New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 12/15/15

This post will recap the 11th week of Devils prospect action for the 2015-16 season. It's highlighted by Blake Speers staying hot in the OHL, John Quenneville, Mackenzie Blackwood, and Pavel Zacha attending pre-WJC camps, and Jim O'Brien returning from injury to help Albany now that Joseph Blandisi is in the NHL. Check out the stats and recap below!

OHL

Connor Chatham had a goal and 8 shots over 2 games for Flint last week. He's currently 2nd on the team in assists and points.

Pavel Zacha is currently with Team Czech Republic as they get ready for the WJC. Josh Jacobs and Sarnia played 2 games last week. He broke a 6 game streak without a point by assisting against Flint on Sunday. Jacobs had 5 shots on the week.

The details of Mackenzie Blackwood's suspension came out a week ago but after my post had gone up. He is officially been suspended 8 games by the OHL and will be required to miss Canada's opening 2 WJC games. He is still elgibile to play in pre-tournament games. Right now he is with Team Canada ahead of the WJC. He did not play in either of their exhibitions against the CIS All-Stars. He will be going with the team to Finland and perhaps he will get into some of those exhibitions before the start of the tournament.

Sault Ste. Marie had 3 games last week. Blake Speers maintained his point per game pace on the season by scoring 2 goals and adding an assist against Peterborough on Thursday as well as adding a goal and an assist against Ottawa on Sunday. He finished with 6 shots on the week. Colton White had an assist against Peterborough and finished the week with 5 shots.

WHL

John Quenneville has been with Team Canada ahead of the WJC. He's been centering a line with Rourke Chartier and Nick Merkley on his wings. He's survived the 1st round of cuts and will travel with the team to Finland for pre-tournament games. Quenneville is 1 of 15 forwards left on the roster as of right now.

Ryan Rehill had a nice week for Kamloops. He went a +4 against Saskatoon on Friday and then had a PP assist against Prince Albert on Saturday.

Brandon Baddock and Edmonton had a busy week with 4 games. He was held off the scoresheet against Prince Albert and Swift Current to start the week but then put up 2 goals against Medicine Hat on Saturday and added another goal against them on Sunday.

NCAA

Alex Kerfoot and Harvard was off last week. There has been no update on his injury status yet.

Boston College lost to Notre Dame 4-3 on Thursday. Miles Wood missed the game due to illness, possibly the norovirus that has been going around BC. Steve Santini was a +2 with 2 shots. JD Dudek was a -2 with a shot and won 1/2 faceoffs.

Brett Seney missed Merrimack's game against UConn on Friday with his undisclosed injury. He has now missed 4 games in a row.

KHL

Artur Gavrus remains sidelined with a concussion that he suffered on 10/19 against Metallurg Nk.

AHL

Albany split their games this week but did manage to extend their winning streak to 7 games before losing. They are currently 2nd in their division with 35 points after 24 games. Albany's all situation PDO is 102.70%. They still have the most successful PP in the league at 26.42% as well as the most successful PK at 90.10%.

Injury Update: Chris McKelvie (wrist), Blake Coleman (upper body), and Raman Hrabarenka (lower body) all remain sidelined. Reece Scarlett had briefly returned to the line up for a game last week but sat out this weekend's action. Paul Thompson (shoulder) missed this weekend's action. Jim O'Brien (ankle) returned to the line up.

Transactions: As everyone is aware, Joseph Blandisi earned his first call up to the NHL on 12/10.

Friday 12/11: Albany defeated Syracuse 3-1 for their 7th straight win. Jim O'Brien had the first 2 goals with Corey Tropp and Reid Boucher assisting on both of them. Brandon Burlon had the other goal with Tropp also assisting on that. O'Brien had 4 shots as the Devils outshot the Crunch 27-18. Scott Wedgewood made his season debut for Albany and stopped 17 shots. Albany went 0/3 on the PP and 2/3 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.



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

Kelly-Gragnani
Mozik-Helgeson
Burlon-McPherson

Saturday 12/12: Albany was shut out by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4-0. Mike Sislo and Graham Black had 3 shots each as the Devils were outshot 27-22 by the Penguins. Yann Danis made 23 saves. Albany went 0/4 on the PP and 1/2 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.



Boucher Update: Reid Boucher is currently 2nd on the team in goals (10), 3rd in points (17), 3rd in primary points (14), 1st in shots per game (3.74), 3rd in points per game (0.89), 2nd in goals created per game (0.38), and 2nd in even strength points (10).

Coming Up: Albany will make the trip up to St. John's for games tonight and tomorrow. They will continue the roadtrip on Saturday when they take on Rochester.

ECHL

Ben Johnson made his season debut last week, adding an assist on an empty net goal along with 6 shots over Adirondack's 3 games. Joe Faust was a -2 with 3 shots and 4 penalty minutes on the week. Ken Appleby appeared in 2 games and had a bit of a rough time. He stopped just 15 of 20 shots in 49:13 minutes of action before being pulled against Norfolk on Friday. The next night against Manchester he gave up 4 goals, but to be fair, 2 of them occurred on the PP and he still made 36 saves.

Prospect of the Week

I have to give this week's honors to Blake Speers after he had 3 goals and 2 assists over the course of 3 games for Sault Ste. Marie. He leads his team in assists and points. Speers is also the only point per game player on the Greyhounds right now. I also like seeing that he's sporting a 56.63 FO% at the moment. Speers currently has 6 goals and 6 assists over his last 7 games and seems to finally be getting the bounces that he wasn't getting earlier in the season.

ADevil of the Week

Jim O'Brien gets this week's honors after his 2 goals performance against Syracuse which was his first game action since 10/31. He finished the week a +1 with 2 penalty minutes and 6 shots. The veteran has been productive when healthy and will look to help fill the void with the likes of Thompson and Blandisi no longer in the line up at this moment in time.

Your Take

What prospects stood out to you? What are your thoughts on Albany's hot start to the season through 24 games? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!