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New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: Week 24

It was a huge week for the Albany Devils, and they made it count with four wins. The CHL playoffs are set to begin while college hockey tournaments have begun.

The Devils had an extremely busy and important week. They played four games, and were victorious in three of them. The wins helped them solidify their place in the standings as the season winds down. The regular season wound down in juniors while some tournaments began in college hockey.

Player Birth Year Team League Position GP G A PTS PPG +/- PIM PP SHG SOG SH%
Joe Whitney 1988 Albany AHL LW 61 21 27 48 0.79 2 32 6 0 172 12.2
Mike Sislo 1988 Albany AHL RW 52 22 16 38 0.73 8 24 6 2 127 17.3
Kelly Zajac 1988 Albany AHL C 55 8 27 35 0.64 4 2 2 0 66 12.1
Scott Timmins 1989 Albany AHL C 48 11 21 32 0.67 9 18 2 1 99 11.1
Reid Boucher 1993 Albany AHL LW 44 17 14 31 0.70 -1 10 5 0 121 14.1
Tim Sestito 1984 Albany AHL C 49 13 13 26 0.53 -1 79 2 1 74 17.6
Harri Pesonen 1988 Albany AHL LW 62 11 16 27 0.44 7 50 1 0 121 9.1
Stefan Matteau 1994 Albany AHL LW 54 11 10 21 0.39 4 56 1 0 86 12.8
Mike Hoeffel 1989 Albany AHL LW 50 7 12 19 0.38 6 38 2 0 95 7.4
Chris McKelvie 1985 Albany AHL LW 55 8 12 20 0.36 5 82 0 1 93 8.6
Rod Pelley 1984 Albany AHL C 62 12 6 18 0.29 7 44 0 2 112 10.7
Raman Hrabarenka 1992 Albany AHL D 37 6 13 19 0.51 -3 24 5 0 58 10.3
Reece Scarlett 1993 Albany AHL D 45 4 13 17 0.38 9 18 4 0 52 7.7
Mattias Tedenby 1990 Albany AHL LW 31 8 8 16 0.52 -1 16 1 0 49 16.3
Dan Kelly 1989 Albany AHL D 58 2 13 15 0.26 7 63 0 0 58 3.4
Adam Larsson 1992 Albany AHL D 28 1 15 16 0.57 -1 12 1 0 57 1.8
Artem Demkov (X) 1989 Albany AHL C 22 6 5 11 0.50 6 6 1 0 45 13.3
Brandon Burlon 1990 Albany AHL D 46 4 6 10 0.22 1 33 2 0 63 6.3
Jon Merrill (X) 1992 Albany AHL D 14 2 7 9 0.64 -1 0 2 0 20 10
Seth Helgeson 1990 Albany AHL D 63 1 7 8 0.13 11 89 0 0 56 1.8
Corbin McPherson 1988 Albany AHL D 57 0 9 9 0.16 16 33 0 0 45 0
David Wohlberg 1991 Albany AHL LW 49 3 5 8 0.16 -1 37 0 0 32 9.4
Eric Gelinas (X) 1990 Albany AHL C 10 1 4 5 0.50 6 8 1 0 34 2.9
Alexander Urbom 1989 Albany AHL D 24 0 5 5 0.21 -2 20 0 0 23 0
Riley Boychuk (X) 1984 Albany AHL RW 18 1 1 2 0.11 2 14 0 0 6 16.7
Cam Janssen 1986 Albany AHL C 17 0 2 2 0.12 0 20 0 0 2 0
Darcy Zajac 1990 Albany AHL D 6 0 1 1 0.17 -3 12 0 0 7 0
Harry Young (X) 1991 Albany AHL D 10 0 0 0 0.00 -1 15 0 0 3 0
Goalies GP Mins W L SOL SO GA GAA SVS SV%
Keith Kinkaid 1989 Albany AHL G 36 2103:00:00 21 10 4 4 83 2.37 843 0.91
Scott Wedgewood 1992 Albany AHL G 29 1597:01:00 12 12 3 3 66 2.48 567 0.896
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 30 1467:39:00 13 10 1 2 71 2.9 560 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 30 1 3 4 0.13 -11 8 1 0 36 2.78%
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 69 34 63 97 1.41 18 43 9 2 - -
Myles Bell 1993 Kelowna Rockets WHL LW 69 42 35 77 1.12 21 51 10 2 - -
Damon Severson 1994 Kelowna Rockets WHL D 64 15 46 61 0.95 47 63 5 1 - -
Ben Johnson 1994 Windsor Spitfires OHL C 59 28 25 53 0.90 18 30 5 2 - -
Ben Thomson (total) 1993 North Bay Battalion OHL LW 55 27 18 45 0.82 15 90 6 2 - -
Ryan Kujawinski 1995 Kingston Frontenacs OHL C 45 23 18 41 0.91 3 39 8 0 - -
Blake Coleman 1991 Miami Ohio NCAA C 23 18 6 24 1.04 8 63 6 0 96 18.75%
Miami Ohio - Playoffs NCAA C 2 0 1 1 0.50 -1 2 0 0 7 0.00%
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%
Michigan Tech - Playoffs NCAA LW 2 0 1 1 0.50 -1 2 0 0 2 0.00%
Derek Rodwell 1990 University of North Dakota NCAA LW 25 5 2 7 0.28 5 20 0 0 53 9.43%
UND - Playoffs NCAA LW 3 0 3 4 1.33 1 6 0 0 1 0.00%
Miles Wood 1995 Boston College NCAA LW - - - - - - - - - - -
Joe Faust 1991 University of Wisconsin NCAA D 34 2 12 14 0.41 11 6 0 0 29 6.90%
University of Wisconsin - Playoffs NCAA D - - - - - - - - - - -
Curtis Gedig 1991 Ohio State University NCAA D 30 2 7 9 0.30 2 8 2 0 47 4.26%
Ohio State - Playoffs NCAA D - - - - - - - - - - -
Steve Santini 1995 Boston College NCAA D 29 2 8 10 0.34 27 44 0 0 33 6.06%
Boston College - Playoffs NCAA D 3 0 0 0 0.00 -3 4 0 0 0 0.00%

