3/28 Prospect Update: Jon Merrill signs an ELC

With the OHL, WHL, and college playoffs in full swing, it was an exciting week for the prospects. But, perhaps the biggest news of the week was a team being bumped from the playoffs. Jon Merrill decided to go pro after his junior season with the Wolverines came to an end. He will be reporting to Albany shortly to finish the AHL regular season with an amateur tryout. A few other prospects saw their season's come to an end, as well, while others are still going strong in the first round of the playoffs. Keep reading for an in depth look at what is going on in the prospect world.

First, here is a table of each OHL, WHL, and college prospect's final stats from the regular season:

NAME	YOB	League	Team	POS	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PPG	PP	SHG	SOG	SH%
Graham Black	1993	WHL	Swift Current Broncos	C	66	24	26	50	4	0.76	7	0
Reid Boucher	1993	OHL	Sarnia Sting	LW	65	62	32	94	15	1.45	21	1
Artur Gavrus	1994	OHL	Owan Sound Attack	RW	18	5	6	11	0	0.61	1	0
Ben Johnson	1994	OHL	Windsor Spitfires	C	64	20	17	37	-28	0.58	4	0
Alexander Kerfoot	1994	BCHL	Coquitlam Express	C	16	8	11	19		1.19
Stefan Matteau	1994	QMJHL	Armada	C	35	18	10	28	19	0.8	7	1	121	14.88%
Reece Scarlett	1993	WHL	Swift Current Broncos	D	65	8	39	47	13	0.72	1	0
Damon Severson	1994	WHL	Kelowna Rockets	D	68	8	40	48	38	0.71	5	0
Ben Thomson	1993	OHL	Kitchener Rangers	LW	65	13	15	28	-6	0.43	1	1
Jon Merrill	1992	NCAA	University of Michigan	D	17	2	6	8	2	0.47	2	0	21	9.52%
Blake Coleman	1991	NCAA	Miami University	C	36	8	8	16	6	0.44	2	0	116	6.90%
Curtis Gedig	1991	NCAA	Ohio State	D	28	2	8	10	6	0.36	2	0	44	4.55%
Blake Pietila	1993	NCAA	Michigan Tech	LW	32	14	9	23	-1	0.72	3	0	87	16.09%
Derek Rodwell	1990	NCAA	University of North Dakota	LW	29	1	1	2	0	0.07	0	0	38	2.63%
Seth Helgeson	1990	NCAA	University of Minnesota	D	36	0	5	5	-3	0.14	0	0	36	0.00%
Joe Faust	1991	NCAA	University of Wisconsin	D	36	1	0	1	1	0.03	0	1	27	3.70%

Here is a table that will be updated each week with playoff stats: (Players in italics have been eliminated)

NAME	YOB	League	Team	POS	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
Graham Black	1993	WHL	Swift Current Broncos	C	4	1	2	3	-2	0
Reid Boucher	1993	OHL	Sarnia Sting	LW	4	2	3	5	-6	4
Artur Gavrus	1994	OHL	Owen Sound Attack	RW	4	1	2	3	1	2
Ben Johnson	1994	OHL	Windsor Spitfires	C	-	-	-	-	-	-
Stefan Matteau	1994	QMJHL	Armada	C	4	1	2	3	2	4
Reece Scarlett	1993	WHL	Swift Current Broncos	D	4	0	3	3	-1	10
Damon Severson	1994	WHL	Kelowna Rockets	D	4	1	3	4	-1	6
Ben Thomson	1993	OHL	Kitchener Rangers	LW	3	1	0	1	0	6
Jon Merrill	1992	NCAA	University of Michigan	D	4	1	3	4	3
Blake Coleman	1991	NCAA	Miami University	C	2	0	0	0	4
Curtis Gedig	1991	NCAA	Ohio State	D	3	1	4	5	6
Blake Pietila	1993	NCAA	Michigan Tech	LW	2	0	1	1	-6
Derek Rodwell	1990	NCAA	University of North Dakota	LW	2	1	0	1	0
Seth Helgeson	1990	NCAA	University of Minnesota	D	3	0	0	0	-4
Joe Faust	1991	NCAA	University of Wisconsin	D	5	0	0	0	3

AHL Stats:

