New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: Week 8

There were no overwhelmingly impressive prospects this week, but not many were overly disappointing, either. The Albany Devils split their two games, and many players find themselves on point streaks. Keep reading for updates on stats and notes.

Side note: This week's stats and notes do not include Wednesday, November 26. I was unavailable to post the most recent numbers, so they are counted through Tuesday. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Albany Notes:

• Both the Albany Devils and Keith Kinkaid's win streak came to an end on November 22^nd with a loss to the Springfield Falcons. With goals scored by Reid Boucher, Kelly Zajac and Tim Sestito, and 18 saves from Keith Kinkaid, the Devils fell 5-3. They also saw their penalty kill fall a bit (4-6), but they did find success on the power play (1-3).
• The Devils found themselves on the right side of the score sheet the following night with a 5-3 win over the Adirondack Phantoms. Scott Wedgewood got his first start in a while and made it count with 24 saves, bringing him to a 4-4-0 record on the season. Joe Whitney, Mike Hoeffel, Reid Boucher, Time Sestito and Stefan Matteau scored the goals. Sestito, Matteau and Whitney each had multi-point nights.
• Albany is 10-1-0-0 when scoring first, 5-0-0-0 when leading after the first period, and 10-0-0-0 when leading after the second.
• Tim Sestito had a strong week in Albany with two goals and three assists in two games.
• Jon Merrill was called back up to New Jersey after Anton Volchenkov went down with a lower body injury. He got to play in his first full NHL game and came out of it injury free!
• Harry Young was called up to Albany but has been a healthy scratch.
• While every member of the team (other than the goalies) has at least one point on the season, just four have reached the double-digit marker. The team is still lead by Joe Whitney with 20 points.
• Reid Boucher has three goals and two assists in his last three games. As a rookie, he has been quite impressive. On the Albany Devils website, there is an interesting piece including the following interview:

• Five Devils are riding point streaks right now - Joe Whitney (3g-5a in 6 games), Tim Sestito (2g-4a in four games), Sefan Matteau (2g-2a in three games), Kelly Zajac (1g-2a in three games), and Reid Boucher (3g-2a in three games).
• The Albany Devils are currently in 2^nd in the Northeast Division and 5^th in the Eastern Conference in the AHL. They are second in points, but like the NHL, the top seed from each division are given the top three spots in the conference.

Other Notes:

• While Graham Black and the Swift Current Broncos have quieted down, he still has a very impressive 36 points in 28 games played this season.
• Damon Severson will appear for Team WHL in the Subway Series this week (game one was played on Wednesday - an update on both will be included next week).
• Ben Thomson was traded from the Kitchener Rangers to the North Bay Battalion. He was given a leadership role immediately when he was named an alternate captain.
• Derek Rodwell was scratched again after playing four games straight for UND.

Prospect of the Week:

The honor this week goes to Reid Boucher. He is on a three game point-streak and is tied for the goal lead in Albany as a rookie. He is also 6^th in the rookie-scoring race. It was a huge question coming into the 2013-2014 season as to whether or not his impressive ability to score would translate, and it seems as though it has. He has helped a team that consistently struggles to score and win games and if he can keep it up, could help them find a playoff spot. He has been extremely valuable to the Albany Devils and is one of the many bright spots in their season so far.

Do you think the Albany Devils can keep up their strong play throughout the season? Who needs to step up to do so? Which other prospects are have impressed or disappointed you? Feel free to sound off on the prospects below! Thanks for reading!