Albany Notes:

  • In the first of three-in-three, the Devils fell 6-4 to the Springfield Falcons. Joe Whitney had a goal and an assist to break the franchise points record. He now has 142 points, breaking Stephen Gionta's record. The other goals were scored by Pesonen, Sestito and Tedenby while Kinkaid made 22 saves in the loss.
  • On Saturday, Wedgewood earned a shutout in a 2-0 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack. Pesonen and Pelley scored while Wedgweood made 23 saves, including 16 in the third period. Here are the highlights:

  • In their third game of the weekend, the Devils beat the Syracuse Crunch 3-0. Scott Wedgewood earned the shutout with 13 saves while Sislo (2) and Hrabarenka scored the goals. This was the first back-to-back shutouts for the first time in franchise history. The 13 shots were a season-low and Wedgewood faced just 36 total in both games. Here are the highlights:




    • With three goals last week, Mike Sislo became the leading scorer in Albany with 22 goals in his 52 games played.
    • Tim Sestito was called up to New Jersey and played in the Devils 4-2 loss to Boston the other day.
    • Darcy Zajac saw just his fifth and sixth game of the season last week. He was injured on October 19th and missed 56 games due to hi injury. This is what he had to say about his time out of the lineup,

    "It's been a long year for me. A lot of practicing and a lot of rehab and it just felt good to compete and be with the team, play together and contribute to a win.

    "You would think that maybe I would be a little slower or a little shaky, but I think adrenaline took over. I've been busting my butt for the last four or five months. I've been skating in the morning extra with Sergei [Brylin]. It just felt good to get out there."



    • The Albany Devils took over the local Dunkin' Donuts. All coffee was on the house and each customer was given two tickets to a game.



    Other Notes:

    • Graham Black had six points in the final week of the regular season giving him 97 points (34g, 63a) in 69 games, which lead the Swift Current Broncos and was a career high. Black also finished third in the OHL in points.
    • Myles Bell finished the season leading the Kelowna Rockets with 77 points (42g, 35a) in 69 games. Damon Severson was third on the team (top defenseman) with 61 points (15g, 46a).
    • Here is a look at the WHL Playoff Bracket:

    Screen_shot_2014-03-19_at_9

    • The Western Conference leading Kelowna Rockets are facing the Tri-City Americans and the fifth seed Swift Current Broncos will face fourth place Medicine Hat Tigers.
    • Ben Johnson finished his season with the Windsor Spitfires with 53 points (28g, 25a) in 59 games. He was also voted one of the "Hardest Workers" in the WHL Western Conference by the coaches in the league.
    • After being traded to the North Bay Battalion during the season, Ben Thomson still had a successful year. He had 45 points (27g, 18a) in 55 games and was voted one of the top three "Best Body Checkers" and "Most Underrated Payers" in the Eastern Conference of the WHL by the coaches. He was also honored by his teammates as "Overage Player of the Year."
    • Ryan Kujawinski had 41 points (23g, 18a) in 45 games for the Kingston Frontenacs this season.
    • Here are the OHL Playoff Brackets:

    Screen_shot_2014-03-19_at_10

    Prospect of the Week:

    There were a few players who had strong weeks, but the honor is going to Scott Wedgewood. He has been the backup to Keith Kinkaid all season, but really stood out and earned three consecutive starts this week. He had two straight shutouts, and only allowed one goal last night. He is surely making the goalie situation in Albany interesting as the season winds down as each game matters a lot if Albany expects to make the playoff for the first time in a long time.

    Prospect Spotlight - Anthony Brodeur:

    With their final pick of the 2013 NHL Entry Level Draft, the Devils decided to get sentimental. They drafted Martin Brodeur's son, Anthony with the 208th pick. Before moving to the QMJHL this season, the 5'11" 176 lbs goalie played for Shattuck St. Mary's and had a Save Percentage of .900 or higher for all three season in the program.

    This year, Brodeur has been playing as the backup with the Gatineau Olympiques posting a 2.90 GAA and .877 SVS%. It is worth noting, QMJHL goalie numbers are not normally impressive. The top GAA is 2.41 and only three goalies are below 2.75.

    One of his highlights from the season was a 194:28 minute shutout streak - the third longest in QMJHL history.

    Do you think it was worth drafting young Brodeur? Do you think he has any future going pro? What about Wedgewood? Do you think he could take the reigns in Albany as the season comes to a close? How to you think our junior prospects will perform in the playoffs? Please leave your comments below. Thanks for reading!