New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 12/29/15

This post will recap the 13th week of Devils prospect action for the 2015-16 season. It's highlighted by John Quenneville and Pavel Zacha starting their WJC tournaments, Miles Wood racking up penalty minutes in NCAA action, Brandon Baddock producing in the WHL, and Albany snapping their slump. 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	20.18	Flint	32	10	18	28	-2	30	10.20%	3.06	0.88
Height: 6'2	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts	NHLe
Weight: 225	12	22	7	14	21	3	3	6	0	0	0	24
				GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Josh Jacobs	D	19.88	Sarnia	33	1	13	14	7	24	1.30%	2.33	0.42
Height: 6'2	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts	NHLe
Weight: 200	11	12	0	10	10	1	3	4	0	0	0	11
				GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Pavel Zacha	C	18.74	Sarnia	23	17	13	30	6	46	20.73%	3.57	1.30
Height: 6'3	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts	NHLe
Weight: 213	8	25	10	5	15	6	8	14	1	0	1	35
				GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Blake Speers	RW	19.00	Sault Ste. Marie	34	11	23	34	-8	26	10.78%	3.00	1.00
Height: 5'11	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts	NHLe
Weight: 183	12	23	9	11	20	1	12	13	0	0	0	27
				GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP
Colton White	D	18.67	Sault Ste. Marie	34	4	13	17	-7	7	8.51%	1.38	0.50
Height: 6'1	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts	NHLe
Weight: 185	7	11	2	8	10	2	4	6	0	0	0	14

Name	Age	GP	GS	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA	GSAA/60
Mackenzie Blackwood	19.06	24	24	16	7	0	0	2.36	0.932	72	21.15	0.92
Height: 6'4	Barrie	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 215	OHL	2	8.33%	16	66.67%	2	8.33%	1	4.17%	85.19%	12.96%	1.85%

Connor Chatham and Flint had the week off. They are back in action tonight against Hamilton.

Josh Jacobs and Sarnia only played one game since the last update. Jacobs was a +1 with 2 shots and 2 penalty minutes in Sarnia's victory over Windsor last night.

Sault Ste. Marie only played once since the last update. Blake Speers had 2 shots and won 13/16 faceoffs in a loss to Saginaw last night. Colton White was a -2 with 2 shots.

WHL

Name	Pos.	Age	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP	NHLe
John Quenneville	C	19.72	Brandon	25	13	20	33	11	32	1.32	29
Height: 6'1	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 205	12	25	8	12	20	4	8	12	1	0	1
				GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP	NHLe
Ryan Rehill	D	20.16	Kamloops	33	4	13	17	2	58	0.52	11
Height: 6'3	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 218	7	11	2	7	9	2	4	6	0	1	1
				GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Pts/GP	NHLe
Brandon Baddock	C	20.77	Edmonton	38	15	5	20	-9	74	0.53	12
Height: 6'4	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 225	3	18	9	3	12	3	2	5	2	0	2

Ryan Rehill was a -1 with an assist across 2 games for Kamloops against Kelowna.

Brandon Baddock was held off the scoresheet against Red Deer on Sunday but finished a +2 with 2 penalty minutes. Last night he had a goal and an assist along with a +1 rating and 5 shots against Red Deer.

NCAA

Name	Pos.	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%	NHLe
Alex Kerfoot	C	Harvard	9	2	11	13	5	8	11.11%	2.00	1.44	43.38%	47
Height: 5'10	Age	League	A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 175	21.40	ECAC	4	6	1	4	5	0	7	7	0	0	0
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	Blks	NHLe
Steve Santini	D	Boston College	17	1	5	6	9	26	4.17%	1.41	0.35	27	10
Height: 6'2			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 208	20.83	Hockey East	1	2	1	3	4	0	0	0	0	1	1
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%	NHLe
JD Dudek	C	Boston College	16	0	1	1	-5	6	0.00%	0.69	0.06	44.00%	2
Height: 5'11			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 185	19.93	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
Miles Wood	LW	Boston College	16	7	12	19	9	60	16.28%	2.69	1.19	100.00%	32
Height: 6'1			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 185	20.31	Hockey East	7	14	4	10	14	2	1	3	0	0	0
			GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	SH%	SH/GP	Pts/GP	FO%	NHLe
Brett Seney	C	Merrimack	11	2	8	10	4	14	11.76%	1.55	0.91	55.40%	25
Height: 5'9			A1	Pts1	EVG	EVA	EV Pts	PPG	PPA	PP Pts	SHG	SHA	SH Pts
Weight: 170	19.84	Hockey East	6	8	2	7	9	0	1	1	0	0	0

Alex Kerfoot and Harvard continued their winter break last week. They'll jump back into action on New Year's Day and the following day for the Mariucci Classic in Minnesota.