Player		League	Team	POS	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PPG	PP	SHG	SOG	SH%
Matt Anderson	1982	AHL	Albany Devils	RW	59	13	28	41	4	0.69	2	1	154	8.4
Joe Whitney	1988	AHL	Albany Devils	LW	54	23	22	45	14	0.83	5	0	168	13.7
Steve Zalewski	1986	AHL	Albany Devils	C	62	10	26	36	-3	0.58	1	0	130	7.7
Harri Pesonen (X)	1988	AHL	Albany Devils	LW	54	11	14	25	5	0.46	3	0	101	10.9
Andrei Loktionov (total) (X)	1990	AHL	Albany Devils	C	40	7	15	22	3	0.55	1	2	84	8.3
Jacob Josefson	1991	AHL	Albany Devils	C	37	9	15	24	10	0.65	2	2	91	9.9
Tim Sestito (X)	1984	AHL	Albany Devils	C	57	7	13	20	-3	0.35	0	0	92	7.6
Adam Larsson (X)	1992	AHL	Albany Devils	D	33	4	15	19	-1	0.58	2	0	46	8.7
Mattias Tedenby	1990	AHL	Albany Devils	LW	31	9	8	17	-5	0.55	2	0	57	15.8
Eric Gelinas	1991	AHL	Albany Devils	D	46	5	15	20	2	0.43	3	0	122	4.1
Mike Sislo	1988	AHL	Albany Devils	RW	49	9	10	19	1	0.39	1	2	104	8.7
Phil DeSimone	1987	AHL	Albany Devils	C	35	9	7	16	-1	0.46	3	0	65	13.8
Brandon Burlon	1990	AHL	Albany Devils	D	46	1	16	17	7	0.37	0	0	42	2.4
Darcy Zajac	1986	AHL	Albany Devils	C	58	8	7	15	2	0.26	0	1	75	10.7
Chad Wiseman	1981	AHL	Albany Devils	LW	36	3	10	13	-8	0.36	0	0	55	5.5
Chris McKelvie	1985	AHL	Albany Devils	LW	36	3	9	12	-3	0.33	0	1	42	7.1
Adam Henrique (X)	1990	AHL	Albany Devils	C	16	5	3	8	1	0.50	1	0	40	12.5
Mike Hoeffel	1989	AHL	Albany Devils	LW	44	4	5	9	-1	0.20	0	0	67	6
Jay Leach	1979	AHL	Albany Devils	D	49	2	6	8	3	0.16	0	0	39	5.1
Corbin McPherson	1999	AHL	Albany Devils	D	61	2	5	7	6	0.11	0	0	63	3.2
Dan Kelly	1989	AHL	Albany Devils	D	44	2	6	8	10	0.18	0	0	30	6.7
Alexander Urbom	1990	AHL	Albany Devils	D	59	0	7	7	4	0.12	0	0	52	0
Raman Hrabarenka	1992	AHL	Albany Devils	D	32	1	4	5	1	0.16	0	0	46	2.2
Kelly Zajac	1988	AHL	Albany Devils	C	12	2	2	4	0	0.33	0	0	12	16.7
Scott Parse (X)	1984	AHL	Albany Devils	RW	15	1	3	4	-7	0.27	1	0	18	5.6
Matthew Corrente (X)	1988	AHL	Albany Devils	D	11	0	2	2	-1	0.18	0	0	7	0
David Wohlberg	1990	AHL	Albany Devils	C	28	2	4	6	1	0.21	0	0	33	6.1
Bryan Haczyk (X)	1987	ECHL	Trenton Titans	RW	41	15	12	27	-10	0.66	8	0	122	12.3
Harry Young	1989	ECHL	Trenton Titans	LW	4	0	0	0	-2	0.00	0	0	1	0
Cam Janssen	1984	AHL	Albany Devils	RW	24	0	2	2	-2	0.08	0	0	8	0
Stepan Stepanov	1992	AHL	Albany Devils	D	1	0	0	0	-1	0.00	0	0	0	0
Jean-Sebastien Berube	1990	AHL	Albnay Devils	LW	5	0	0	0	6	0.00	0	0	5	0
(X Indicates player is no longer on current roster)

Goalies		League	Team	POS	GP	Mins	W	L	OTL/SOL	SO	GA	GAA	SVS	SV%
Maxime Clermont	1991	ECHL	Elmira	G	39	2270	19	13	3/2	0	125	3.30	1096	0.898
Jeff Frazee	1987	AHL	Albany	G	23	1352	7	11	0/4	0	55	2.44	605	0.917
Keith Kinkaid	1989	AHL	Albany	G	39	2296	18	15	0/5	2	104	2.72	997	0.906
Scott Wedgewood	1992	ECHL	Titans	G	46	22621	19	21	3/2	1	139	3.18	1257	0.900

Notes:

• As noted above, Jon Merrill signed an Entry Level Contract with New Jersey yesterday.
• Derek Rodwell was scratched last weekend for the second time this season. He has one goal in the playoffs.
• Artur Gavrus has continued to pile on the points since finding some sort of scoring spark a few weeks ago. He has three points in the playoffs so far (one goal, two assists) for the Owen Sound Attack in four games.

