New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 1/20/15

This post will recap the sixteenth week of Devils prospect action for the 2014-15 season. It's highlighted by the Devils adding a new forward prospect to their pool in Joseph Blandisi, Ryan Kujawinski and Connor Chatham continue to produce in the OHL, Blake Pietila step up for Michigan Tech, and Stefan Matteau's offensive surge for the Albany Devils. 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/North Bay	OHL	33	18	12	30	13	24	0.91
Height: 6'2	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 207	5	23	13	5	18	4	6	10	0	1	1
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Connor Chatham	RW	19	Plymouth	OHL	30	9	15	24	0	34	0.80
Height: 6'2	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 225	11	20	7	12	19	2	3	5	0	0	0
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Joseph Blandisi	C	20	Barrie	OHL	42	30	41	71	13	74	1.69
Height: 6'0	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 192	24	54	12	17	29	7	22	29	7	2	9
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
John Quenneville	C	18	Brandon	WHL	38	15	16	31	6	45	0.82
Height: 6'1	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 205	9	24	6	10	16	7	4	11	0	2	2
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Ryan Rehill	D	19	Kamloops	WHL	43	5	9	14	-11	98	0.33
Height: 6'3	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 225	4	9	5	8	13	0	1	1	0	0	0
					GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP
Brandon Baddock	LW	19	Edmonton	WHL	45	12	15	27	-4	86	0.60
Height: 6'4	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 215	8	20	5	11	16	5	2	7	0	1	1

Name	Age (as of 2/1)	GP	GS	W	L	OTL	SOL	MIN	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Anthony Brodeur	20	21	17	6	4	0	4	968:54	3.72	0.885	111	-5.71
Height: 5'11	Gatineau/Drummondville	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 194	QMJHL	0	0.00%	6	35.29%	5	29.41%	3	17.65%	66.67%	30.00%	3.33%

Ryan Kujawinski added two goals and an assist for North Bay over three games. He now has five goals and two assists in six games with the Battalion. Connor Chatham was on the scoresheet in all three games for Plymouth last week as he added a goal and two assists. He has three goals and eight assists over his last ten games.

Joseph Blandisi had an assist over three games in his first week as a Devils prospect. He is currently fourth in the OHL in points and goals. More on him in just a bit.

John Quenneville had a goal and an assist over three games for Brandon. He has just two goals and an assist over his last ten games or two goals and an assist over his last four games depending on what arbitrary end points you want to use. Brandon Baddock notched an assist and six penalty minutes over three games for the Oil Kings. Ryan Rehill played twice last week for Kamloops and had a goal and an assist against Portland.

Anthony Brodeur started for Drummondville on Thursday and made 53 saves on 55 shots as well as stopping 3/5 shootout attempts but still picked up the loss. He also saw some action on Saturday as he played a period in relief and made 8 saves on 10 shots.

The New Guy

Gerard profiled Blandisi a few days ago here. I wanted to take a look at some of Blandisi's numbers like his NHL Equivalency, his extended stats, and how he compares to former Devils OHL prospects. This season he has an NHLe of 36.04 and last year he had a 22.68. These both seem awfully high in my opinion but they're fun to look at.

Year	Age	GP	G	A	Pts	PPG	aaPPG	TmPt%	TmGl%	ESGF%	rel ESGF%	eTOI	eP/60
2014-15	20.164	41	29	40	69	1.68	0.61	40.35%	16.96%	54.00%	0.00%	32.31	3.13
2013-14	19.165	47	24	26	50	1.06	0.60	18.80%	9.02%	40.00%	-13.00%	22.92	2.78

Thanks to CHL Stats we have more numbers to chew on. His age adjusted points per game rate is nearly identical from his age 19 year to this year. As expected he is seeing a jump in offensive contribution to his team with a higher team point percentage and team goal percentage as well as more estimated ice time and estimated points per 60.

I also wanted to take a quick look at how his points per game rates compared to former Devils OHL prospects. Yes, there is a lot more than this when evaluating a player but I like to use it as a general baseline since players that score in juniors are more likely to succeed in professional hockey. I've separated the groups into two, the first featuring free agents signed out of the OHL in recent years and then drafted players from the OHL with the exception of the last few draft classes.

