Posted on

Devils News Roundup

I wanted to get to some news that has come along that I did not want to roll into the post for tonight’s game recap against the Los Angeles Kings.

First, the big piece of news. Forward prospect Alexander Holtz was recalled from AHL Utica yesterday and will most likely play in tonight’s game against the Kings. He joined the team in California yesterday and practiced with the team in Anaheim before they moved on to LA.

Congrats to him as he makes his highly anticipated NHL debut!

Two players the Devils will be missing will be defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who coach Lindy Ruff said is day-to-day with a lower body injury and goalie Scott Wedgewood, who was claimed off of waivers yesterday by the Arizona Coyotes.

For Hamilton, he is not expected to play tonight versus the Kings as per Ruff. In Wedgewood’s case, this is his second go around with the Coyotes.

He was traded to Arizona from the Devils on October 28, 2017. He previously appeared in 20 games for the Coyotes before signing as a free agent with the Buffalo Sabres in 2018. He signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019 and then with the Devils in October of 2020. (All of this information comes from his player profile on HockeyReference.com.)

In other news, the Devils’ PR announced today that there were some “promotions and new hires affecting scouting, athlete care, analytics and team operations.”

First, Scott Litwack has been promoted to Director, Hockey Operations/Assistant General Manager of the Utica Comets. He will now work with Devils’ “Assistant General Manager Dan MacKinnon to manage the hockey operations for the Utica Comets American Hockey League team.” He had previously managed “the team’s cap and transactions.”

Nick Blackman will now take on the role of Senior Manager, Team Operations/Hockey Communications. He will now “serve as a day-to-day contact for the players, coaches, management and locker room staff to coordinate availability, scheduling and events for the Hockey Operations Department.”

Caela McLoughlin was promoted to Manager, Player, Family & Alumni Initiatives. She will help “contribute to family onboarding, player community endeavors, alumni programming and PR efforts.”

Craig Lewis is new to the organization and will serve as Software Developer. He “will work on projects and programming within the Analytics Departmart.”

Al Santilli joins the organization from the Pittsburgh Penguins (winning two Stanley Cups while in Pittsburgh) as Head of Free Agent Scouting/Recruitment. He worked ten years with the Pens, where he served in the scouting department as an Amateur, Pro and Global Crossover Scout.

Former Devil Sergei Nemchinov rejoins the organization as a European Scout. He won the Cup with the Devils in 2000 as a player. He also played for the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and the New York Islanders over 11 NHL seasons.

Anders Nilsson joins as a European Goalie Scout. Nilsson played seven NHL seasons with the Islanders, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Canucks and the Ottawa Senators. Over his career, according to the press release, he was 59-74-15 and had a 3.06 goals against average and a .907 save percentage over 161 games in the NHL.

Michael Sdao joins the organization as an Amateur Scout. He previously worked as an Assistant Coach for the Lincoln Stars of the United States Hockey League.

Ian Greenwald was promoted to Video Coach while Lucas Hurtt was named as the new Video Coordinator. Both men joined the staff last season according to the press release and Greenwald had been with the Binghamton Devils of the AHL previously as the video coach. Hurtt was in his first season in season in pro hockey last year according to the press release.

JT Podell will now be the Head Athletic Trainer after previously serving as an Assistant Athletic Trainer.

Mike Coyne will join the organization as a Physical Therapist/Assistant Athletic Trainer.

And that is your Devils news roundup for today, Friday, November 5, 2021.

Posted on

Preseason: Devils Down Caps, 4-1

The Devils remained undefeated this preseason, defeating the Washington Capitals 4-1 in Newark tonight.

Let’s get to this.

First, some personnel updates. Ty Smith remains out with an undisclosed injury as he has not played in a preseason game this year and will remain out “for a number of days” according to Lindy Ruff and quoted in an article by Sam Kasan.

Jesper Bratt was sick with a non-COVID-related illness also per Kasan. He was in the lineup tonight versus Washington and did play.

Kasan also reported that the Devils have loaned Chase Stillman back to his Ontario Hockey League team, the Sudbury Wolves. Nate Schnarr has been loaned to the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League while Brian Flynn and Robbie Russo were placed on waivers, cleared and assigned to Utica. This happened Sunday.

