New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 12/9/14

This post will recap the tenth week of Devils prospect action for the 2014-15 season. It's highlighted by Keith Kinkaid's strong goaltending and Blake Coleman's faceoff skills. The injuries are piling up in the system from the Albany Devils to the OHL to the NCAA. Check out the stats and recap below!

CHL

Name	Pos.	Age (as of 2/1)	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Ryan Kujawinski	C	19	Kingston	OHL	25	12	9	21	7	18	0.84
Height: 6'2	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 207	4	16	9	4	13	2	5	7	0	0	0
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Connor Chatham	RW	19	Plymouth	OHL	21	6	9	15	2	30	0.71
Height: 6'2	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 225	6	12	5	6	11	1	3	4	0	0	0
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
John Quenneville	C	18	Brandon	WHL	23	10	13	23	4	22	1.00
Height: 6'1	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 205	7	17	4	7	11	5	4	9	0	2	2
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Ryan Rehill	D	19	Kamloops	WHL	29	2	7	9	-1	82	0.31
Height: 6'3	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 225	4	6	2	6	8	0	1	1	0	0	0
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Brandon Baddock	LW	19	Edmonton	WHL	30	6	11	17	0	51	0.57
Height: 6'4	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 215	5	11	3	7	10	2	2	4	0	1	1

Name	Age (as of 2/1)	GP	GS	W	L	OTL	SOL	MIN	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Anthony Brodeur	20	16	14	5	4	0	3	774:35	3.72	0.876	118	-7.37
Height: 5'11	Gatineau	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 194	QMJHL	0	0.00%	5	35.71%	5	35.71%	2	14.29%	66.67%	31.25%	2.08%

It was a quiet week for the Devils OHL prospects. Ryan Kujawinski left Kingtson's game against Belleville on Friday after taking a hit in the head area according to the Kingston Whig-Standard. The paper notes he managed to play one more shift after the hit before sitting out for good and missing out on the rest of the weekend's action. Connor Chatham also remained sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

In WHL action, John Quenneville's slump now has him down to a point per game. He has just five goals and three assists in his last fourteen games. It's certainly not unfair to expect more out of a first round pick. Ryan Rehill was held scoreless in three games with a -2 rating and three minor penalties. Brandon Baddock had an assist in two games over the weekend.

Anthony Brodeur remains on the outside for Drummondville as the third choice goaltender. He has yet to dress for the club.

NCAA

Name	Pos.	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%
Blake Coleman	LW	Miami	14	9	7	16	11	53	59	15.25%	4.21	1.14	67.91%
Height: 5'11	Age (as of 2/1)	League	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 200	23	NCAA	3	12	5	5	10	3	1	4	1	0	1
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%
Blake Pietila	C	Michigan Tech	14	4	5	9	-1	26	27	14.81%	1.93	0.64	61.15%
Height: 5'11			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 200	21	NCAA	4	8	2	1	3	1	4	5	0	0	0
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%
Alex Kerfoot	C	Harvard	10	4	11	15	10	4	19	21.05%	1.90	1.50	49.68%
Height: 5'10			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 175	20	NCAA	6	10	2	6	8	1	3	4	0	1	1
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Steve Santini	D	Boston College	4	1	0	1	2	2	6	16.67%	1.50	0.25
Height: 6'2			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 208	19	NCAA	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	Blk
Joshua Jacobs	D	Michigan State	15	0	3	3	-7	12	27	0.00%	1.80	0.20	23
Height: 6'2			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 191	18	NCAA	1	1	0	2	2	0	1	1	0	0	0

It was a relatively quiet week for the Devils NCAA prospects. Alexander Kerfoot and Steve Santini were sidelined with injuries, though Santini was named to the USA WJC team preliminary roster as expected. He'll be on the team if his wrist heals in time. Blake Pietila and Michigan Tech were off this weekend.

Blake Coleman added a goal in two games against Nebraska Omaha this weekend for Miami. He did manage to win 75% of his faceoffs and boost his FO% to a strong 67.91% in 187 attempts this season. Even though that is due to regress some, he has shown improvement over his 51.36% success rate last season.

Joshua Jacobs managed two shots and three blocks in two games against Minnesota. While his -7 rating will stick out on his season line so far, it's important to remember he's playing on a rebuilding Michigan State team.

KHL, USHL, USHS

Name

Pos.