	16	17	18	19	20
Joseph Blandisi		0.46	0.81	1.06	1.69
Michael Swift	0.44	0.48	0.83	1.39	1.47
Brad Snetsinger	0.38	0.24	0.73	0.98	1.31
David Clarkson		0.41	0.49	0.71	1.06

Naturally, players that come out of juniors as free agents usually are long shots to have an impact at the NHL level. You are much likely to end up with a Swift or Snetsinger than a Clarkson. Looking at this group we see that Blandisi had favorable points per game rates at pretty much every age.

	16	17	18	19	20
Joseph Blandisi		0.46	0.81	1.06	1.69
Nick Palmieri	0.34	0.80	0.92	0.67
Matt Halischuk	0.20	0.51	0.99	1.48
Adam Henrique	0.71	0.67	1.13	1.43
Kory Nagy	0.06	0.08	0.30	0.87
Reid Boucher			0.75	1.40

Going from their age 17 seasons on, Blandisi pretty much trailed everyone except Kory Nagy. It will be interesting to see if Blandisi can become more than just an AHL player and carve out a bottom 6 role in the NHL one day. The odds are against him but I still love this signing for the Devils since it gives them depth with some potential upside if they get lucky.

NCAA

Name	Pos.	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%
Blake Coleman	C	Miami	20	9	9	18	14	55	70	12.86%	3.50	0.90	65.70%
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	4	13	5	7	12	3	1	4	1	0	1
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%
Blake Pietila	C	Michigan Tech	24	8	8	16	2	44	53	15.09%	2.21	0.67	60.94%
Height: 5'11			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 200	21	NCAA	6	14	5	1	6	2	6	8	0	1	1
			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	Blk
Steve Santini	D	Boston College	7	1	1	2	2	8	11	9.09%	1.57	0.29	11
Height: 6'2			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 208	19	NCAA	1	2	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	Blk
Joshua Jacobs	D	Michigan State	20	0	4	4	-9	14	33	0.00%	1.65	0.20	38
Height: 6'2			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 191	18	NCAA	2	2	0	2	2	0	2	2	0	0	0

Blake Pietila broke out this weekend for Michigan Tech with two goals and an assist in two games against Bowling Green. He is still sporting a strong 60.94% FO% on the year.

Steve Santini went +1 with two shots against Boston University to start the weekend. He finished the weekend off going -1 with two shots against Maine. Joshua Jacobs, the Devils other college defenseman, was a combined -2 with three shots and twelve blocks in two games against Penn State. He played quite a bit and in all situations from what I could gather watching Saturday's game.

Blake Coleman and Miami had the weekend off. Alexander Kerfoot remains out of Harvard's line up with an "upper body" injury.

KHL, USHL, USHS

Name	Pos.	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%	ATOI
Artur Gavrus	LW	Dinamo Minsk	33	5	4	9	-4	10	46	10.87%	1.39	0.27	37.50%	12:20
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	4	5	4	0	4	0	0	0
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Joey Dudek	C	Dubuque	30	5	4	9	-3	56	64	7.81%	2.13	0.30
Height: 5'11			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 185	19	USHL	1	6	4	4	8	0	0	0	0	0	0
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Miles Wood	LW	Noble & Greenough	7	5	10	15						2.14
Height: 6'1	19		GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Weight: 165		USA	5	0	0	0	1	6	6	0.00%	1.20	0.00

Artur Gavrus was out with some sort of injury and last featured in KHL action on 12/14. According to this roughly translated report, he was sent down to Dinamo-Molodechno of the Belarusian Extraliga last week. According to another rough translation on the club's website, he had four assists with a +2 rating in two games for the club before being called up again by Dinamo Minsk. It was probably a conditioning stint.

Joey Dudek was a -2 with four shots over two games for Dubuque against the USNTDP U18 squad. Miles Wood continued to dominate his league as expected.

