New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 12/11/18

The 10th week of the 2018-19 prospect update is here. It’s highlighted by Akira Schmid (Switzerland) and Fabian Zetterlund (Sweden) earning pre-WJC call ups, while Reilly Walsh wasn’t invited by USA Hockey. Xavier Bernard and Mitchell Hoelscher each turned in some strong performances in junior action while Jesper Boqvist continued to excel in SHL play. It’s even capped off by Gilles Senn making his first league appearances in Switzerland in quite some time.

QMJHL

Jocktan Chainey missed all 3 games Halifax played last week. According to Halifax Mooseheads play-by-play announcer, Garreth MacDonald, it appears it was due to illness.

Xavier Bernard had a productive week with a goal, assist, +6, and 6 shots in 3 games for Drummondville. His goal and an assist came in Drummondville’s 11-1 victory over Shawinigan on Sunday.

Jeremy Groleau was a -3 with 2 PIM and 8 shots in 4 games last week for Chicoutimi.

OHL

Mitchell Hoelscher and the Ottawa 67’s had a busy week, competing in a 2 game series against the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL, and against the Peterborough Petes in normal OHL action. The series against Gatineau was won by Ottawa which earned them the first ever Alexandra Cup in the Battle of the Ottawa River. Hoelscher was a -1 with 4 shots and won 4/10 faceoffs in the opening game on Friday. He stepped up on Saturday with a goal, 2 assists, +3, 3 shots, and won 5/11 faceoffs. You can see his offensive skill in the goal in the tweet below:

On Sunday against Peterborough, he had a PP assist, even rating, 3 shots, and won 14/20 faceoffs. Hoelscher seems to be on a nice run of form lately with 2 goals and 5 assists over his last 4 games.

WHL

Ty Smith had 3 PP assists, -1, 2 PIM, and 9 shots across 4 games for Spokane last week. He was held without any points in back-to-back games for the first time this season in his final 2 games of the week.

NCAA

Jeremy Davies had a PP goal, PP assist, even rating, and 5 shots in a 7-2 victory over Merrimack on Saturday. You can check out his goal below:

Reilly Walsh’s week started out on a tough note when he wasn’t named to the US National Junior Team preliminary roster for the upcoming WJC. While he has been developing nicely at Harvard, it seems that he’s still regarded as an offensive defensemen more than a well-rounded one by the management at USA Hockey. He still helped Harvard to a win over Bentley last Wednesday with an assist, even rating, and 2 shots.

Matt Hellickson helped Notre Dame earn a split in a weekend series against Penn State. On Friday he had a career high 3 points (goal, 2 assists), +1, and 4 shots in a 5-4 victory. On Saturday he was a -3 with 2 shots in a 9-1 loss.

Aarne Talvitie had a goal, PP assist, even rating, and 4 shots in 2 games against Notre Dame last weekend.

USHL/NAHL

Akira Schmid was named to the Swiss preliminary roster as they prepare for the upcoming WJC. He made 24 saves on 26 shots in a 2-1 loss to Chicago on Saturday in USHL action. Just a quick note, but the USHL website seems to have a phantom goal against him from his previous game on 11/30 against Lincoln, which is why my SV% and GAA totals differ from the ones you will find on the USHL site.

Russia

KHL

VHL

MHL

Mikhail Maltsev was a +2 with 4 PIM, 5 shots, a 59.37 FO%, and averaged 16:25 per game in 2 VHL games last week.

Yegor Zaitsev was a -1 with 2 shots, 2 blocks, and average ice time of 9:58 across 3 KHL games last week.

Nikita Popugaev was a -1 with 6 shots and an average ice time of 9:39 in 3 KHL games last week.

Sweden & Finland

Jesper Boqvist had a goal, assist, even rating, and 4 shots while averaging 19:20 per game across 2 games. Check out his goal below:

Fabian Zetterlund had an even rating, 2 PIM, and averaged 11:02 across 2 games last week. Last Wednesday he was named to Sweden’s preliminary roster for the WJC. Uffe Bodin has this article on Zetterlund that focuses on his recovery from an ACL injury to get himself ready for the WJC. The article has quotes from Zetterlund, Swedish head coach Tomas Monten, and Farjestad assistant coach Anders Karlsson. I particulary liked this quote from Karlsson about Zetterlund’s work ethic:

“He has made quite a remarkable journey”, Karlsson said. “It wasn’t that long ago he got hurt, and he should probably still be on the shelf, but he’s a gritty young kid, almost built like a bear. He wanted to play earlier, but we kind of had to hold him back.”

Eetu Pakkila had a goal, +2, 14 shots, and won 1/2 faceoffs while averaging 17:51 per game over 2 games played last week.

Switzerland

Gilles Senn made 2 starts for HC Davos, his first appearance in the NLA since 10/27. On Saturday he made 37 saves on 38 shots in a 2-0 loss to EV Zug. The following night he made 29 saves on 33 shots in a 4-3 loss to EV Zug. You can check out one of his saves from this past weekend in the tweet below. It will be interesting to see if this leads to Senn getting more time for HC Davos. They don’t play their next league game until 12/22 though.

Your Take

Which prospects stood out to you this week? What do you think of Mitchell Hoelscher’s recent hot streak? What about Reilly Walsh not being invited to the USA’s WJC camp? How about Akira Schmid getting a chance to represent the Swiss? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!