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New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 10/27/15

Week 4 of the 2015-16 prospect update saw Zacha, Speers, Quenneville, and Blackwood continue to play well in the CHL, Wood continue to produce for Boston College, and Albany get a couple of victories.

By Brian Franken
Blake Pietila has moved on from Michigan Tech and is enjoying life as an Albany Devil.
Blake Pietila has moved on from Michigan Tech and is enjoying life as an Albany Devil.
Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

This post will recap the 4th week of Devils prospect action for the 2015-16 season. It's highlighted by the continued offensive production for the Devils CHL prospects, strong goaltending from Mackenzie Blackwood in OHL action, and the Albany Devils having a solid weekend. Check out the stats and recap below!

OHL

Name Pos. Age Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Connor Chatham RW 20.00 Flint 11 3 5 8 1 10 7.50% 3.64 0.73
Height: 6'2 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 225 2 5 2 5 7 1 0 1 0 0 0 20
GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Josh Jacobs D 19.71 Sarnia 12 0 5 5 0 10 0.00% 2.17 0.42
Height: 6'2 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 200 4 4 0 3 3 0 2 2 0 0 0 11
GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Pavel Zacha C 18.57 Sarnia 7 5 3 8 3 10 22.73% 3.14 1.14
Height: 6'3 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 213 3 8 4 2 6 1 1 2 0 0 0 31
GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Blake Speers RW 18.82 Sault Ste. Marie 12 3 6 9 -12 12 8.82% 2.83 0.75
Height: 5'11 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 183 4 7 2 4 6 1 2 3 0 0 0 20
GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Colton White D 18.49 Sault Ste. Marie 12 1 5 6 -5 5 5.26% 1.58 0.50
Height: 6'1 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 185 5 6 0 3 3 1 2 3 0 0 0 14

Name Age GP GS W L OTL SOL GAA SV% GA%- GSAA GSAA/60
Mackenzie Blackwood 18.89 11 11 8 3 0 0 2.26 0.934 72 9.96 0.90
Height: 6'4 Barrie SO SO% QS QS% RBS RBS% BO BO% EVG% PPG% SHG%
Weight: 215 OHL 1 9.09% 8 72.73% 0 0.00% 1 9.09% 88.00% 8.00% 4.00%

Connor Chatham was held off the scoresheet in both of Flint's games last week. He did manage to put up 2 shots in each game. Hopefully he'll be able to increase his point production soon as it's a bit underwhelming at this stage.

Josh Jacobs had no points, no shots, and was a -2 over 2 games for Sarnia last week. Pavel Zacha had more success with 2 goals, an assist, even rating, and 7 shots over those 2 games. Ryan Yessie of Hockey Prospect had this to say on Zacha and Jacobs after Sarnia's first game of the week:



While I value Yessie's opinion a lot as a member of the Hockey Prospect crew, I do wonder if he's being a bit harsh on Jacobs. Jacobs had 3 assists, 8 shots, and a +4 rating over his last 3 games before that contest. He's still adjusting to a new league, team, etc. Maybe it was just a bad night for Jacobs. I personally never saw a problem with his compete level while at Michigan State. I think it's too early to say whether or not his development has slowed, though I could be wrong. It will be interesting to see how Jacobs responds in his next few games.

Blake Speers had a goal in both of Sault Ste. Marie's games this week and has now scored in 3 straight. Speers is currently in a 3 way tie for 1st among points for the Soo. Colton White picked up an assist, -3 rating, and 2 shots over 2 games for the Soo. Sub .900 SV% play from both goaltenders for the Soo is certainly not helping anyone's +/- rating on that team.

Mackenzie Blackwood had a rough night against Flint last Thursday, surrendering 5 goals, though he did stop 31. He still earned the win for Barrie. He rebounded from that game with 2 victories and 2 quality starts in games against Sudbury and Oshawa over the weekend. So far this season he has 7 games of 30 plus saves and has been a real bright spot for the Devils.

