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Arseni Gritsyuk of Russia at the 2022 Olympics (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

Expectations for Devils’ Arseni Gritsyuk Should Be Tempered

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Daniel Amoia | Last updated Jun 17, 2025 4:35 PM ET

Understandably so, the hype within the New Jersey Devils‘ fanbase for Russian winger Arseni Gritsyuk is colossal. For a team that often struggled to score goals in 2024-25, Gritsyuk’s arrival offers some light at the end of the tunnel. His one-year entry level contract comes in at just $925,000, giving the Devils a little more wiggle room in an offseason where general manager Tom Fitzgerald himself said, “We won’t be coming back with the same group, I can tell you that, because it wasn’t good enough.”

Nonetheless, it’s unfair to immediately expect Gritsyuk to post monster numbers in his first National Hockey League (NHL) season. Let’s break it down.

Arseni Gritsyuk’s NHL Arrival

Gritsyuk really stood out for SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) last season, putting up 44 points in 49 games – the highest points-per-game (P/GP) pace among over 250 U24 skaters. However, since 2010, only four U25 Russians have scored more than 34 points in their first NHL season: Artemi Panarin in 2015–16, Andrei Svechnikov in 2018–2019, Kirill Kaprizov in 2020–21 and Matvei Michkov in 2024–25.

That’s just 5.5% of the first seasons for all 72 Russians in that span, with nearly all of them coming straight over from the KHL, like Gritsyuk. In fact, even if you lower the threshold to 25+ points, that’s still only 11 of the 72 (15.2%). Point being: it’s not easy to find immediate success.

“You don’t know how he’ll react when he comes over,” said Fitzgerald at his end of season presser. “It’s a whole new environment. Ice size (and) system wise will be different, but he’ll get an opportunity.”

Thankfully for Gritsyuk, his game does seem more NHL-ready than many players who come over. His shot and skating speed certainly appear NHL caliber, and he is very responsible defensively. He was a team-leading plus-22 despite having limited ice time (15:37 per game).

Furthermore, Gritsyuk did it all while dealing with some personal issues. Russian outlet RT explained that his family was unhappy with the amount of time he devoted to hockey, especially during the 2024 Gagarin Cup Playoffs, which fell not long after the birth of his daughter. Him and his wife, gymnast Victoria Danilchuk, later agreed to divorce.

“I wanted to focus on hockey so badly. At some point, the family, unfortunately, faded into the background,” said Gritsyuk in that 2024 RT interview, translated to English.

For comparison purposes, Gritsyuk was teammates with the Montreal Canadiens’ highly regarded 2024 first round pick, Ivan Demidov. In 16 fewer games, Gritsyuk notched only five fewer points. Albeit Demidov is a little over four years younger and similarly received limited ice time, but that’s still pretty telling.

It’ll be near impossible to know exactly how Gritsyuk’s play will translate until the games begin. However, if fans can temper their expectations and hope he can fill a middle-to-bottom-six role successfully, that would still be a massive win for a Devils team in dire need of depth scoring.