Boston College opened up the Florida College Classic with a 3-2 loss to Ohio State last night. Steve Santini finished with an even rating, Miles Wood was a -1 with 2 shots and 15 penalty minutes (checking from behind major and DQ), and JD Dudek was a -1 and won 1/3 faceoffs. They'll finish the invitational against Providence tonight. Wood will be suspended for tonight's game due to his actions in last night's game. Wood now leads Hockey East in penalty minutes with 60.

Brett Seney and Merrimack were also on a break but return to action tonight against Army. They'll also play 2 games this weekend.

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	22.00	KHL	4	7	3	6	9	0	1	1	0	0	0	36

Artur Gavrus hasn't played in the KHL since suffering a concussion on 10/19 against Metallurg Nk. He was sent to Dinamo-Molodechno of the Belarusian Extraleague on 12/22. Gavrus had 2 goals and 4 assists in 4 games for the club last season. He didn't appear in either of Dinamo-Molodechno's games last week.

WJC

A friendly reminder to check out the WJC Open Thread that John posted the other day.

Canada currently sits 3rd in Group A after 2 matches with a win and a loss. Mackenzie Blackwood missed both games to satisfy the terms of his suspension. He will now be available for selection going forward. John Quenneville had an even rating and a costly interference penalty in Canada's 4-2 loss to the United States that led to a Zach Werenski goal that briefly put the Americans up 2-1 in the 3rd period. Quenneville skated on a line with Dylan Strome and Mitch Marner. Yesterday, Quenneville was credited with a goal in Canada's 6-1 victory over Denmark after a Marner shot deflected off of him and into the net. He skated on a line with Brayden Point and Mitch Marner which controlled a ton of possession against an inferior Denmark team.

The Czech Republic currently sits in 2nd place in Group B after 2 matches with a win and shootout loss. They have 4 points and a +1 goal differential. Pavel Zacha was a part of the 2-1 shootout loss to Russia where he had an even rating and 2 shots on goal. He skated on a line with Michael Spacek and Jiri Smejkal to give the Czech's an all-CHL line. Unfortunately he suffered a lower body injury late in the game and missed the Czech's 2-0 victory over Slovakia yesterday. He is expected to be back in the line up soon.