WHL

Name Pos. Age Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM Pts/GP NHLe
John Quenneville C 19.54 Brandon 10 7 8 15 7 11 1.50 33
Height: 6'1 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 205 5 12 3 5 8 3 3 6 1 0 1
GP G A Pts +/- PIM Pts/GP NHLe
Ryan Rehill D 19.98 Kamloops 10 0 5 5 -4 34 0.50 11
Height: 6'3 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 218 4 4 0 3 3 0 2 2 0 0 0
GP G A Pts +/- PIM Pts/GP NHLe
Brandon Baddock C 20.59 Edmonton 13 3
 2 5
 -7 22 0.38 9
Height: 6'4 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 225 1 4
 1
 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 1

John Quenneville had another solid week for Brandon, with 2 goals and an assist over 3 games. He currently is tied for 3rd in scoring on Brandon and has the 2nd best points per game rate on the team.

Ryan Rehill had an assist in each of Kamloop's games this week. He finished with an even rating and 6 penalty minutes and continues to eat ice time for the Blazers.

Brandon Baddock had 2 goals and an assist over 3 games for Edmonton last week.

NCAA

Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP Blks NHLe
Steve Santini D Boston College 5 0 1 1 4 16 0.00% 2.20 0.20 11 5
Height: 6'2 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 208 20.65 Hockey East 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% NHLe
JD Dudek C Boston College 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.00% 1.00 0.00 50.00% 0
Height: 5'11 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 185 19.75 Hockey East 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% NHLe
Miles Wood LW Boston College 5 1 5 6 4 4 7.14% 2.80 1.20 100.00%
 32
Height: 6'1 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 185 20.13 Hockey East 2 3 1 4 5 0 1 1 0 0 0

GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% NHLe
Brett Seney C Merrimack 4 1 2 3 3 4 16.67% 1.50 0.75 48.28% 20
Height: 5'9 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 170 19.67 Hockey East 2 3 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

Steve Santini picked up his first assist of the year for Boston College on Friday against Colorado College. He finished the 2 game series as a +3 with 2 penalty minutes and 6 shots. Miles Wood continued to produce finishing the series with an assist, +1, and 5 shots. He currently leads BC with 5 assists and is tied for 1st in points. JD Dudek continued to stay in the line up and finished the series with an even rating, 2 penalty minutes, and 2 shots.

Brett Seney was held off the scoresheet in both games against UMass Lowell for Merrimack. He was a -1, with 4 penalty minutes, 1 shot, and won 13 of 24 faceoffs as he continues to play as a center.

Alex Kerfoot and Harvard had an exhibition game against New Brunswick on Saturday. He finished with an assist, -1 rating, and a shot. They begin their regular season against Dartmouth this Saturday.

KHL

Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Artur Gavrus LW Dinamo Minsk 19 3 7 10 -1 0 41 7.32% 2.16 0.53 26.32% 16:54
Height: 5'10 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 183 21.82 KHL 4 7 3 6 9 0 1 1 0 0 0 36

Last week I mentioned that Gavrus didn't play in the 3rd period of Dinamo's game against Metallurg Nk. It turns out that was due to this play that resulted in another concussion for Gavrus. He previously had concussion issues dating back to his OHL days a few seasons ago. I haven't been able to find a further update on his condition but hopefully he takes the time he needs to recover.

