New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 2/11/20

The 19th week of the 2019-20 New Jersey Devils prospect update saw Case McCarthy and Boston University lose in the Beanpot final to Northeastern, all of the Devils CHL prospects - especially Michael Vukojevic and Ty Smith have excellent weeks, while Arseni Gritsyuk and Nikola Pasic continued to play very well in their respective European leagues. Let’s take a look at how each prospect performed over this past week.

QMJHL

Xavier Bernard had 2 assists (1 EV, 1 EN), +7, 4 PIM, and 7 shots across 3 games last week.

OHL

Mitchell Hoelscher had a SH goal, 2 assists, +4, 2 PIM, 9 shots, and won 57.14% of his faceoffs across 3 games last week.

Nikita Okhotyuk had 2 assists, +4, 4 PIM, and 8 shots across 3 games last week.

Graeme Clarke continues to be out following left shoulder surgery.

Kevin Bahl had a goal, +1, 4 PIM, and 7 shots across 3 games last week. You can check out the goal below:

Michael Vukojevic had a SH goal, 2 assists (1 EV, 1 PP), +4, and 6 shots across 3 games last week. He’s picked up his production since early December with 15 points in his last 26 games after starting the season with 9 points in his fist 25 games.

WHL

Ty Smith continued his productive play by adding 2 goals, 4 assists (2 EV, 2 PP), +6, 4 PIM, and 4 shots across 3 games last week. He now has 6 goals and 14 assists in 13 games since returning from the WJC. That’s more productive than the 4 goals and 13 assists he had in his 21 games before the WJC. Check out the recent assist and goal below:

NCAA

Reilly Walsh had 2 assists, +2, and 2 shots in #18 Harvard’s victory over on Friday. He missed Harvard’s Beanpot Consolation game last night due to a lower body injury sustained in practice according to Spencer Morris.

Matt Hellickson and Notre Dame had the week off.

Aarne Talvitie had an EN assist, +2, 3 shots, and won 2/5 faceoffs across 2 games for #9 Penn State against #13 Ohio State. That assist snapped an 8 game point drought. He hasn’t had an even strength point in his past 13 games though.

Tyce Thompson had a PP goal, -1, 2 PIM, 5 shots, and won 59.09% of his faceoffs as #14 Providence played a pair of games against UMass this past weekend. You can check out that goal below:

Patrick Moynihan had an even rating and 4 shots across both of those games for Providence.

Case McCarthy had a SH assist, -1, and 2 shots in Boston University’s loss to Merrimack on Friday. Last night, he had a PP assist, even rating, and 3 shots as Boston University lost the Beanpot to #12 Northeastern. He now has 6 points over his last 8 games.

USHL

It was an up and down week for Akira Schmid. On Friday he had a 20 save shutout in a victory over Sioux Falls. He was unable to carry that momentum over to his next start, as he made 33 saves on 39 shots in a loss to Fargo on Sunday. Schmid has a .898 SV% in 6 games since returning from injury.

Cole Brady made 24 saves on 29 shots in a loss to Waterloo on Saturday.

Russia

KHL

VHL/MHL

Yegor Zaitsev and Dynamo Moscow had the week off.

Daniil Misyul was unable to compete for the Russian B team in the Kaufland Cup while the KHL had an international break. You can see him take a puck to the face in his last game (2/3 vs. Dynamo Moscow) in the clip below. That certainly explains why he only played 2:51 in that game.

Arseni Gritsyuk continued his impressive scoring pace by adding 3 goals (2 EV, 1 SH), 4 assists, +6, 10 shots, and averaging 19:01 across 4 games last week. He is on an 8 game scoring streak with 6 goals and 8 assists during that stretch. He leads Omskie Yastreby with 25 goals and is 2nd in scoring with 55 points. He is 3rd in scoring among all U19 MHL players.

Finland & Sweden

Eetu Pakkila had an even rating and 3 shots in 11:37 in Ilves’ only game last week.

Nikola Pasic had 4 assists (2 EV, 2 PP), +2, 7 shots, and averaged 15:05 across 3 games last week. Pasic’s strong season has earned him a nomination for the “Guldgallret” or Golden Grille (if google translate is to be believed). The award goes to the top junior player in the Allsvenskan. Pasic is certainly a worthy candidate as he continues to lead U20 players in the Allsvenskan in assists (27) and points (34). You can check out one of his assists from the game against AIK on Friday below:

Your Take

Which prospects stood out to you this week? How impressive do you find Arseni Gritsyuk’s MHL campaign? What about Nikola Pasic as a junior aged player excelling in the Allsvenskan? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!