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	ENG	ENA	EN Pts
Mike Sislo	5'11	190	27.96	RW	28	13	10	23	5	18	2	2	89	14.61%	3.18	0.82	9.66	0.34	32	3	4	7	9	6	15	1	0	1	0	0	0
Matt Lorito	5'9	170	25.50	LW	26	5	17	22	12	17	4	8	43	11.63%	1.65	0.85	7.24	0.28	33	2	5	7	3	12	15	0	0	0	0	0	0
Reid Boucher	5'10	190	22.32	LW	23	10	9	19	4	14	6	4	89	11.24%	3.87	0.83	7.78	0.34	33	5	7	12	5	2	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Corey Tropp	6'2	185	26.44	RW	28	7	11	18	6	13	6	36	49	14.29%	1.75	0.64	6.71	0.24	25	4	8	12	2	3	5	0	0	0	1	0	1
Joseph Blandisi	6'0	200	21.46	C	20	7	10	17	6	13	0	43	23	30.43%	1.15	0.85	6.44	0.32	33	3	4	7	4	6	10	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marc-Andre Gragnani	6'3	210	28.82	D	22	0	14	14	3	3	-6	6	21	0.00%	0.95	0.64	3.76	0.17	25	0	3	3	0	10	10	0	0	0	0	1	1
Paul Thompson	6'1	200	27.09	RW	19	6	7	13	5	11	-1	31	55	10.91%	2.89	0.68	5.10	0.27	27	4	6	10	2	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon Burlon	6'0	190	25.83	D	25	3	9	12	5	8	-7	17	25	12.00%	1.00	0.48	4.02	0.16	19	3	2	5	0	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jim O'Brien	6'3	195	26.93	C	14	4	4	8	3	7	-3	10	44	9.09%	3.14	0.57	3.22	0.23	22	2	3	5	1	1	2	1	0	1	0	0	0
Blake Pietila	5'11	200	22.87	LW	25	5	3	8	2	7	-2	2	36	13.89%	1.44	0.32	3.49	0.14	13	4	1	5	1	1	2	0	1	1	0	0	0
Vojtech Mozik	6'3	200	23.02	D	24	1	7	8	5	6	13	18	43	2.33%	1.79	0.33	2.41	0.10	13	1	5	6	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dan Kelly	6'1	215	26.63	D	25	1	6	7	2	3	2	44	20	5.00%	0.80	0.28	2.15	0.09	11	1	4	5	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0
Blake Coleman	5'11	200	24.10	C	14	4	3	7	2	6	5	19	26	15.38%	1.86	0.50	2.95	0.21	20	4	2	6	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan Kujawinski	6'2	205	20.76	C	22	2	4	6	1	3	-2	4	18	11.11%	0.82	0.27	2.15	0.10	11	2	3	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Seth Helgeson	6'4	215	25.24	D	26	0	5	5	3	3	10	43	28	0.00%	1.08	0.19	1.34	0.05	8	0	4	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ben Thomson	6'3	205	22.96	LW	25	2	3	5	2	4	-6	44	45	4.44%	1.80	0.20	1.88	0.08	8	2	2	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rod Pelley	6'0	205	31.34	LW	28	2	2	4	1	3	-1	17	34	5.88%	1.21	0.14	1.61	0.06	6	2	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Max Novak	5'11	180	24.72	RW	14	2	1	3	0	2	-1	2	24	8.33%	1.71	0.21	1.34	0.10	8	1	1	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Reece Scarlett	6'1	180	22.76	D	17	0	3	3	2	2	-3	10	25	0.00%	1.47	0.18	0.80	0.05	7	0	2	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chris McKelvie	6'1	195	30.87	RW	15	0	2	2	0	0	-4	9	15	0.00%	1.00	0.13	0.54	0.04	5	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Graham Black	6'0	185	22.97	C	10	1	1	2	0	1	-1	0	12	8.33%	1.20	0.20	0.80	0.08	8	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Corbin McPherson	6'4	210	27.32	D	20	0	2	2	1	1	-3	14	22	0.00%	1.10	0.10	0.54	0.03	4	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Greg Wolfe	5'10	185	25.69	C	3	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	50.00%	0.67	0.33	0.54	0.18	13	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brian O'Neill	5'9	175	27.59	RW	2	1	0	1	0	1	-1	2	4	25.00%	2.00	0.50	0.54	0.27	20	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Raman Hrabarenka	6'4	230	23.36	D	8	0	0	0	0	0	-2	20	9	0.00%	1.13	0.00	0.00	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond	6'1	210	30.59	RW	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	42	18	0.00%	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Joe Faust	5'11	207	24.13	D	1	0	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0.00%	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alexandre Carrier	6'3	210	24.87	RW	2	0	0	0	0	0	-1	0	3	0.00%	1.50	0.00	0.00	0.00	0	0	0	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	34.54	23	22	14	5	3	0	2.01	0.919	91	4.31	0.19
Height: 5'11	MIN	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 180	1340.81	4	18.18%	14	63.64%	1	4.55%	1	4.55%	80.00%	20.00%	0.00%
	Age	GP	GS	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA	GSAA/60
Scott Wedgewood	23.39	4	3	2	1	0	0	1.78	0.922	88	0.70	0.25
Height: 6'2	MIN	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 195	168.48	0	0.00%	2	66.67%	1	33.33%	0	0.00%	60.00%	40.00%	0.00%
	Age	GP	GS	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA	GSAA/60
Doug Carr	26.81	3	3	1	2	0	0	2.34	0.897	116	-0.95	-0.32
Height: 6'2	MIN	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 200	179.75	0	0.00%	1	33.33%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	100.00%	0.00%	0.00%

Albany only played a single game last week but made it count by snapping a 4 game losing streak. Albany is currently 2nd in their division with 37 points after 28 games. Albany's all situation PDO is now 101.07%. Albany's PP is now back to the top spot in the AHL at 23.77% and their PK remains best in the AHL at 89.74%.

Injury Update: Seth Helgeson (shoulder), Blake Coleman (upper body), and Raman Hrabarenka (lower body) remain sidelined.

Transactions: None!

