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New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 1/9/18

Week 14 of the 2017-18 prospect update saw 4 Devils prospects medal at the WJC and the defensemen across the CHL, NCAA, and Europe put up points.

Sweden v Canada: Gold Medal Game - 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship
Michael McLeod #20 of Canada and Drake Batherson #19 lead the charge off the bench to begin the celebration as Canada defeated Sweden 3-1 in the IIHF World Junior Championships Gold Medal game at KeyBank Center on January 5, 2018 in Buffalo, New York.
Photo by Nicholas T. LoVerde/Getty Images

The fourteenth week of the 2017-18 prospect update is here. It’s highlighted by Michael McLeod (Gold), Fabian Zetterlund and Jesper Boqvist (Silver), and Joey Anderson (Bronze) earning medals at the WJC. Also, defensemen across the system from juniors to college to the KHL produced offensively for their teams.

WJC

Name Pos Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Joey Anderson RW USA 7 4 3 7 4 0 14.29% 4.00 1.00 50.00% 19:48
Michael McLeod C Canada 7 1 3 4 5 2 7.69% 1.86 0.57 61.11% 12:38
Marian Studenic RW Slovakia 5 0 0 0 -1 4 0.00% 2.00 0.00 N/A 15:39
Mikhail Maltsev C Russia 5 0 2 2 -2 6 0.00% 2.40 0.40 63.16% 16:08
Yegor Zaitsev D Russia 5 0 1 1 1 4 0.00% 1.20 0.20 N/A 18:12
Jesper Boqvist LW Sweden 6 1 0 1 3 2 9.09% 1.83 0.17 20.00% 10:22
Fabian Zetterlund RW Sweden 7 2 0 2 -3 4 13.33% 2.14 0.29 0.00% 11:53

Joey Anderson and Team USA fell short of their goal, but still walked away from the WJC with a Bronze Medal. Anderson had an empty net goal, 6 shots, and won 8/9 faceoffs in 25:10 in a Quarterfinal victory over Russia on Tuesday. He then had an assist, 3 shots, and won 3/6 faceoffs in 25:02 as the USA lost a Semifinal to Sweden on Thursday. Anderson did well to help the USA rebound in the Bronze Medal match with a goal, assist, +2, and 4 shots in 16:43 on Friday afternoon. He got off to a slow start in the tournament but found his production later on, finishing at a point per game clip while averaging 4 shots and 19:48 per game. Overall, I thought he gave a good account of himself as a player that can play in all-situations and be a complementary piece to provide secondary scoring. Hopefully this sets him up for a strong stretch run with Minnesota Duluth.

Michael McLeod wasn’t put into a top role for Canada like a lot of people expected this tournament. However, he was able to embrace what the coaches wanted from him, someone that could be strong on the PK and chip in secondary scoring at even strength and on the PP, and he helped Canada to a Gold Medal. McLeod had a +1, 3 shots, and won 8/13 faceoffs in 15:26 as Canada defeated Switzerland in the Quarterfinals on Tuesday. He had an assist, 5 shots, and won 8/12 faceoffs in 12:58 as Canada was victorious over the Czech Republic on Thursday. In the Gold Medal match on Friday, he helped Canada to a title with a +1 and winning 6/8 faceoffs in 9:14. It was encouraging to see him not lot his ego get in the way and do whatever was necessary to help the team win.

Marian Studenic saw his WJC come to an end as Slovakia was eliminated on Tuesday by Sweden in the Quarterfinals. He had an even rating and 2 shots in 18:12. Hopefully he can build upon the WJC experience back in Hamilton where he will get to play on a team that has further bolstered their top 6 forward group prior to the OHL trade deadline to make a serious run at the OHL title. The competition for playing time should help him continue his growth and he’ll be playing with other skilled players no matter what line he slots in on.

Mikhail Maltsev, Yegor Zaitsev, and the rest of the Russian team walked away without a medal after being eliminated by the USA in the Quarterfinals on Tuesday. Maltsev had 3 shots and won 8/18 faceoffs - his only sub 60% faceoff mark of the WJC - in 17:05. Overall, Maltsev showed a physical, two-way game and is certainly a prospect on the rise. Zaitsev had a shot in 20:55 and was named as a Top 3 Player for Russia in the tournament.