Team

GP

G

A

Pts

+/-

PIM

SH

SH%

SH/GP

Pts/GP

FO%

ATOI

Artur Gavrus

LW

Dinamo Minsk

31

5

3

8

-5

10

43

11.63%

1.39

0.26

38.30%

12:26

Height: 5'10

Age (as of 2/1)

League

A1

Pts1

EVG

EVA

EV Pts

PPG

PPA

PP Pts

SHG

SHA

SH Pts

Weight: 177

21

KHL

2

7

1

3

4

4

0

4

0

0

0

GP

G

A

Pts

+/-

PIM

SH

SH%

SH/GP

Pts/GP

Joey Dudek

C

Dubuque

20

4

1

5

-3

32

41

9.76%

2.05

0.25

Height: 5'11

A1

Pts1

EVG

EVA

EV Pts

PPG

PPA

PP Pts

SHG

SHA

SH Pts

Weight: 185

19

USHL

0

4

3

1

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

GP

G

A

Pts

+/-

PIM

SH

SH%

SH/GP

Pts/GP

Miles Wood

LW

Noble & Greenough

2

0

2

2

1.00

Height: 6'1

A1

Pts1

EVG

EVA

EV Pts

PPG

PPA

PP Pts

SHG

SHA

SH Pts

Weight: 165

19

USHS

Artur Gavrus was scoreless in three games for Dinamo Minsk. He is receiving a solid 10-11 minutes of ice time per game lately but hasn't been able to earn more like he did earlier in the season.

Joey Dudek continues to struggle in the USHL, with just one goal in his last 12 games. It's been a disappointing start to his USHL career with just a 0.25 points per game rate.

Information on Miles Wood will be hard to come by, as it was last year, but so far in two games for Nobles he has two assists. This is a league he should dominate with video game type numbers and I'll do my best to find his up to date stats as often as possible. Like Santini, he was named, albeit as a surprise, to the USA WJC team preliminary roster. Corey Pronman had this to say about Wood's selection:

USAH bringing a 95 from high school Miles Wood-NJD is notable. F with size, speed and solid skill, but we'll see if he can play at U20 pace.

— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) December 2, 2014

AHL

Name	Height	Weight	Age (as of 2/1)	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS	A1	Pts1	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Joe Whitney	5'6	170	26	LW	24	8	12	20	5	13	0	16	55	14.55%	2.29	0.83	5	6	11	3	6	9	0	0	0
Scott Timmins	6'0	200	25	C	23	6	13	19	5	11	3	4	52	11.54%	2.26	0.83	5	7	12	1	5	6	0	1	1
Paul Thompson	6'1	205	26	RW	22	11	7	18	6	17	10	39	64	17.19%	2.91	0.82	7	5	12	3	1	4	1	1	2
Raman Hrabarenka	6'5	235	22	D	20	4	10	14	5	9	1	18	36	11.11%	1.80	0.70	2	7	9	2	3	5	0	0	0
Tim Sestito	5'11	195	30	C	24	4	6	10	5	9	-3	8	45	8.89%	1.88	0.42	2	4	6	1	1	2	0	0	0
Mike Sislo	5'11	195	27	RW	20	6	4	10	4	10	3	9	51	11.76%	2.55	0.50	1	2	3	3	2	5	1	0	1
Brandon Burlon	6'0	190	24	D	22	1	8	9	5	6	0	36	32	3.13%	1.45	0.41	1	2	3	0	6	6	0	0	0
Reid Boucher	5'10	190	21	LW	20	4	5	9	2	6	-4	4	53	7.55%	2.65	0.45	2	0	2	2	4	6	0	0	0
Stefan Matteau	6'2	220	20	LW	20	1	7	8	5	6	2	15	27	3.70%	1.35	0.40	1	4	5	0	3	3	0	0	0
Graham Black	6'0	190	22	C	18	5	3	8	2	7	3	8	30	16.67%	1.67	0.44	2	2	4	3	1	4	0	0	0
Dan Kelly	6'1	210	25	D	14	0	5	5	3	3	6	41	14	0.00%	1.00	0.36	0	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Darcy Zajac	6'1	205	28	RW	23	3	2	5	1	4	-2	51	36	8.33%	1.57	0.22	2	2	4	0	0	0	1	0	1
Ben Thomson	6'3	215	22	LW	22	3	2	5	2	5	-3	35	30	10.00%	1.36	0.23	3	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Steve Bernier	6'3	215	29	RW	9	1	4	5	3	4	-1	17	16	6.25%	1.78	0.56	1	2	3	0	2	2	0	0	0
Peter Harrold	5'11	180	31	D	13	1	1	2	0	1	3	10	21	4.76%	1.62	0.15	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Kelly Zajac	5'10	180	26	C	5	0	2	2	2	2	-1	4	2	0.00%	0.40	0.40	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	1
Chris McKelvie	6'1	195	29	LW	15	1	1	2	0	1	-7	20	20	5.00%	1.33	0.13	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Reece Scarlett	6'1	185	21	D	8	0	2	2	2	2	-1	2	18	0.00%	2.25	0.25	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Corbin McPherson	6'5	220	26	D	24	0	2	2	1	1	-5	39	23	0.00%	0.96	0.08	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Eric Baier	6'2	210	26	D	7	1	1	2	1	2	-2	4	6	16.67%	0.86	0.29	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0
Seth Helgeson	6'5	215	24	D	12	0	1	1	1	1	3	11	7	0.00%	0.58	0.08	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rod Pelley	6'0	205	30	C	20	1	0	1	0	1	-5	16	16	6.25%	0.80	0.05	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ben Johnson	6'0	195	20	LW	8	1	0	1	0	1	-2	4	7	14.29%	0.88	0.13	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Cam Janssen	6'0	210	30	RW	7	1	0	1	0	1	0	7	2	50.00%	0.29	0.14	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Joe Faust	6'0	205	23	D	10	0	1	1	0	0	-3	0	11	0.00%	1.10	0.00	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mark Fraser	6'4	220	28	D	10	1	0	1	0	1	-3	23	10	10.00%	1.00	0.10	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Keenan	6'0	190	25	D	3	0	1	1	1	1	-1	0	5	0.00%	1.67	0.33	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
David Wohlberg	6'1	200	24	LW	9	0	0	0	0	0	-2	6	7	0.00%	0.78	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Name	Age (as of 2/1)	GP	GS	Min	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Keith Kinkaid	25	13	12	713	7	2	1	2	2.19	0.923	89	3.49
Height: 6'2		SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 195		1	8.33%	8	66.67%	1	8.33%	1	8.33%	69.23%	23.08%	7.69%
		GP	GS	Min	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Scott Wedgewood	22	10	8	476	3	4	0	1	3.4	0.871	148	-8.82
Height: 6'2		SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 190		0	0.00%	4	50.00%	3	37.50%	0	0	77.78%	22.22%	0.00%
		GP	GS	Min	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Scott Clemmensen	37	5	4	275	1	2	0	1	2.18	0.920	88	1.38
Height: 6'2		SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 200		1	25.00%	2	50.00%	1	25.00%	0	0.00%	40.00%	60.00%	0.00%

The Albany Devils won a game and lost two this past weekend. They now sit at seventh in the conference with 27 points through 24 games. A big asset for the Devils has been their penalty kill which has gone 45/49 over their last 13 games. Overall, Albany's PP% is 16.67% with the PK% up to 82.08%. Their all situation PDO is at 99.83% for the year but their play over their last three games gives them a rolling average of 93.77% during that time. That is what happens when you only score three times in as many games.

Transactions: With injuries at the big club and their own, Albany saw a few transactions this past week. First, Peter Harrold was sent down in a paper move to make room for Mike Sislo to be recalled by New Jersey. Harrold eventaully made his way back up when Damien Brunner passed through waivers and was sent down. In-between all of that, the Devils signed Mike Keenan! Not that Mike Keenan though, rather a 25 year old defenseman from Massachusetts who has been spending this season with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL. After going undrafted after four years with Dartmouth College, he spent a chunk of last season with the Islanders AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Friday 12/5: Albany defeated Providence 2-1. Darcy Zajac scored the first goal with Mike Keenan picking up the assist. Scott Timmins added a power play goal with assists going to Eric Baier and Joe Whitney. Graham Black had a team high four shots as the Devils outshot the Bruins 31-30. Keith Kinkaid made the start and stopped 28 of 29 shots in 56:01 to earn the win. Scott Wedgewood had to play 3:59 at the end of the second period as Kinkaid left, most likely due to an equipment issue. Here is the gamesheet.