AHL

Name Height Weight Age Pos GP G A PTS A1 Pts1 +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP GC GC/GP NHLe EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Marc-Andre Gragnani 6'3 210 28.65 D 6 0 5 5 3 3 -6 0 3 0.00% 0.50 0.83 1.39 0.23 33 0 1 1 0 4 4 0 0 0
Jim O'Brien 6'3 195 26.76 C 6 2 2 4 1 3 -2 4 28 7.14% 4.67 0.67 1.67 0.28 26 0 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 1
Blake Pietila 5'11 200 22.69 LW 6 3 1 4 0 3 2 0 10 30.00% 1.67 0.67 1.94 0.32 26 3 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 0
Mike Sislo 5'11 190 27.78 RW 6 2 2 4 2 4 -4 0 25 8.00% 4.17 0.67 1.67 0.28 26 0 1 1 2 1 3 0 0 0
Matt Lorito 5'9 170 25.33 LW 5 1 3 4 2 3 0 2 6 16.67% 1.20 0.80 1.39 0.28 31 0 0 0 1 3 4 0 0 0
Corey Tropp 6'2 185 26.27 RW 6 2 1 3 1 3 0 19 12 16.67% 2.00 0.50 1.39 0.23 20 1 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0
Reid Boucher 5'10 190 22.15 LW 3 2 1 3 1 3 0 2 8 25.00% 2.67 1.00 1.39 0.46 39 1 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0
Brandon Burlon 6'0 190 25.66 D 5 0 2 2 0 0 0 7 5 0.00% 1.00 0.40 0.56 0.11 16 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0
Dan Kelly 6'1 215 26.46 D 4 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 0.00% 0.25 0.50 0.56 0.14 20 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
Joseph Blandisi 6'0 200 21.29 C 5 2 0 2 0 2 -5 8 5 40.00% 1.00 0.40 1.11 0.22 16 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0
Paul Thompson 6'1 200 26.92 RW 6 1 1 2 1 2 -1 4 14 7.14% 2.33 0.33 0.83 0.14 13 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Seth Helgeson 6'4 215 25.07 D 6 0 1 1 1 1 1 12 10 0.00% 1.67 0.17 0.28 0.05 7 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Graham Black 6'0 185 22.80 C 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 0.00% 1.67 0.33 0.28 0.09 13 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vojtech Mozik 6'3 200 22.85 D 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 7 0.00% 2.33 0.33 0.28 0.09 13 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Reece Scarlett 6'1 180 22.59 D 4 0 1 1 0 0 -5 0 3 0.00% 0.75 0.25 0.28 0.07 10 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
Rod Pelley 6'0 205 31.17 LW 6 0 0 0 0 0 -1 4 6 0.00% 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blake Coleman 5'11 200 23.93 C 3 0 0 0 0 0 -1 6 1 0.00% 0.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Max Novak 5'11 180 24.55 RW 3 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 7 0.00% 2.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Chris McKelvie 6'1 195 30.69 RW 5 0 0 0 0 0 -1 7 6 0.00% 1.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Kujawinski 6'2 205 20.59 C 3 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0.00% 0.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ben Thomson 6'3 205 22.79 LW 4 0 0 0 0 0 -1 5 6 0.00% 1.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Raman Hrabarenka 6'4 230 23.19 D 4 0 0 0 0 0 -2 14 7 0.00% 1.75 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond 6'1 210 30.41 RW 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 0.00% 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Corbin McPherson 6'4 210 27.15 D 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 0.00% 1.25 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Name Age GP GS W L OTL SOL GAA SV% GA%- GSAA GSAA/60
Yann Danis 34.37 5 5 3 1 1 0 2.17 0.923 86 1.78 0.35
Height: 5'11 MIN SO SO% QS QS% RBS RBS% BO BO% EVG% PPG% SHG%
Weight: 180 303.56 0 0.00% 4 80.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 81.82% 18.18% 0.00%
Name Age GP GS W L OTL SOL GAA SV% GA%- GSAA GSAA/60
Scott Wedgewood 23.21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.000 0 0 0
Height: 6'2 MIN SO SO% QS QS% RBS RBS% BO BO% EVG% PPG% SHG%
Weight: 195 0 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Name Age GP GS W L OTL SOL GAA SV% GA%- GSAA GSAA/60
Doug Carr 26.64 1 1 0 1 0 0 3.02 0.885 128 -0.66 -0.66
Height: 6'2 MIN SO SO% QS QS% RBS RBS% BO BO% EVG% PPG% SHG%
Weight: 200 59.68 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 100.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Injury Update: Scott Wedgewood (ankle) remains sidelined. Paul Thompson left Sunday's game against Binghamton after being boarded by Zack Stortini in the 2nd period.

Transactions: Reid Boucher was sent down to Albany on 10/21 to get more playing time.

Now Carrying AHL Stats: The awesome website, CHLStats is now hosting AHL fancystats on the team and player level. Now we know the Devils estimated Fenwick Close is 55.77% while they have a 99.32 PDO. You can even check out a "most common linemates at even strength" feature for various players.

Friday 10/23: Albany lost to Portland 4-2. Paul Thompson scored the first Devils goal with Jim O'Brien and Vojtech Mozik picking up the assists. Blake Pietila had the other Devils goal. Mike Sislo had 5 shots followed by O'Brien and Brandon Burlon with 3 each as the Devils outshot the Pirates 28-27. Doug Carr made his Devils debut with 23 saves on 26 shots. Albany went 0/5 on the PP and 4/5 on the PK, allowing an empty net goal. Here is the gamesheet.

