New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 10/17/17

The 2nd week of the 2017-18 prospect update is here. Check out how the Devils prospects from the CHL, NCAA, and European leagues are performing in the stats and recap below.

QMJHL

Jocktan Chainey made his presence felt for Halifax as he continued in his top 4 role. He was held to an even rating with 3 shots against Moncton on Wednesday. He added a PP assist, -2, and 2 shots against Cape Breton on Friday. The following night, also against Cape Breton, he produced 2 assists and a +3 rating.

OHL

Marian Studenic has settled into a top 6 LW role on a line with Brandon Saigeon and Connor Roberts for Hamilton. He had a productive weekend for the Bulldogs with a goal, 2 assists, +4, and 7 shots over the course of 3 games. The goal came with 40 seconds left in regulation to give Hamilton a victory over North Bay on Sunday when he drove to the front of the net and was able to deflect Saigeon's shot past the Battalion goaltender. It seems he's finding his stride and I'd expect him to be a productive player going forward after a tough start.

Scott Wheeler of The Athletic put together this OHL Notes and Player Survey (subscription required). Michael McLeod earns some praise for being in the discussion for the best player. When asked who he thought was the best player in the OHL, Studenic responded:

Evan Cormier had a Quality Start in-between 2 Really Bad Starts. He returned from an undisclosed minor injury to face Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday, making 29 saves on 35 shots in a loss. On Saturday he picked up a loss to Kitchener but had a solid performance with 32 saves on 35 shots. That's bound to happen when playing on a team that is still in a rebuild. The following night he picked up a win over Mississauga with 17 saves on 20 shots. Cormier will be 20 in a few weeks and is off to an average start to his season. Hopefully he can put together some stronger and more consistent performances from this point on.

Last Tuesday, MLive had this interesting article about Cormier and his work with goaltending coach AJ Walczak. The Saginaw Spirit hired Walczak in May to help take their netminders to the next level. Walczak is co-owner and operator of Legace Hockey Academy with former NHL goaltender Manny Legace. He's also worked with goalies such as Sergei Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The article mentions that Cormier moved in with Walczak for a few weeks over the summer to prepare for the season. Below are some of the quotes from the article:

I watched a lot of video on Evan from prior years, and I just wanted to work on Evan's patience, post-save selection and really just get him ready for the next level," Walczak said. "He's done good at this level, but I felt he could be more dominant.

"He was always so used to popping up to his feet. Now he's making reads and staying down when he needs to. He's patient. He's reading plays better this year, and he's making the right save selection at the right time."

WHL

Swift Current is currently 8-1 on the season after winning their first 8 games. Colby Sissons has been a big part of that with his offensive contributions from the back end, leading all Broncos defensemen with 11 points. Over the course of 3 games last week, Sissons had a goal, assist, +2, 8 PIM, and 12 shots.

Nikita Popugaev had a PP assist, -3, 2 PIM, and 9 shots over the course of 3 games last week. So far he's been a threat on the PP for Prince George with 6 of his 7 points coming with the man advantage. I'd like to see him start scoring more goals and doing some damage at even strength. I am encouraged to see he's averaging 4.2 shots per game and with a low 4.76 SH%, it's likely he's bound to start getting some of these shots to go in. I've said it before and I'll say it again, his size and skill makes him an intriguing prospect.

NCAA

Brett Seney had a shot, 2 PIM, -1, and won 2 faceoffs in Merrimack's loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. He continues to anchor the LW spot on Merrimack's top line, now with Derek Petti and Sami Tavernier.

JD Dudek was a -3 with 4 shots and a faceoff win over the course of 2 games for Boston College last week as he continues his top 6 RW role.

Joey Anderson and Minnesota Duluth took on Bemidji State in a weekend set. Anderson was held without a point but was a -1 with 2 PIM and 11 shots over the 2 game series. Still just 19 years old, it's impressive to see Anderson averaging 5.5 shots per game. It's a matter of time before the points start rolling in.

Jeremy Davies was a -1 with 2 shots and a block in Northeastern's tie with RIT.

Matt Hellickson had an even rating with a shot and a block over the course of 2 games against Denver.

Reilly Walsh won't make his Harvard debut until their exhibition match against the USNTDP U18 team on 10/21. They open their regular season on 10/29 against Dartmouth.

KHL

Yegor Rykov was a -1 with 10 PIM, 2 shots, 3 blocks, and average ice time of around 10:00 over the course of 3 games for SKA St. Petersburg last week.

Mikhail Maltsev made one appearance for SKA last week, going a -2 with 4 faceoff wins out of 10 in 9:52 against HC Sochi on 10/11. Maltsev made 2 appearances for SKA-Neva in the VHL (Russian second tier) adding an assist, +1, 2 shots, 16/26 faceoffs won, with an average ice time of around 15:00. I'll update his VHL stats into the table if he stays down there for a bit. Hopefully he'll be back in the KHL soon though.

Yegor Zaitsev had an assist, -1, and averaged around 10:00 over the course of 2 games for Dynamo Moscow last week.

Europe

Fabian Zetterlund made 2 appearances for Farjestad BK in a 4th line role, playing a total of 6:39 across both games with no points or shots. He did make an appereance for the junior (U20) team, scoring a hat trick on Sunday.

Aarne Talvitie had a goal and 2 assists in 3 games for the Espoo Blues U20 team last week.

Gilles Senn made 26 saves on 29 shots in a win over SCL Tigers on Sunday.

Your Take

Which prospects stood out to you this week? Which prospects are you keeping an eye out for? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!