Jesper Boqvist, Fabian Zetterlund, and Sweden came away with a Silver Medal. Boqvist had a shot in 8:14 against Slovakia in the Quarterfinals, 3 shots in 12:10 against the USA in the Semifinals, and no shots in 5:20 in the Gold Medal game. Boqvist has been out most of the year and wasn’t able to find his game in the WJC. Hopefully he gets back into a routine with Brynas IF in SHL play and is able to turn his season around. Fabian Zetterlund had a beautiful end-to-end goal, 2 PIM, and 6 shots in 15:03 in Sweden’s Quarterfinal victory over Slovakia. He played just 4:34 in their Semifinal victory over the USA after taking a hard hit by Joey Anderson and sitting out the rest of the game. The following night he was a -2 with 2 PIM, and 4 shots in 12:03 against Canada as Sweden came up short. Overall, Zetterlund improved his prospect stock as he was a tireless worker at even strength and a force in front of the net on Sweden’s top PP, causing chaos for defenders. He earned praise as one of the “Surprises” in the tournament by Corey Pronman of The Athletic (subscription required) and from Mike Morreale of NHL.com:

I highly recommend giving Julie Robenhymer’s interview with the Devils Director of Amateur Scouting, Paul Castron, a read on the Devils website. He provides his thoughts on all 7 Devils prospects in the WJC and it’s an interesting insight into how he views each prospect.

QMJHL

Name Pos. Age Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Jocktan Chainey D 18.35 Halifax 39 5 22 27 15 32 6.49% 1.97 0.69
Height: 6'0 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 195 12 17 4 10 14 1 10 11 0 1 1 14

Jocktan Chainey had a clutch week for the 1st place Halifax Mooseheads. He had the game winning goal in overtime last Tuesday against Moncton and the primary assist on the overtime, game winning goal against Saint John on Saturday. You can see his assist on the game winning goal below. Overall, in 3 games he had a goal, 2 assists, +2, and 11 shots.

OHL

Name Pos. Age Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO%
Michael McLeod C 19.94 Mississauga 11 8 5 13 -1 10 22.22% 3.27 1.18 67.05%
Height: 6'2 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 195 3 11 4 5 9 3 0 3 1 0 1 30
Name Pos. Age Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO%
Marian Studenic RW 19.21 Hamilton 34 13 18 31 18 10 14.44% 2.65 0.91 44.44%
Height: 6'1 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 170 12 25 9 11 20 3 7 10 1 0 1 23
Name Age GP GS W L OTL SOL GAA SV% GA%- GSAA GSAA/60
Evan Cormier 20.19 34 33 17 12 3 0 2.94 0.910 90 10.00 0.32
Height: 6'3 Team SO SO% QS QS% RBS RBS% BO BO% EVG% PPG% SHG%
Weight: 200 Saginaw 2 6.06% 18 54.55% 7 21.21% 4 12.12% 68.48% 29.35% 2.17%

Marian Studenic had an assist, +3, and 9 shots over the course of his first 2 games back from the WJC for Hamilton.

Evan Cormier made 29 saves on 32 shots in an overtime victory over Erie on Friday. The following night he made 31 saves on 36 shots in a loss to Sarnia.

WHL

Name Pos. Age Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Colby Sissons D 19.99 Swift Current 42 8 36 44 28 49 6.78% 2.81 1.05
Height: 6'2 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 190 23 31 4 17 21 4 17 21 0 2 2 24
Name Pos. Age Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP
Nikita Popugaev LW 19.15 Prince George 13 2 5 7 -13 4 4.08% 3.77 0.54
Height: 6'5.5 A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 210 1 3 0 1 1 2 4 6 0 0 0 12

Colby Sissons was a +3 with 8 shots in his first 3 games for Swift Current last week. His fourth game of the week would prove to be busy as he had 3 assists, +1, 5 PIM (Fighting), and 2 shots against Red Deer on Sunday.

NCAA

Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% NHLe
Brett Seney LW Merrimack 21 6 13 19 -6 34 13.64% 2.10 0.90 41.99% 28
Height: 5'10 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 180 21.88 Hockey East 8 14 2 4 6 4 9 13 0 0 0
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% NHLe
JD Dudek RW Boston College 20 2 8 10 -7 16 4.00% 2.50 0.50 35.71% 16
Height: 5'11 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 185 21.96 Hockey East 3 5 2 4 6 0 4 4 0 0 0
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% NHLe
Joey Anderson RW Minnesota Duluth 13 4 5 9 5 6 9.30% 3.31 0.69 18.18% 24
Height: 6'0 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 195 19.57 NCHC 3 7 2 4 6 2 1 3 0 0 0
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP Blks NHLe
Jeremy Davies D Northeastern 19 3 15 18 4 12 7.69% 2.05 0.95 29 30
Height: 5'11 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 188 21.11 Hockey East 6 9 1 5 6 2 9 11 0 1 1
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP Blks NHLe
Reilly Walsh D Harvard 14 3 7 10 0 14 11.11% 1.93 0.71 9 13
Height: 6'0 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 185 18.73 ECAC 3 6 0 3 3 3 4 7 0 0 0
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH% SH/GP Pts/GP Blks NHLe
Matt Hellickson D Notre Dame 22 2 6 8 5 8 8.33% 1.09 0.36 16 10
Height: 6'0 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 181 19.82 Big Ten 3 5 0 6 6 2 0 2 0 0 0

Brett Seney had an assist on the game winning goal against UConn on Friday. He finished that game with an even rating, 4 shots, and won 5/13 faceoffs. The following night against Providence, he had a PP assist, -4, 2 shots, and won 5/12 faceoffs. Last Wednesday it was announced that Seney was Hockey East Player of the Week after his 2 goals helped Merrimack upset Denver the previous Friday.

