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New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: Week 23

College playoffs are about to begin while AHL and CHL seasons are in the playoff push.

By Karen Meilands
Bruce Bennett

The Albany Devils had a mediocre week, but are still in playoff contention as the season winds down. This week takes a closer look at college hockey as they are heading to the playoffs this weekend.

Player Birth Year Team League Position GP G A PTS PPG +/- PIM PP SHG SOG SH%
Joe Whitney 1988 Albany AHL LW 57 20 25 45 0.789473684 -1 30 5 0 164 12.2
Mike Sislo 1988 Albany AHL RW 48 19 15 34 0.708333333 7 22 6 2 115 16.5
Kelly Zajac 1988 Albany AHL C 51 8 24 32 0.62745098 3 2 2 0 62 12.9
Scott Timmins 1989 Albany AHL C 44 11 20 31 0.704545455 9 18 2 1 95 11.6
Reid Boucher 1993 Albany AHL LW 40 16 12 28 0.7 -2 8 4 0 111 14.4
Tim Sestito 1984 Albany AHL C 46 12 13 25 0.543478261 -4 66 2 1 70 17.1
Harri Pesonen 1988 Albany AHL LW 58 9 15 24 0.413793103 6 44 1 0 112 8
Stefan Matteau 1994 Albany AHL LW 51 11 10 21 0.411764706 3 56 1 0 84 13.1
Mike Hoeffel 1989 Albany AHL LW 48 7 12 19 0.395833333 6 38 2 0 92 7.6
Chris McKelvie 1985 Albany AHL LW 53 7 11 18 0.339622642 4 77 0 1 90 7.8
Rod Pelley 1984 Albany AHL C 58 11 6 17 0.293103448 5 42 0 2 107 10.3
Raman Hrabarenka 1992 Albany AHL D 34 5 12 17 0.5 -3 20 4 0 53 9.4
Reece Scarlett 1993 Albany AHL D 45 4 13 17 0.377777778 9 18 4 0 52 7.7
Mattias Tedenby 1990 Albany AHL LW 27 7 8 15 0.555555556 -1 14 1 0 40 17.5
Dan Kelly 1989 Albany AHL D 55 2 13 15 0.272727273 7 61 0 0 56 3.6
Adam Larsson 1992 Albany AHL D 24 1 13 14 0.583333333 -2 8 1 0 46 2.2
Artem Demkov (X) 1989 Albany AHL C 22 6 5 11 0.5 6 6 1 0 45 13.3
Brandon Burlon 1990 Albany AHL D 44 4 6 10 0.227272727 1 33 2 0 62 6.5
Jon Merrill (X) 1992 Albany AHL D 14 2 7 9 0.642857143 -1 0 2 0 20 10
Seth Helgeson 1990 Albany AHL D 59 1 7 8 0.13559322 9 87 0 0 51 2
Corbin McPherson 1988 Albany AHL D 53 0 8 8 0.150943396 12 33 0 0 41 0
David Wohlberg 1991 Albany AHL LW 45 4 2 6 0.133333333 -2 37 0 0 30 13.3
Eric Gelinas (X) 1990 Albany AHL C 10 1 4 5 0.5 6 8 1 0 34 2.9
Alexander Urbom 1989 Albany AHL D 20 0 3 3 0.15 -5 18 0 0 21 0
Riley Boychuk (X) 1984 Albany AHL RW 18 1 1 2 0.111111111 2 14 0 0 6 16.7
Cam Janssen 1986 Albany AHL C 17 0 2 2 0.117647059 0 20 0 0 2 0
Darcy Zajac 1990 Albany AHL D 4 0 1 1 0.25 -3 12 0 0 2 0
Harry Young (X) 1991 Albany AHL D 10 0 0 0 0 -1 15 0 0 3 0
Goalies GP Mins W L SOL SO GA GAA SVS SV%
Keith Kinkaid 1989 Albany AHL G 35 2045:00:00 21 9 4 4 77 2.26 821 0.914
Scott Wedgewood 1992 Albany AHL G 26 1417:04:00 9 12 3 1 65 2.75 513 0.888
Maxime Clermont 1991 Elmira ECHL G 17 915:00:00 6 9 1 0 51 3.35 474 0.892
Anthony Brodeur 1995 Gatineau Olympiques QMJHL G 28 1347:39:00 12 10 1 2 65 2.89 575 0.887
(X - not on active roster)
Player Birth Year Team League Position GP G A PTS PPG +/- PIM PP SHG SOG SH%
Artur Gavrus 1994 Dinamo Minsk KHL C 29 1 2 3 0.10 -10 8 1 0 35 2.86%
Vladimir Zharkov 1988 CSKA Moskva KHL RW 49 2 5 7 0.14 0 6 0 0 75 2.67%
CSKA Moskva - Playoffs KHL RW 4 0 0 0 0.00 -2 2 0 0 4 0.00%
Graham Black 1993 Swift Current Broncos WHL C 66 33 58 91 1.38 18 43 9 2 - -
Myles Bell 1993 Kelowna Rockets WHL LW 66 41 33 74 1.12 23 47 9 2 - -
Damon Severson 1994 Kelowna Rockets WHL D 62 15 45 60 0.97 47 63 5 1 - -
Ben Johnson 1994 Windsor Spitfires OHL C 56 25 25 50 0.89 18 28 4 2 - -
Ben Thomson (total) 1993 North Bay Battalion OHL LW 52 26 15 41 0.79 9 90 6 2 - -
Ryan Kujawinski 1995 Kingston Frontenacs OHL C 42 22 17 39 0.93 4 35 7 0 - -
Blake Coleman 1991 Miami Ohio NCAA C 23 18 6 24 1.04 8 63 6 0 96 18.75%
Alexander Kerfoot 1994 Harvard University NCAA C 25 8 6 14 0.56 0 8 3 0 40 20.00%
Blake Pietila 1993 Michigan Tech NCAA LW 37 8 19 27 0.73 -3 82 7 0 112 7.14%
Derek Rodwell 1990 University of North Dakota NCAA LW 25 5 2 7 0.28 5 20 0 0 53 9.43%
Miles Wood 1995 Boston College NCAA LW - - - - - - - - - - -
Joe Faust 1991 University of Wisconsin NCAA D 32 2 11 13 0.41 11 6 0 0 27 7.41%
Curtis Gedig 1991 Ohio State University NCAA D 28 1 6 7 0.25 0 8 1 0 42 2.38%
Steve Santini 1995 Boston College NCAA D 29 2 8 10 0.34 27 44 0 0 33 6.06%