Saturday 12/6: Albany lost to Portland 6-1. Scoring the lone Devils goal was Reid Boucher on the power play, just his fourth of the year, with assists going to Brandon Burlon and Scott Wedgewood. Paul Thompson had a game high five shots as the Devils were outshot 27-26 by the Pirates. Wedgewood made just 21 saves on 27 shots, surrending all of the goals at even strength. Here is the gamesheet and lowlights:

Sunday 12/7: Albany was shutout 1-0 by Adirondack. Paul Thompson had a game high six shots with Reid Boucher following behind with four of his own. The Devils outshot the Flames 28-25. Keith Kinkaid was once again strong in goal with 24 saves on 25 shots. The game featured some controversy with Graham Black deflecting a Mark Fraser shot into the net to tie the game in the second period. After initially calling it a goal, the officials convened and overruled it. Unfortunately for Albany, AHL video review doesn't cover this and the replays indicated that Black's stick appeared to be below the cross bar. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

The lines and pairings for the game above were provided by the Albany Devils twitter:

Whitney-Timmins-Thompson

Boucher-Black-Matteau

Sestito-Pelley-Thomson

Johnson-D. Zajac-Janssen

Fraser-Baier

Keenan-McPherson

Burlon-Faust

Injury Situation: Kelly Zajac, Dan Kelly, Reece Scarlett, and Raman Hrabarenka all remained sidelined with injuries. Cam Janssen and Rod Pelley returned to the line up on Friday but Janssen would end up injured again after a fight on Sunday. Scott Timmins also had to leave that game after blocking a shot.

Getting It Done: Paul Thompson currently sits tied for third in the AHL in goals. In addition to this, he leads Albany with 17 primary points and is tied for the most even strength points on the team with 12. His SH% is still unnaturally high at 17.19% but his shots per game rate is solid at 2.91.

ECHL

Name	Height	Weight	Age (as of 2/1)	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS	A1	Pts1	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Myles Bell	6'1	216	21	RW	18	8	6	14	3	11	-2	7	62	12.90%	3.44	0.78	7	2	9	1	4	5	0	0	0
Alexandre Carrier	6'3	210	23	RW	5	0	0	0	0	0	-3	2	5	0.00%	1.00	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Name	Age (as of 2/1)	GP	GS	Min	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Maxime Clermont	23	9	7	511	5	3	0	0	3.76	0.873	137	-8.66
Height: 6'0		SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 200		0	0.00%	1	14.29%	2	28.57%	1	14.29%	75.00%	18.75%	6.25%

Myles Bell broke out of his slump with a goal and two assists last Wednesday against Indy. He was held off the scoresheet in his next game though and is under a point per game pace right now. While his overall stat line isn't bad, you would hope for a bit more from a player that has hopes of making it to the NHL. Hopefully he can find some consistency this month.

In Orlando, Alexandre Carrier is yet to score for the club in five games and Maxime Clermont allowed four goals in 51:26 of relief action.

Prospect of the Week

Due to injuries and lackluster performances, I'm going to give prospect of the week honor's to Steve Santini and Miles Wood for earning spots in the USA WJC camp. If he's healthy, Santini will be a lock for the roster, though his availability could come down to the wire. Training camp is December 16-19 in Boston before moving to Kingston, Ontario from December 21-24 for pre-tournament games and practices. Santini is already a veteran of the tournament as he competed for Team USA last year. While it wasn't his or the team's best showing, it's worth remembering that it wasn't his first international experience. He competed in the WHC U17 in 2011-12, earning a Silver Medal. The following year he was on the USA U18 team that won a Silver Medal with him earning Best Defenseman honors for the tournament.

Miles Wood on the other hand is a longshot to make the team. Obviously he's impressed the brass at USA Hockey enough to get the call despite being 19 years old and still playing prep hockey. With lack of video and stats it's hard to make out what he is at this moment. Perhaps I'm just being skeptical but despite reading rave reviews about his size and skill, I have a hard time getting excited about him until I see him play meaningful competition. Hopefully we can get a gauge of where he is at in his development since the USA camp will be in the media spotlight.

ADevil of the Week

This week's honors go to Keith Kinkaid for stopping 52 of the 54 shots he faced this weekend for a .963 SV%. He added two more quality starts to up his QS% to 66.67%. The bottom line is that when he's in net, the Albany Devils have a chance no matter what current form the offense is in. While it's still somewhat early in the season, his GA%- is a very strong 89 and he's been worth about 3.49 goals above average compared to his peers. He has recorded a quality start in four of his last five starts and has only allowed more than two goals in the same game once. This could just be a hot streak but he has steadily improved his SV% every single year as a professional and I hope that this is a sign of him establishing himself as a legitimate professional goaltender.

Your Take

Does John Quenneville's recent struggles concern you? What prospect do you think should be producing more at the moment? What are your thoughts about Keith Kinkaid's strong play? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!