JD Dudek had an assist, +1, and 6 shots in 2 games for Boston College last week.

Jeremy Davies had 2 assists, +2, and 4 shots in 2 games for Northeastern last week.

Reilly Walsh had an assist, even rating, and 4 shots in 2 games for Harvard over the weekend.

Matt Hellickson and Notre Dame had a great weekend. Hellickson scored his first career goal on Friday and finished the weekend with 2 PP goals, +1, and 6 shots as they swept a 2 game set against Michigan. Notre Dame, the top ranked team in the country, extended their winning streak to 15 games.

KHL/VHL

KHL

Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP Blks ATOI
Yegor Rykov D SKA St. Petersburg 45 1 12 13 13 20 38 2.63% 0.84 0.29 26 12:21
Height: 6'2 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 216 20.75 KHL 5 6 1 12 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 18
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Mikhail Maltsev C SKA St. Petersburg 17 0 5 5 6 4 24 0.00% 1.41 0.29 56.25% 8:21
Height: 6'3 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 205 19.84 KHL 3 3 0 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 19
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP Blks ATOI
Yegor Zaitsev D Dynamo Moscow 25 0 2 2 -1 26 12 0.00% 0.48 0.08 10 9:14
Height: 5'11 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 185 19.70 KHL 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Nikita Popugaev LW CSKA Moscow 7 0 1 1 0 2 4 0.00% 0.57 0.14 0.00% 5:10
Height: 6'5.5 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 210 19.15 KHL 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9

VHL

Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Mikhail Maltsev C SKA-Neva 11 2 5 7 7 4 18 11.11% 1.64 0.64 59.68% 17:22
Height: 6'3 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 205 19.84 VHL 4 6 2 5 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 17
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Nikita Popugaev LW Zvezda Chekhov 14 3 2 5 0 2 18 0.00% 1.29 0.36 N/A 11:39
Height: 6'5.5 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 210 19.15 VHL 1 4 3 1 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 11

Yegor Rykov had an assist for the second straight game in a row as SKA St. Petersburg defeated Traktor Chelyabinsk on Friday. He also finished the game a +2 with a shot and block in 11:21.

Nikita Popugaev saw his 3 game VHL scoring streak come to an end on Saturday as he was held to a -1 with 2 shots in 4:32.

Europe

Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Jesper Boqvist C Brynas IF 4 1 1 2 1 0 6 16.67% 1.50 0.50 N/A 10:50
Height: 6'0 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 179 19.21 SHL 1 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 25
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Fabian Zetterlund F Farjestads BK 26 0 2 2 -2 6 17 0.00% 0.65 0.08 N/A 8:01
Height: 5'11 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts NHLe
Weight: 180 18.39 SHL 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Name Pos. Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM SH SH% SH/GP Pts/GP FO% ATOI
Aarne Talvitie C Blues U20 28 21 16 37 16 14 N/A N/A N/A 1.32 N/A N/A
Height: 5'11 Age League A1 Pts1 EVG EVA EV Pts PPG PPA PP Pts SHG SHA SH Pts
Weight: 198 18.92 Jr. A SM-liiga N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Name Age GP GS W L OTL SOL GAA SV% GA%- GSAA GSAA/60
Gilles Senn 21.87 20 19 10 6 0 2 2.72 0.908 104 -1.91 -0.10
Height: 6'5 Team SO SO% QS QS% RBS RBS% BO BO% EVG% PPG% SHG%
Weight: 192 HC Davos 1 5.26% 10 52.63% 2 10.53% 3 15.79% 86.79% 11.32% 1.89%

Aarne Talvitie had 2 goals, 2 assists, +1, and 4 PIM in 2 games last week.

Gilles Senn made 20 saves on 21 shots to help HC Davos get to a shootout against EV Zug on Sunday. He would stop 3/5 attempts in the shootout but it wasn’t enough for HC Davos to pull out the win.

Your Take

What are your thoughts on the Devils prospects that competed in the WJC? Is Fabian Zetterlund a rising prospect for you? Which other prospects stood out to you this week? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!