In addition, the Devils claimed defenseman Mason Geertsen off of waivers from the New York Rangers on Sunday. A big blue liner at 6-feet, 4-inches and 227-pounds, he will add toughness and a gritty element to the Devils’ lineup as per Kasan. The 26-year-old Geertsen was slated to be assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL by the Rangers. He has played in 297 career AHL games with Hartford, the Colorado Eagles, San Antonio Rampage and Lake Erie Monsters.

He was originally drafted in the fourth-round – 93rd overall – by the Colorado Avalanche in 2013. He previously played in the Western Hockey League for the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Vancouver Giants.

With all of that out of the way, let’s talk about the business at hand.

In goal, the Devils started Mackenzie Blackwood. He played the first two periods and made 15 saves on 16 shots against for a .938 save percentage. This included making one save on two power play shots and getting all 14 he saw at even strength.

Scott Wedgewood came in for the Devils for the third period. He was equal to all five shots peppered on him – it was a relatively easy night for Devils goaltending. Wedgwood continued his shutout streak from the second two periods of the Islander game on Saturday.

The Caps finished with a total of 21 shots on goal.

For the Capitals, Vitek Vanecek played the whole game and saw 25 Devils shots. He turned aside 22 of them for a .880 save percentage. He let in two goals on four power play shots, got the lone shorthanded shot the Devils sent his way and saved 19-of-20 at even strength. Zach Fucale backed him up while Ilya Samsonov is sidelined with a lower body injury.

The Devils got on the board on the power play at the 19:00 mark of the first. Dawson Mercer streaked up the right side in the Capitals’ zone. Janne Kuokkanen hit him with a pass in the middle as he was cutting towards net. Mercer got the shot off and a trailing Alexander Holtz potted the loose puck to give the Devils the 1-0 lead.

Early in the second period, Michael McLeod made it 2-0 at the 2:39 mark. It saw McLeod drive towards the net and drop the puck for Kuokkanen trailing in the slot. Kuokkanen kind of flubbed his shot but was able to hit McLeod with a pass from his knees. McLeod snapped the puck by Vanecek to double up the Devils lead. Kevin Bahl had the secondary assist.

Washington would get on the board with less than a minute to go in the second (at the 19:18 mark) when, on the power play, Connor McMichael beat Bahl to the outside, taking a sharp angle shot which beat Blackwood to make it 2-1. Garrett Pilon (primary) and Hendrix Lapierre (secondary) had the assists.

That late goal made it 2-1 heading into the second intermission.

In the third, Pavel Zacha would make it 3-1 when the Devils were on the power play. Bratt worked along the near half wall to Dougie Hamilton (who was wearing an “A” tonight) at the point. Zacha was camped out at the top of the far faceoff circle and calling for the puck. Hamilton distributed to him and Zacha took the pass, hesitating with a little toe drag, freezing Vanecek and shooting back against the grain. He scored just under the crossbar as Zacha was showing a new aggressiveness in terms of shooting.

That goal came at eth 5:59 mark of the third.

Jimmy Vesey would add an empty net goal with ten seconds to go (Washington had pulled Vanecek with about two minutes left in regulation) from McLeod and Tomas Tatar to ice the game at 4-1.

The Devils ended the game 2-for-5 on a seemingly vastly improved power play. The Capitals were 1-for-3.

The Devils would end the game winning 60-percent of the game’s faceoffs. The Devils were edged in hits 17-16, had less blocked shots at 15 to five and had more giveaways as a team at eight to the Caps’ six.

Mercer led the Devils with two giveaways while Zacha led in shots with five. Ryan Graves and Vesey led in hits with three. Blocks were led by Mercer, Hamilton Graves, PK Subban and Christian Jaros who each had one. Zacha led in takeaways with two.

Kuokkanen (two assists) led in points for the Devils. Hamilton led in time on ice with 22:59 while Nico Hischier led the forwards with 19:23 of TOI. McLeod led in faceoff percentage with a 90-percent clip. Hischier and Zacha led in power play ice time with 4:42.

Next up, the Devils will travel across the Hudson River to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers on Wednesday. That game will be shown on MSG+ and we will have a postgame recap for you right here then. See you Wednesday!