The Albany Devils fell to the Rochester Americans 5-2 last night and have now lost eight of their last 11 games. Here are some notes on the loss as well as some New Jersey Devils prospect updates.
- After Friday night's loss, the Devils dropped to last in the Eastern Conference with 12 points and are just two points ahead of the San Antonio Rampage for last place in the entire American Hockey League. I suspected Adam Henrique, Adam Larsson, Jacob Josefson, etc. would help put them in a playoff position this year, even if they leave mid-season to come back to New Jersey but it looks like that won't be the case. On paper the Devils forward core is above average, their defense is pretty strong and Keith Kinkaid and Jeff Frazee should be good enough to help land a lesser playoff spot. Apparently that probably won't be the case.
- Speaking of Frazee, he got the Friday night start this week which probably means he'll start two games this weekend. The Devils play tonight and then again tomorrow, and I highly doubt Kinkaid will start both - unless he's exceptional tonight, but even then I doubt he'll start both. Kinkaid has been average this year, and Frazee, for the most part, has been really good. He'll continue to push Kinkaid for extra starts until Kinkaid can steal them back.
- Larsson, Henrique, Josefson and Bobby Butler were all held pointless in last night's game. Mattias Tedenby was the lone notable who registered at least a point.
- Raman Hrabarenka, a 21-year-old rookie defenseman, scored last night. He now has four points and a plus-1 rating in 10 games this year. Given it's his first season of hockey on North American soil, that's pretty impressive - especially the plus-minus rating, given the Devils minus-8 goal differential. I don't think he'll make New Jersey this year due to a numbers game, but he could push for a spot next year.
- Albany is back in action tonight against Syracuse. To say they could use a win would be an understatement.
- Ben Johnson (Windsor), Reid Boucher (Sarnia) and Ben Thomson (Kitchener) were all held off the scoresheet in the OHL last night.
- Stefan Matteau scored in a 3-0 BLB Armada win over Gatineau in the QMJHL last night. Matteau now has 13 goals, 22 points, a plus-11 rating and 50PIMs in 23 games on the year.
- Damon Severson was held off the scoresheet in a 5-1 Kelowna win over the Regina Pats.
- In action across the CHL tonight: Ben Thomson, Reid Boucher and Damon Severson.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on twitter @ToddCordell.
TheHockeyGuys.net
Email: [email protected] 
New Jersey Devils Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»