Line Up:
Boucher-Blandisi-Sislo
Lorito-O’Brien-Thompson
Pietila-Black-Tropp
McKelvie-Pelley-Thomson

Gragnani-Hrabarenka
Kelly-Burlon
Helgeson-Mozik

Saturday 10/24: Albany defeated Portland 3-1. Reid Boucher had the first Devils goal with Mike Sislo getting the assist. Blake Pietila had the second goal with Seth Helgeson and Marc-Andre Gragnani picking up the assists. Jim O'Brien added the third goal on the PP with Corey Tropp and Reece Scarlett getting the assists. O'Brien, Tropp, and Thomson had 4 shots each as the Devils outshot the Pirates 32-21. Yann Danis made 20 saves on 21 shots. Albany went 1/6 on the PP and 4/4 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.



Sunday 10/25: Albany defeated Binghamton 4-1. Reid Boucher and Matt Lorito had a goal and an assist for the Devils. Joseph Blandisi and Corey Tropp had the other goals for Albany. Marc-Andre Gragnani picked up 2 assists while Brandon Burlon, Jim O'Brien, Blake Pietila, and Mike Sislo had 1 each. O'Brien led the way with 7 shots followed by Boucher with 5 as the Devils outshot the Senators 38-24. Danis made 23 saves on 24 shots. Albany went 4/10 on the PP and 5/6 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.



Line Up:
Thompson-O'Brien-Tropp
Boucher-Lorito-Sislo
Pietila-Black-Blandisi
Leblond-Pelley-Kujawinski

Gragnani-Scarlett
Burlon-McPherson
Helgeson-Hrabarenka

Coming Up: Albany plays another 3 in 3 this weekend with Bridgeport, Utica, and Toronto as the opponents.

ECHL

Name Height Weight Age Pos GP G A PTS A1 Pts1 +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts
Joe Faust 5'11 207 23.96 D 4 0 2 2 1 1 -1 2 5 0.00% 1.25 0.50 0 1 1 0 1 1

Name Age GP GS W L OTL SOL GAA SV% GA%- GSAA GSAA/60
Ken Appleby 20.56 3 3 3 0 0 0 2.32 0.923 84 1.37 0.45
Height: 6'4 MIN SO SO% QS QS% RBS RBS% BO BO% EVG% PPG% SHG%
Weight: 205 180.81 0 0.00% 2 66.67% 1 33.33% 1 33.33% 71.43% 14.29% 14.29%

Joe Faust had an assist, -1 rating, 2 penalty minutes, and 4 shots over 3 games for Adirondack. Ken Appleby's weekend started off rough despite earning a win on Friday against Brampton with 18 saves on 22 shots. He rebounded with another win the following day against Manchester by stopping 37 of 39 shots.

Prospect of the Week

I'm going to give this week's honors to Pavel Zacha after he had 2 goals and an assist with 7 shots over 2 games. He is currently on a 6 game scoring streak with 5 goals and 3 assists. He's producing at over a point per game pace as was expected of him and earned high praise from Ryan Yessie of Hockey Prospect. Hopefully he keeps it up going forward.

ADevil of the Week

You can make a case for a number of ADevils to get this week's honors. Yann Danis continued his solid start to the year by stopping 43 of 45 shots this weekend. Marc-Andre Gragnani picked up 3 assists and leads the team in points. Reid Boucher took his demotion in stride and added 2 goals and an assist. However, I'm giving this week's honors to first year pro, Blake Pietila. The Michigan Tech product who is best known for his defensive work is off to a nice start with Albany with 3 goals and an assist after 6 games of play. This weekend he extended his point streak to 4 games by adding 2 more goals and an assist in 3 games. Obviously he won't keep this pace up, but it's nice to see him not be overwhelmed in his first month as a pro. Hopefully he can build off of this and be a consistent presence in the line up as the year goes on.

Your Take

Which prospects stood out to you this week? Are you concerned about Jacobs at this point in the season? What are your thoughts on Albany so far? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!

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