New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 12/19/17

The eleventh week of the 2017-18 prospect update is here. It's highlighted by Joey Anderson being named captain of the US U20 team ahead of the WJC, other prospects try to earn their spots in the WJC, as well as Evan Cormier and Gilles Senn having busy weekends in net for their respective teams.

QMJHL

Jocktan Chainey had a PP goal, +1, and 3 shots against Cape Breton on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Chainey took a puck to the face in warm ups prior to Friday's game against Acadie-Bathurst that would result in him missing that match, as well as Saturday's game against Cape Breton. Scott MacIntosh reported on twitter that the dental work Chainey had has kept him from eating much. Halifax doesn't play again until 12/28 so Chainey will have a bit of time to recover.

OHL

Michael McLeod spent the past week at the National Junior Team Selection Camp for Canada. He appeared in 2 exhibition matches for Canada and as expected, was formally named to the team on Saturday. Mark Masters has a lot of details about the Canadian camp on twitter. He noted that McLeod centered Jonah Gadjovich and Kole Lind in the beginning of camp as well as the opening game. In the finale McLeod was with Maxime Comtois and Tanner Kaspick. Gadjovich and Comtois would join McLeod on the team while Lind and Kaspick were among the cuts. In practice yesterday, McLeod centered Gadjovich on his left side and a rotation of Tyler Steenbergen and Drake Batherson on his right. McLeod will surely play a big part for Canada and I look forward to watching how he deals with the spotlight.

Marian Studenic had a goal, assist, +1, and 3 shots against North Bay on Thursday. The following night he had an even rating and shot against Sudbury. Studenic then left the Bulldogs to join Slovakia for the upcoming WJC where he should play a prominent role.

It was another week of mixed results for Evan Cormier, which isn't too surprising given his heavy workload in an offensively fueled league. He had 38 saves on 39shots in a victory over Sarnia on Wednesday. He followed that up with a 39 save shutout over Flint on Friday. However, Cormier would find himself out of Saturday's game against Windsor in just 13.5 minutes with just 8 saves on 11 shots.

WHL

Colby Sissons had a goal, +2, 6 PIM, and 10 shots in 3 games for Swift Current last week.

NCAA

Brett Seney had an assist, +1, 1 shot, and won 3/13 faceoffs against Northeastern on Saturday. He now has 4 assists over his last 3 games and earned praise from Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy:

“He’s so dynamic,” Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy said. “He’s one of those guys. When (Adam) Gaduette gets the puck I gasp a little, and when Seney gets the puck I think that the opposing coach probably does the same thing. He can take people out of their seat. He’s selfless. We’ve played him at the wing and at center and he’s working harder on the defensive side. You can see an awareness there that wasn’t there when he first got here.”

JD Dudek and Boston College had the week off. They resume play on 12/30 against UConn.

Joey Anderson spent last week at the US World Junior Selection Camp where he was named captain on Sunday night. You can check out USA head coach Bob Motzko making the announcement and Anderson's reaction in the the tweets below:

Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com has been keeping track of everything happening in the US camp. In his post yesterday, he has this quote by Anderson about what type of leader he strives to be:

"My staple is going to be work ethic and how we play and go about our business in a very professional manner as a team on a mission," Anderson said. "I want to make sure everyone is comfortable in the locker room. We've got some guys at camp who might not have been members of the NTDP who feel as though they don't have that same connection as everyone else, but that's where I can help to make sure we're as tight a group as we can be, making sure there are no barriers between guys."

So far Anderson has skated on lines with Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris as well as Kieffer Bellows and Casey Mittelstadt.

Jeremy Davies had a PP assist, even rating, and 6 shots against Merrimack on Saturday. He has a goal and 2 assists over his last 3 games.

Reilly Walsh spent last week at the US World Junior Selection Camp as he tries to earn a spot on the team. The US has exhibition games against Belarus on Wednesday and Sweden on Friday. Hopefully Walsh can give a solid account of himself to convince the staff that he's necessary to have on the roster.

Matt Hellickson and Notre Dame had the week off. They resume play on 1/5 against Michigan.

KHL/VHL

KHL

VHL

Yegor Rykov and SKA had the week off. He did appear in 3 games for Russia at the MECA Hockey Games in Norway last week.

Mikhail Maltsev and Yegor Zaitsev trained with the Russian U20 team last week. They will have camp and exhibition games in Rochester from 12/18 to 12/24. According to Russian Prospects on twitter, Maltsev was centering the top line in the most recent practice with Andrei Altybarmakyan and Alexei Polodyan on his wings.

Nikita Popugaev had 2 goals, +3, and 7 shots while averaging around 12:30 per game across 4 VHL games last week.

Europe

Jesper Boqvist and Fabian Zetterlund are currently with the Swedish U20 team ahead of the WJC. In their first exhibition match against Denmark yesterday, in which Sweden rested some key players, Boqvist was on a line with Fredrik Karlstrom and Lias Andersson. Fabian Zetterlund was the 13th forward which suggests he's on the outside looking in at the moment.

Aarne Talvitie didn't have any game action last week.

Gilles Senn made rare back-to-back starts for HC Davos last week. He made 39 saves on 42 shots in a loss to ZSC Lions on Friday. The following night he had 32 saves on 37 shots in a loss to Lausanne HC.

Your Take

A quick note that the 2018 World Junior Championship takes place in Buffalo from 12/26 to 1/5. NHL Network will air all of the US games live and 28 games in total. Here is the broadcast schedule courtesy of USA Hockey.

What prospects stood out to you this week? Which prospects are you most excited about seeing in the WJC? What are your thoughts on Joey Anderson being named captain of the US team? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!