New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 4/4/17

This post will recap the 26th week of Devils prospect action for the 2016-17 season. It's highlighted by Brandon Gignac and Mikhail Maltsev seeing their seasons come to an end, Michael McLeod staying red hot for Mississauga, and Albany snap a 7 game losing streak but still struggle to fight to keep a playoff spot.

QMJHL

Regular Season

Playoffs

#3 Shawinigan dropped their 1st round series to #14 Val-d'Or 4-2. Over the course of the final 4 games last week, Brandon Gignac had 3 assists, +3, 2 PIM, 10 shots, and a 62.0 FO%.

OHL

Regular Season

Playoffs

#2 Sault Ste. Marie defeated #7 Flint in their Western Conference Quarterfinal series 4-1. In 2 games last week, Blake Speers had 2 assists, +3, 7 shots, and 43.75 FO%. Colton White was a +1 with 4 shots. Sault Ste. Marie will take on #3 Owen Sound in the Western Conference Semifinals. That series starts tomorrow night.

#2 Mississauga defeated #7 Ottawa in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series 4-2. Michael McLeod was absolutely locked in last week with 5 goals, 4 assists, +6, 2 PIM, 16 shots, and 68.24 FO% in 4 games. That includes a 2 goal, 3 assist outburst in Sunday's series clinching game. Nathan Bastian had 4 goals, +1, 17 shots, and 61.33 FO% in 4 games last week. That includes his hat trick, 8 shot performance on Thursday. Mississauga will take on #3 Oshawa in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

WHL

Regular Season

Playoffs

#E3 Swift Current defeated #E2 Moose Jaw in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals 4-3. In 5 games last week, Colby Sissons had 2 goals, +3, and 4 PIM. He had the opening goal of Game 7 to help the Broncos advance. They will play #E1 Regina in the Conference Semifinals.

NCAA

There was no action last week as the remaining 4 teams had a week to prepare for the Frozen Four. Alexander Kerfoot and Harvard will take on Joey Anderson and Minnesota Duluth on Thursday at 6 PM ET on ESPN2. The winner of that game will play for the National Championship against the winner of Notre Dame and Denver. The title game is on Saturday at 8 PM ET on ESPN.

I forgot to mention this a bit ago, but Joey Anderson was ranked #16 in SBN College Hockey's Top 100 NHL prospects. Here's some of what they had to say on him.

Anderson draws remarkably little attention for a young freshman that plays on the top line of the second-ranked team in the country and played on the top line of the gold medal-winning US World Junior team. He’s a very workman-like player that goes about his business in a very effective manner without making really flashy plays.

His shot is above average and he can handle and distribute the puck well. His skating is just average, which limits his effectiveness in open ice, but when he can play zone-to-zone, he’s a very good player. In terms of pro upside, he likely slots as a solid second liner, but given the ability he has shown to play with top talent, he could make an effective first liner.

As I'm sure everyone is aware of, the New Jersey Devils signed UMass-Lowell captain Michael Kapla to a two-year, entry-level deal. Steve had this post on the 6’0, 200 lbs, 22 year old defenseman. The two-way defender is known for his offensive abilities, especially on the PP, and has already made 2 appearances for the Devils where he has averaged 17:18 in ice time.

JD Dudek, Brett Seney, and Jeremy Davies have already completed their seasons.

Europe

Regular Season

Playoffs

#2 SKA St. Petersburg swept #4 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the Western Conference Finals. SKA will now meet the #1 seed from the Eastern Conference, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, in the Gagarin Cup Finals. The series starts on Saturday and you can see it on One World Sports (apparently aka as Eleven Sports now) at 8 AM ET.

Mikhail Maltsev moved down to play with SKA-1946 St. Petersburg in the MHL Playoffs after SKA-Neva St. Petersburg was eliminated in the VHL Playoffs last week. He actually played in two prior games (3/11 and 3/27) with the team earlier in the playoffs. Last week he was a -2 with 7 shots and 50.0 FO% as SKA-1946 was eliminated from the playoffs.

Jesper Bratt has completed his season.

AHL

Albany went 1-2 last week and currently sit 4th in the North Division with 75 points in 70 games. Their all situation PDO is currently 98.93%. They currently have a Shots For% of 52.58%. The PP is currently operating at 17.83% which is 14th in the league, while the PK is at 84.41% which is 5th in the league.

Injury Update: Scott Wedgewood (shoulder) and Ben Sexton (upper body) were sidelined.

Transactions: Albany received some much needed reinforcements when Blake Pietila and John Quenneville were returned by New Jersey on 3/30 and 4/2 respectively.

Friday 3/31: Albany lost to Providence 4-1. Yohann Auvitu had a shorthanded goal with Austin Cangelosi and Shane Harper earning the assists. Carter Camper had 5 shots as the Devils outshot the Bruins 37-35. Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves with one of the goals against coming on a penalty shot by Sean Kuraly. Albany went 0/5 on the PP and 3/5 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.

Saturday 4/1: Albany defeated Hartford 4-3, snapping a 7 game losing streak. Offensive leaders for the Devils included Blake Pietila with 2 goals, Max Novak with a goal and an assist, and Jacob MacDonald with 3 assists. Kevin Rooney had the other Devils goal while Brian Gibbons, Carter Camper, and Vojtech Mozik had an assist each. Mozik had 7 shots as the Devils were outshot by the Wolf Pack 33-30. Ken Appleby made 30 saves. Albany went 2/6 on the PP and 5/6 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.

Sunday 4/2: Albany lost to Rochester 2-1. John Quenneville had the power play goal with Carter Camper and Jacob MacDonald earning the assists. Nick Lappin had 7 shots as the Devils outshot the Americans 28-17. Mackenzie Blackwood made 15 saves. Albany went 1/5 on the PP and 4/5 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet.

Coming Up: Albany will take on Syracuse tomorrow, St. John's on Friday, and Syracuse again on Saturday.

ECHL

Brandon Baddock didn't make any appearances last week.

Prospect of the Week

It will come as a shock to no one that Michael McLeod is our prospect of the week. When you put up 5 goals, 4 assists, 16 shots, and a 68.24 FO% in 4 games you'll get those honors. So far in the OHL Playoffs, McLeod has been superb for Mississauga and instrumental in them advancing to the Conference Semifinals. As of right now he's tied for 2nd in points (11), tied for 1st in goals (6), and tied for 5th in assists (5) in the playoffs.

ADevil of the Week

The ADevils are struggling but Jacob MacDonald has continued to make his mark in a positive way for the club. He had 4 assists and 3 shots with an even rating in 2 games last week for the team. He comfortably leads Albany defensemen with 0.66 Pts/GP and 0.25 GC/GP. He's been getting the job done at even strength and on the power play and has been a consistent source of offense from the back end for Albany.

Your Take

So how pumped up are you about McLeod's impressive play? What do you expect to happen in the Frozen Four? Do you think Albany will make the playoffs? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!