Albany Notes:

• The Albany Devils have now lost six games in a row. The team is in 13^th place in the Eastern Conference of the AHL and is six points out of a playoff spot with twelve games left in the regular season. Just a few weeks ago it looked as though they may make a push into the playoffs, but the possibility of that is looking slimmer after each game.
• On a higher note, Albany can anticipate two new faces in the next week - both Jon Merrill and Reid Boucher are expected to report to Albany any day now after both the Sting and Wolverines were eliminated from the playoffs. Both have signed Entry Level Contracts with New Jersey and will be playing on a tryout in Albany for the remainder of this season - this will not have any affect on their contracts. More prospects may be heading to the AHL as the playoffs progress, as well.
• Albany suffered four losses last week:
  • Albany lost 5-2 to Binghamton on March 22 with Matt Anderson and David Wohlberg scoring the only goals for the Devils. It was Wohlberg's second career goal.
  • On March 23, Albany fell to Syracuse 3-1. Frazee made 33 saves while Matt Anderson scored his second goal in two games.
  • In the final game of a 3-in-3 series, Albany lost to Bridgeport 4-2. Mike Sislo and David Wohlberg scored while Keith Kinkaid made 27 saves.
  • Last night, Albany lost to St. Johns 4-2. Joe Whitney scored for Albany extending a point streak to four games while Brandon Burlon scored his first of the season.
• Both Mattias Tedenby and Jacob Josefson have been skating, but neither is ready to play in a game yet. Tedenby was injured severely by a cut on his face in February while Josefson has been out with a concussion.
• Tim Sestito and Harri Pesonen were both called up to New Jersey due to the many injuries seen by the Devils. They have been traveling with the team and are expected to stay through the road trip in Florida.

Playoffs:

There were many prospects that saw their season come to a close this week:

QMJHL:

• Stefan Matteau has been successful since his return to Blainville-Boisbriand. Armada is leading their series 3-1 against Acadie-Bathurst. They look to move on to the quarterfinals in game-five tomorrow night.

OHL:

• The Sarnia Sting was eliminated from the playoffs last night - they were swept by the Plymouth Whalers. This gives Reid Boucher the opportunity to play for Albany for the remainder of their season.
• Ben Thomson and the Kitchener Rangers are leading the Guelph Storm 2-1.
• Artur Gavrus and the Owen Sound Attack are tied 2-2 in their series with Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

WHL:

• The Swift Current Broncos are trailing 1-3 in their series against the Calgary Hitmen. Although the team is struggling, both Graham Black and Reece Scarlett have been playing well for the club.
• The Kelowna Rockets are being 1-3 in their series against Seattle Thunderbirds. They got their first win last night with a 4-0 victory.

WCHA:

• Joe Faust and the University of Wisconsin defeated Colorado College to become champions of the WCHA. This earned them the a spot in the NCAA competition this weekend.

CCHA:

• The University of Michigan - featuring top prospect Jon Merrill, lost to Notre Dame in the CCHA finals.

NCAA:

There will be a few college prospects playing in the 2013 NCAA Hockey Tournament:

• Joe Faust and Wisconsin will represent the Northeast facing UMass Lowell.
• Blake Coleman and Miami will face Minnesota State for the Midwest.
• In the west, the first seed Minnesota, featuring senior Seth Helgeson will face Yale. Derek Rodwell and the University of North Dakota will face Niagara.

These games begin this weekend leading to the Frozen Four, which will take place April 11 and 13 at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Prospect Spotlight:

The prospect highlighted today is Jon Merrill. He decided yesterday to turn pro after his junior season at the University of Michigan. Fans have been anxiously waiting for this decision, as he is a top prospect for the Devils. In 82 games with the Wolverines, Merrill has scored 11 goals and 36 assists. His sophomore and junior seasons were cut short due to a suspension and injury.

There is some worry as to his maturity level after being suspended for half of his sophomore season, but it was noted quite frequently this season that he seems to have grown up a lot and took on a major leadership role in Michigan even while being sidelined with a fractured vertebrae. It will be exciting to see how he performs in Albany in the coming weeks.

If you'd like to learn more about Merrill, take a look at the post John wrote before the season started - he was listed the number four prospect in New Jersey by the writers on In Lou We Trust. Although a lot has changed since this was written, it has great insight.

That's it for the update this week. What are your thoughts on Jon Merrill going pro? Do you think he has what it takes to make the NHL sooner rather than later? What do you expect to see from Reid Boucher in the AHL? Do you think Albany can make the final push and squeeze into the playoffs? Feel free to discuss anything prospect related in the comments below. Thanks for reading!