Albany Notes:

  • In the final game of the weekend, the Devils fell to the Worcester Sharks 4-3 in the shootout. The Devils three goals were scored by Reid Boucher, David Wohlberg, and Harri Pesonen. Kinkaid was in net and made 23 saves. Here are the highlights: )
  • Joe Whitney tied the Albany franchise scoring record on Saturday with his goal. He now shares the franchise lead with Stephen Gionta with 140 points.
  • I wrote about Boucher getting frustrated with his lack of goal scoring since his NHL stint last week. He seems to have gotten some of his magic back. He scored two goals in three games last weekend.
  • The Albany Devils are now in eight place in the Eastern Conference with 17 games left in the regular season. They are just two points behind fifth-place and have three points on the ninth seed.
  • This coming weekend has an easier three-on-three than last week. They face the second-place Springfield Falcons on Friday, but it get's a bit better from their. On Saturday comes 12th-place Harford and 13th-place Syracuse on Sunday.
  • The Devils earned their 30th victory this weekend, which made them the fastest team to earn 30 in franchise history.
  • Here are the Elmira Jackals updates for the week. We just saw one assist from Artem Demkov in three games:
Player Team League Position GP G A PTS PPG +/- PIM PP SHG SOG SH%
Harry Young Elmira Jackals ECHL D 28 2 1 3 0.107142857 -5 47 0 0 28 7.14%
Artem Demkov Elmira Jackals ECHL F 35 14 10 24 0.685714286 0 28 4 1 110 12.73%
Riley Boychuk Elmira Jackals ECHL F 15 0 1 1 0.066666667 -1 52 0 0 17 0.00%


    Other Notes:

    • Ryan Kujawinski had a big week for the Kingston Frontenacs. He had four goals and two assists in four games. He has now reached 20 goals for the first time in his OHL career.
    • Blake Coleman had four goals in two games for Miami Ohio. He has been incredible since his return from injury. The team has been struggling mightily this season and Coleman's four goals were the only goals scored by Miami last weekend.
    • Speaking of Coleman, his Redhawks will be facing the St. Cloud State Huskies in the NCHC Playoffs in a best-of-three series that begins tomorrow.
    • Alexander Kerfoot and his team at Harvard lost both games in the first round of the 2014 ECAC Men's Hockey Championship.
    • Blake Pietila and the Michigan Tech Huskies will face Bowling Green during the first round of the WCHA Playoffs which begin tomorrow.
    • The University of North Dakota is facing Colorado College during the NCHC Quarterfinals this weekend.
    • Steve Santini and the Boston College Eagles will be taking on Notre Dame to start the Hockey East Tournament this weekend.

    Prospect of the Week:

    Blake Coleman was incredible last week as he has been since returning from injury. Not only did he score all four goals for Miami Ohio last week, but he was also named the NCHC Player of the Week. He has eight goals in his six games since returning from injury. He was also one of 19 RedHawks to earn All-Academic Honors in the NCHC by having a GPA of 3.19.

    Prospect Spotlight - Riley Boychuk:

    This week focuses on one of the less excited prospects. Boychuk is a 6'4" 205 lbs left wing who was drafted in 2010. The Devil acquired him in 2013 from the Buffalo Sabres and is currently playing with the Elmira Jackals in the ECHL.

    He will never be more than a fourth liner at best, and I don't expect to ever see him in the NHL. He is a physical forward who hasn't scored more than one goal in an AHL/ECHL season. He has played 18 games in Albany this season with one goal and one assist, but isn't a regular in the lineup.

    Boychuk will be a restricted free agent after this season. I don't expect him to have much of a future in the Devils organization.

    Has Blake Coleman impressed you since his return from injury? Do you think he can help the RedHawks find any success in the playoffs? How long do you think it will take Joe Whitney to get a point and take over the points leader in Albany history on his own? Please discuss your thoughts on any prospect news in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

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