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	ENG	ENA	EN Pts
Joe Whitney	5'6	170	26	LW	35	14	19	33	10	24	3	24	91	15.38%	2.60	0.94	8	9	17	6	10	16	0	0	0	0	0	0
Paul Thompson	6'1	205	26	RW	38	19	14	33	12	31	13	53	137	13.87%	3.61	0.87	12	9	21	5	4	9	1	1	2	1	0	1
Reid Boucher	5'10	190	21	LW	36	11	10	21	5	16	-3	24	96	11.46%	2.67	0.58	5	3	8	6	6	12	0	0	0	0	1	1
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	0	0	0
Brandon Burlon	6'0	190	24	D	38	3	13	16	8	11	4	58	51	5.88%	1.34	0.42	2	4	6	1	9	10	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Sislo	5'11	195	27	RW	29	8	8	16	5	13	4	11	70	11.43%	2.41	0.55	2	4	6	4	4	8	1	0	1	1	0	1
Stefan Matteau	6'2	220	20	LW	35	4	11	15	7	11	7	25	64	6.25%	1.83	0.43	2	6	8	2	5	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
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	0	0	0
Tim Sestito	5'11	195	30	C	27	6	7	13	5	11	0	10	57	10.53%	2.11	0.48	4	5	9	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	2
Reece Scarlett	6'1	185	21	D	23	1	12	13	8	9	1	4	37	2.70%	1.61	0.57	1	5	6	0	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Graham Black	6'0	190	22	C	28	7	5	12	3	10	7	12	56	12.50%	2.00	0.43	3	3	6	4	2	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
Darcy Zajac	6'1	205	28	RW	39	4	6	10	4	8	-8	70	64	6.25%	1.64	0.26	2	6	8	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Ben Thomson	6'3	215	22	LW	37	4	5	9	4	8	-3	57	46	8.70%	1.24	0.24	4	4	8	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dan Kelly	6'1	210	25	D	29	1	8	9	4	5	2	73	26	3.85%	0.90	0.31	1	7	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Rod Pelley	6'0	205	30	C	36	4	2	6	1	5	-4	30	44	9.09%	1.22	0.17	3	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
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	0	0	0
Corbin McPherson	6'5	220	26	D	40	1	4	5	2	3	-3	50	35	2.86%	0.88	0.13	1	4	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
David Wohlberg	6'1	200	24	LW	24	3	2	5	1	4	1	10	20	15.00%	0.83	0.21	3	1	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mark Fraser	6'4	220	28	D	18	1	2	3	1	2	-1	45	19	5.26%	1.06	0.17	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Eric Baier	6'2	210	26	D	12	1	2	3	2	3	-3	4	19	5.26%	1.58	0.25	1	1	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chris McKelvie	6'1	195	29	LW	26	2	1	3	0	2	-11	44	32	6.25%	1.23	0.12	2	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kelly Zajac	5'10	180	26	C	11	0	3	3	2	2	-4	10	8	0.00%	0.73	0.27	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0
Joe Faust	6'0	205	23	D	21	0	3	3	1	1	-3	14	20	0.00%	0.95	0.00	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	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	0	0	0
Adam Larsson	6'3	200	22	D	1	0	2	2	1	1	1	0	1	0.00%	1.00	2.00	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ben Johnson	6'0	195	20	LW	17	1	1	2	1	2	-2	4	13	7.69%	0.76	0.12	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Cam Janssen	6'0	210	30	RW	18	1	1	2	0	1	-2	23	11	9.09%	0.61	0.11	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Seth Helgeson	6'5	215	24	D	15	0	2	2	1	1	1	27	12	0.00%	0.80	0.13	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Keenan	6'0	190	25	D	12	0	1	1	1	1	-1	11	13	0.00%	1.08	0.08	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alexandre Carrier	6'3	210	23	RW	8	0	0	0	0	0	-1	10	5	0.00%	0.63	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Myles Bell	6'1	216	21	RW	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.00%	1.00	0.00	0	0	0	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	90	2.82
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	20	18	1094	6	8	2	2	3.02	0.893	126	-11.31
Height: 6'2		SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 190		0	0.00%	9	50.00%	4	22.22%	1	5.56%	69.09%	30.91%	0.00%
		GP	GS	Min	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Scott Clemmensen	37	9	8	515	3	4	0	1	2.45	0.912	103	-0.69
Height: 6'2		SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 200		1	12.50%	4	50.00%	2	25.00%	0	0.00%	52.38%	47.62%	0.00%
		GP	GS	Min	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA
Maxime Clermont	23	2	2	120	2	0	0	0	2.50	0.912	103	-0.16
Height: 6'0		SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 200		0	0.00%	1	50.00%	0	0.00%	1	50.00%	60.00%	40.00%	0.00%

With two wins and an overtime loss this past week, Albany moved up to 8th in the Eastern Conference with 44 points from 40 games. A strong week on the PP brought their success rate up to 18.18% on the season while the PK% is 80.33%. Albany has a 99.89% PDO on the season.

