New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 4/18/17

This post will recap the 28th week of Devils prospect action for the 2016-17 season. It's highlighted by Yegor Rykov winning the Gagarin Cup, McLeod and Bastian advancing in the OHL Playoffs, and Albany qualifying for the playoffs.

Just a quick note, but in an effort to keep these posts less cluttered, I'm only going to include stat tables for the prospects that were still active during the week.

OHL

Regular Season

Playoffs

#2 Sault Ste. Marie saw their season come to an end as they dropped their Western Conference Semifinal series to #3 Owen Sound 4-2. Over the final 3 games of the series last week, Blake Speers had 2 assists, +2, 6 PIM, and 50.0 FO%. I look forward to seeing if he can win a spot on New Jersey's opening roster next season, though I expect some AHL time could do him well. Colton White had an assist, even rating, and 9 shots over those 3 games. I'm interested to see how his game translates to the pro level in the AHL next season.

#2 Mississauga won their Eastern Conference Semifinal series over #3 Oshawa 4-1. They advance to play #1 Peterborough in the Eastern Conference Final. In 3 games last week, Michael McLeod had 3 assists, +3, 8 shots, and a 51.25 FO%. Since the WJC, he now has 27 goals and 36 assists in 42 games (1.50 Pts/GP). Nathan Bastian had a goal, assist, +1, 6 shots, and 40.82 FO% in 3 games last week.

WHL

Regular Season

Playoffs

#E3 Swift Current lost their Eastern Conference Semifinal series to #E1 Regina 4-3. Over the last 4 games of the series last week, Colby Sissons had a goal, 2 assists, -3, and 2 PIM. A promising defense prospect that is still very much in development, I'm looking forward to seeing how he builds upon this season going forward in his WHL career.

Europe

Regular Season

Playoffs

SKA St. Petersburg defeated Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4-1 in the Gagarin Cup Finals. Yegor Rykov was a -1 with 2 shots and an average ice time of just under 6 minutes per game over the final 3 games of the series. Congrats to him!

AHL

I'll have the final goaltending stats (GA%-, GSAA, Quality Starts, etc.) next week.

Albany went 2-1 last week and finished 3rd in the North Division with 83 points. Their all situation PDO was 99.27%. They had a Shots For% of 52.67%. The PP finished at 17.95% which was 15th in the league, while the PK was at 84.10% which was 6th in the league. Albany will be the #N3 seed in the Eastern Conference Divisional Semifinal and will take on #N2 Toronto in a best of 5 series.

Injury Update: Scott Wedgewood (shoulder) continued to be sidelined. Ben Sexton (concussion) made his return to the line up for the first time in about 2 months.

Transactions: None.

Wednesday 4/12: Albany defeated Hartford 6-3. Jacob MacDonald had a goal, 2 assists followed by Miles Wood with a goal, assist, and then Blake Coleman with 2 assists. John Quenneville, Kevin Rooney, Vojtech Mozik, and Ben Thomson had the other goals. Karl Stollery, Brian Gibbons, Blake Pietila, Carter Camper, and Shane Harper each had an assist. Coleman had 5 shots as the Devils outshot the Wolf Pack 31-26. Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves. Albany went 2/5 on the PP and 6/7 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.

Friday 4/14: Albany lost to Rochester 5-4. Carter Camper had a goal and 2 assists followed by Joe Blandisi and Nick Lappin with a goal and an assist each. Jan Mandat had the other goal. Steve Santini, Luke Gazdic, Vojtech Mozik, and Austin Cangelosi had an assist each. Brandon Gignac made his AHL debut. Lappin had 6 shots followed by Yohann Auvitu with 5 as the Devils outshot the Americans 34-31. Ken Appleby made 26 saves. Albany went 0/3 on the PP and 6/8 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.

Saturday 4/15: Albany shutout Rochester 3-0. Blake Coleman had a goal and 2 assists. Brian Gibbons and Vojtech Mozik had the other goals. Nick Lappin had an assist. Ben Sexton had 5 shots as the Devils outshot the Americans 34-17. Mackenzie Blackwood earned the shutout. Albany went 0/3 on the PP and 4/4 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.

Coming Up: Albany opens their series against Toronto on Thursday. Game 2 is on Saturday. The full schedule can be found here.

ECHL

Regular Season

Playoffs

#N1 Adirondack is down 2-0 to #N4 Manchester in their Eastern Conference Divisional Semifinal. Brandon Baddock was a -1 with 2 PIM over both games.

Prospect of the Week

Gagarin Cup Champion, Yegor Rykov is my choice for prospect of the week. The all-around steady defenseman just turned 20 a few days ago and had an impressive season both in the KHL and in international play. This past season saw him carve out a full time role as a rookie on a deep SKA team as averaged 12:24 per game in the regular season and 9:29 in the playoffs. He displayed the ability to effectively move the puck out of danger or up ice, was aware in his own zone, and has a physical element to his game when needed. He earned KHL Rookie of the Week honors 3 times, once in the regular season and twice in the playoffs. He helped lead Russia to a Bronze Medal at the most recent WJC as their top defenseman and was tied for the tournament lead in assists by a defenseman thanks to his passing ability. I really want to see him continue on this upward trend by earning an even bigger role with SKA next season.

ADevil of the Week

Blake Coleman earns this week's honors after adding a goal, 4 assists, and 9 shots over 3 games last week. He finished near the top in most offensive categories for Albany this season including being tied for 1st in goals (19), 2nd in points (39), and 2nd in Goals Created per Game (0.31). Hopefully he can keep this up in the playoffs for Albany.

Your Take

What are your thoughts on the seasons that Speers, White, Sissons, and Rykov had? How do you expect Albany to fare in the playoffs? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!