woo (Round 2)
Steve Santini (Round 2)
Evan Fitzpatrick (Round 2)
Jon Gillies (Round 3)
Frederick Gauthier (1st Round)
Tyler Wotherspoon (Round 2)
Chase DeLeo (Round 4, but has been an elite AHL player who just can't squeak onto an NHL roster)
AJ Greer (Round 2, but only got 47 games at the NHL level in 6 seasons. This season has already played 25 games with the #1 team in the NHL. Maybe he will make it this time.)
Current NJ )or ex-NJ) prospects who MAY (Don't beat me up with your opinions, these guys are struggling and MAY)) end up on this list:
Alexander Holtz (#7 OA selection)
Reilly Walsh (Round 3)
Nolan Foote (Round 3)
Nate Schnarr (Round 3)
Graeme Clarke (Round 3)
Michael Vukojevic (Round 3)
Kevin Bahl (Round 2) May get left out in the dark with OK, Nemec, and Hughes looking very promising. Might end up making it elsewhere.)
Some of these guys on both lists still have hope. Others don't. Age and years in the game will knock a few right out. For others they are still young enough to get better. Others have simply shown they didn't or don't have it.
Remeber also that GM Fitz is trying to build a contender around his core and that means that some on this list or even currently playing with the Devils could end up being traded. Then we'd have to assess what those teams have and how these guys might get a bigger shot at nailing down an NHL job.