Saturday 12/26: Albany defeated Providence 4-1. Matt Lorito, Brian O'Neill, Graham Black, and Corey Tropp had the goals. Joseph Blandisi, Mike Sislo, Jim O'Brien, Paul Thompson, Corbin McPherson, Dan Kelly, Rod Pelley, and Marc-Andre Gragnani had the assists. Thompson had 5 shots on goal as the Devils were outshot by the Bruins 28-27. Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves for his 2nd victory of the season. Albany went 1/1 on the PP and 3/3 on the PK. The start of the game was delayed for nearly 90 minutes as security investigated a suspicious package outside the arena which resulted in the arena being evacuated. Here is the gamesheet.

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

Gragnani-Scarlett
Kelly-Mozik
Burlon-McPherson

Goal Drought for Boucher: Reid Boucher has still managed to produce for Albany in December with a goal and 4 assists in 9 games. However, I think we would all like to see him scoring more often with a bit more consistency at this point in his career. After scoring 9 goals in his first 14 games with an inflated 19.14 SH%, he has just 1 goal in his last 9 games with a 2.38 SH%. The good news is that he's still getting his shots since he's averaging 4.66 SH/GP during this slump compared to the 3.36 SH/GP he had earlier in the season. Hopefully, some of these shots start going back in for him.

Congrats to Kowalsky: As the Albany Devils official website noted, Saturday night's game was Coach Rick Kowalsky's 700th regular season game as a professional coach (412 AHL, 388 ECHL).

Home Sweet Home: Also, as the Albany Devils official website noted, the Devils are 11-2-1-0 on home ice this season and have outscored the opposition 46-19.

Coming Up: The Devils will take on Utica on Wednesday and Thursday and then play Hartford on Saturday.

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	SHG	SHA	SH Pts	ENG	ENA	EN Pts
Joe Faust	5'11	207	24.13	D	18	1	6	7	4	5	2	10	23	4.35%	1.28	0.39	1	4	5	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ben Johnson	6'0	195	21.57	LW	8	2	3	5	2	4	1	2	21	9.52%	2.63	0.63	2	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

Name	Age	GP	GS	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA	GSAA/60
Ken Appleby	20.73	18	18	10	6	1	1	2.35	0.918	98	0.74	0.04
Height: 6'4	MIN	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 205	1070.99	2	11.11%	11	61.11%	3	16.67%	1	5.56%	69.05%	28.57%	2.38%
	Age	GP	GS	W	L	OTL	SOL	GAA	SV%	GA%-	GSAA	GSAA/60
Scott Wedgewood	23.39	1	1	1	0	0	0	2.00	0.951	58	1.44	1.44
Height: 6'2	MIN	SO	SO%	QS	QS%	RBS	RBS%	BO	BO%	EVG%	PPG%	SHG%
Weight: 195	60	0	0.00%	1	100.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	100.00%	0.00%	0.00%

Adirondack played 2 games last week. Joe Faust was held off the scoresheet and went a +2 with 2 shots. Ben Johnson had an assist and was a +2 with 4 shots on the week. Ken Appleby lost his only game of the week but still put up a quality start by stopping 24 of 26 shots against Manchester.

Prospect of the Week

Since there wasn't as much prospect action this past week, I'm going to go a bit off board with my prospect of the week selection. Brandon Baddock doesn't have much potential as a NHL prospect but did post a strong game last night with a goal and an assist against Red Deer. In the month of December he has put up 7 goals and 2 assists in 10 games as the captain of the Edmonton Oil Kings. Even though it's hard to see the Devils extending him a contract this spring, it's still commendable that the 6'4, 225 lbs. forward has managed to appear in 225 regular season games with Edmonton as well as 40 playoff games. He may not have much of a scoring touch but I have to give him credit for carving out a solid junior career for himself.

ADevil of the Week

It's a bit hard to single out one ADevil considering Albany played one game last week and the offensive production was spread out throughout the line up. I suppose I'll give this week's honors to Scott Wedgewood. Admittedly, I don't really consider Wedgewood a quality prospect or even a decent AHL netminder. However, he's done well in 3 of his 4 appearances since coming back from an ankle injury that caused him to miss the first 2 months of the season. He stopped 27 of 28 shots on Saturday night and has a .922 SV% through a small 4 game sample. I'm not expecting him to turn his career around but I'm definitely pulling for him.

Your Take

What are your thoughts on the WJC so far? What do you think about Boucher's goal scoring drought in Albany? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!