New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: 2/4/20

The 18th week of the 2019-20 New Jersey Devils prospect update saw the Devils prospects on the Ottawa 67’s continue to have success, Ty Smith rack up more PP points, Reilly Walsh and Case McCarthy compete in the Beanpot Semifinals, and the European based prospects make their mark in their respective leagues. Let’s take a look at how each prospect performed over the past week.

QMJHL

Xavier Bernard was a -1 with 6 PIM and 3 shots across 3 games last week.

OHL

Mitchell Hoelscher had 2 assists, +4, 4 PIM, 8 shots, and won 46.81% of his faceoffs across 3 games last week.

Nikita Okhotyuk had a goal, +1, 2 PIM, and 5 shots across 3 games last week.

Graeme Clarke continues to be out following left shoulder surgery.

Kevin Bahl had 2 assists (1 EV, 1 EN), +6, 2 PIM, and 5 shots across 3 games last week.

Michael Vukojevic had an assist, even rating, 4 PIM, and 4 shots across 2 games last week.

WHL

Ty Smith had a PP goal, 3 PP assists, an even rating, 4 PIM, and 11 shots across 3 games last week. It’s a small sample size, but Smith has been more productive since returning from the WJC. In his 21 pre-WJC games he had 4 goals, 13 assists, 6.56 SH%, 2.90 SH/GP, 0.81 Pts/GP while in his 10 post-WJC games he has 4 goals, 10 assists, 14.81 SH%, 2.70 SH/GP, 1.40 Pts/GP. You can check out some of his most recent production below:

NCAA

Reilly Walsh had 2 assists +3 and 2 shots in #17 Harvard’s victory over Union on Friday. He had a PP assist, -1, and 3 shots in Harvard’s Beanpot Semifinal loss to #12 Northeastern last night.

Matt Hellickson had a goal, +1, and 4 shots in 2 games for Notre Dame as they played a pair of games against #9 Penn State.

On the other side, Aarne Talvitie was a -3 with 6 shots and won 64.29% of his faceoffs. Talvitie started his season off well with 4 goals, 8 assists, 20.0 SH%, 2.00 SH/GP, 1.20 Pts/GP over his opening 10 games from 10/11/19 to 11/15/19. In 14 games since then he has just a goal, 2 assists, 3.85 SH%, 1.86 SH/GP, 0.21 Pts/GP. His defensive game is still strong and he’s getting consistent top 6 minutes but hopefully he gets back on track offensively sooner than later.

Tyce Thompson had an assist, +1, and 4 shots in #10 Providence’s loss to #12 Northeastern on Friday. Thompson was named one of the 23 semifinalists for the Walter Brown Award which is given to the best American-born Division 1 college hockey player in New England. Thompson is currently tied-3rd in goals (17), 11th in assists (21), and 3rd in points (38) in the NCAA.

Patrick Moynihan had a goal, a PP assist, +1, and 6 shots in that game. Among NCAA freshman, Moynihan is tied-5th in goals (10) and is tied-1st in PP goals (8).

Case McCarthy had a goal, an assist, +2, 2 PIM, and 2 shots in Boston University’s win over Vermont on Friday. Last night, McCarthy had an even rating and 5 shots as Boston University upset #4 Boston College in their Beanpot Semifinal in 2OT. You can see Boston University take on #12 Northeastern for the Beanpot on Monday 2/10 at 7:30 PM ET on NHL Network.

USHL

Akira Schmid made 27 saves on 30 shots in a loss to Tri-City on Friday.

Cole Brady made 30 saves on 35 shots in a loss to Green Bay on Saturday.

Russia

KHL

VHL/MHL

Yegor Zaitsev had 2 PP assists, an even rating, 4 PIM, and 4 shots while averaging 17:01 across 4 games last week.

Daniil Misyul was a +1 while averaging 8:23 across 3 games last week. His ice time slipped from 12:35 to 9:45 to 2:51 as the week went on.

Arseni Gritsyuk had a SH goal, 2 PP assists, +2, 2 PIM, 4 shots, and played 20:53 in his only game last week.

Finland & Sweden

Eetu Pakkila had 2 assists, +2, and 7 shots while averaging 12:00 across 3 games last week.

Nikola Pasic had 3 PP assists, -2, 2 PIM, and 3 shots while averaging 14:35 across 2 games last week. Pasic currently leads all U20 Allsvenskan players in scoring with 30 points in 36 games.

Your Take

Which prospects stood out to you this week? Are you concerned about Talvitie’s struggles? What do you make of Ty Smith’s recent hot streak? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!