New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 2/5/19

The 17th week of the 2018-19 prospect update is here. It’s highlighted by Mitchell Hoelscher’s strong play in the OHL, Ty Smith leaving a WHL game early after falling awkwardly, Reilly Walsh and Jeremy Davies compete in the Beanpot, as well as Jesper Boqvist and Eetu Pakkila continue to put together productive seasons.

QMJHL

Jocktan Chainey missed all 3 of Halifax’s games this past week due to an upper body injury. He has now missed 16 straight games with his last appearance coming on 12/28/18. With about a month and a half left in the regular season, hopefully Chainey can make his return sooner than later.

Xavier Bernard had 2 assists, -2, 2 PIM, and 7 shots in 3 games for Charlottetown last week.

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

OHL

Mitchell Hoelscher continues to trend in the right direction. In 3 games last week, he had a goal, SH assist, +3, 2 PIM, 6 shots, and won 60% of his faceoffs. He now has 4 goals and 7 assists over his last 11 games. You can see his goal from Friday’s game against Guelph in the tweet below.

WHL

Ty Smith had 2 PP assists, +2, and 4 shots in 3 games last week for Spokane. Both assists came against Portland on Wednesday and snapped a 4 game point drought. Unfortunately, Smith had to leave Saturday’s game against Portland midway through the 1st period after falling awkwardly after taking a hit by Joachim Blichfeld that you can see below. Smith had to be helped off and didn’t return to the game. Blichfeld was assessed a Major for Interference and a Game Misconduct.

NCAA

Jeremy Davies had a PP assist, -1, and 2 shots in a loss to UMass Lowell on Friday. Last night, he assisted on the game winning goal in overtime by Tyler Madden (John’s son) and was a +2 with 9 shots in a Beanpot Semifinal victory over Boston University. Northeastern will take on Boston College in the Beanpot Final next Monday where they will look to defend their title. You can see Davies’ breakout pass that led to the game winning goal in the tweet below.

Reilly Walsh was a -1 in Harvard’s victory over Dartmouth on Friday. Last night, he had an assist, -1, and 2 shots in Harvard’s Beanpot Semifinal loss to Boston College. Corey Pronman of The Athletic had this to say about Walsh:

Matt Hellickson was a -2 with 2 shots as Notre Dame dropped 2 games against Ohio State over the weekend.

Aarne Talvitie is out for the rest of the season due to knee surgery.

USHL/NAHL

Akira Schmid won both of his starts last week for Omaha. On Friday he made 28 saves on 29 shots against Madison. On Saturday he made 21 saves on 22 shots against Lincoln. 5 out of his last 7 starts have been Quality Starts and he has a .932 SV% in that stretch dating back to 12/8/18. If you include his relief appearance on 11/30/18, he has a .935 SV% over his last 8 games.

Russia

KHL

VHL

MHL

Mikhail Maltsev had an even rating with 2 shots and won 50% of his faceoffs while averaging 19:09 across 2 VHL games last week.

Yegor Zaitsev was a -1 with 5 shots, 2 blocks, and average ice time of 15:34 across 2 KHL games last week.

Nikita Popugaev had an even rating in 9:18 of ice time against Severstal in his only game of KHL action this past week.

Sweden & Finland

Jesper Boqvist had a goal, 2 PP assists, -1, and 8 shots while averaging 16:44 across 3 games last week. He now has a goal and 3 assists over his last 4 games after going 6 games without a point. Boqvist is currently 2nd on his team in scoring with 26 points in 39 games despite being the 2nd youngest regular player on the team. He also currently leads U21 SHL players with 16 assists and is 2nd in points. You can check out his goal from Thursday against Lulea in the tweet below. Also, below is a highlights package of his goals and assists from this past September-December.

Fabian Zetterlund is out for the season due to knee surgery.

Eetu Pakkila had 2 goals, +2, 15 shots, and averaged 19:51 per game across 2 games last week. He continues to lead his team in goals (32) and points (52). That goal total is still good for the league lead.

Switzerland

Gilles Senn made 34 saves on 38 shots in a loss to HC Lugano on Friday. Despite surrendering the goals, he was voted the HC Davos best player from the game which says a lot about the season the team has been having. On Saturday he made 24 saves on 26 shots in a loss to Fribourg. Senn has a .931 SV% over his last 5 games but is 1-4 in that stretch due to the team’s struggles.

Your Take

Which prospects stood out to you this week? Do you think of Hoelscher as an underrated prospect? What are your thoughts on the seasons that Boqvist and Pakkila are putting together in Europe? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!