Transactions: Right after last week's update was posted, Seth Helgeson was sent down by New Jersey with Joe Whitney going the other way. The Devils also signed Eric Baier to an AHL deal.

Injury Update: Raman Hrabarenka (fractured cheek bone), Scott Timmins (leg injury), and Graham Black (undisclosed) all missed last week's action.

Wednesday 1/14: Albany defeated Springfield 2-1 in overtime. Paul Thompson tied the game with under a minute to go in regulation with Joe Faust and Reece Scarlett picking up the assists. Dan Kelly won the game for the Devils with Stefan Matteau and Darcy Zajac getting the assists. Stefan Matteau had 6 shots while Reid Boucher added 4 of his own as the Devils were outshot 30-27. Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves on 30 shots. Albany went 0/3 on the PP and 3/3 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

Line Up (via ADevils twitter):

Thompson-K. Zajac-Boucher

Sislo-D. Zajac-Thomson

McKelvie-Wohlberg-Matteau

Janssen-Pelley-Johnson

Helgeson-Scarlett

McPherson-Burlon

Kelly-Faust

Friday 1/16: Albany defeated Lehigh Valley 3-2. Stefan Matteau had a goal and an assist to go along with 5 shots to lead the offensive charge. Rod Pelley and Paul Thompson had the other ADevils goals with Dan Kelly, Reece Scarlett, Scott Clemmensen, David Wohlberg, and Seth Helgeson picking up assists. Paul Thompson and Reid Boucher each had 6 shots as the Devils outshot the Phantoms 36-34. Scott Clemmensen made 32 saves on 34 shots. Albany went 2/10 on the PP and 7/7 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

Saturday 1/17: Albany lost to Hershey 5-4 in overtime. Reece Scarlett led the Devils with a goal and two assists followed by Stefan Matteau with a goal and an assist. Reid Boucher and Darcy Zajac had the other Devils goals. Brandon Burlon, Mike Sislo, and Ben Thomson picked up an assist each. Paul Thompson had 7 shots followed by Reid Boucher with 5 as the Devils and Bears each had 29 shots. Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves on 29 shots. Albany went 3/5 on the PP and 4/7 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

Taking Advantage of an Opportunity: With Raman Hrabarenka out of the line up, Reece Scarlett has stepped up to provide some offense from the blue line. He is currently on a three game scoring streak with a goal and four assists during that time.

Coming Up: Albany will take on Bridgeport tomorrow and Worcester on both Friday and Saturday.

ADevils Coming to Newark: Albany will take on Bridgeport at The Rock tomorrow at 7:30 PM.

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	ENG	ENA	EN Pts
Myles Bell	6'1	216	21	RW	24	8	7	15	3	11	-8	9	73	10.96%	3.04	0.63	7	2	9	1	5	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alexandre Carrier	6'3	210	23	RW	6	0	0	0	0	0	-3	2	7	0.00%	1.17	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Eric Baier	6'2	210	26	D	17	4	5	9	3	7	7	11	38	10.53%	2.24	0.53	3	3	6	0	2	2	1	0	1	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	148	-10.41
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, Alexandre Carrier, and Maxime Clermont are still with Albany. The Devils did sign Eric Baier to an AHL deal last week and reassigned him to Orlando where he had an assist in his only game of the week.

Prospect of the Week

I'll give this week's honors to Blake Pietila as he snapped a four game goal scoring drought with two goals against Bowling Green. He also had an assist in the previous game. He now is fourth on Michigan Tech in scoring is 11th in the country in FO% at 60.94%.

ADevil of the Week

Stefan Matteau picks up this week's honors as he had two goals and three assists to go along with twelve shots over three games last week. His SH% is starting to regress back to something normal. According to Quant Hockey, his .429 points per game is above the AHL median which is a positive sign given how slow he started out the year. He still has time on his at age 20 and I'm interested in seeing how he does in the second half of the year.

Prospects on TV

-- Michigan State (Joshua Jacobs) will take on Ohio State on the Big Ten Network at 7 PM ET on Saturday 1/24.

-- For you draft fans out there, the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game will be broadcast on the NHL Network at 7 PM ET on Thursday 1/22.

Your Take

What type of professional player do you think Blandisi will end up being? Are you satisfied with the Devils other OHL prospects at the moment? Did you catch Jacobs on ESPNU last weekend and if so do you have any thoughts on him? What type of second half do you think Matteau will have? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!