New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: Three Devils in the Frozen Four

The Devils will have four prospects in the Frozen Four this year. This post covers who and when.

Frozen Four Schedule

The NCAA Frozen Four is on Thursday, April 10th. This is the schedule per FloHockey.

Thursday, April 10

• 5:00 p.m. ET – Denver vs. Western Michigan (ESPN2)
• 8:30 p.m. ET – Penn State vs. Boston U. (ESPN2)

Saturday, April 12

• National Championship (ESPN2)

Who to Watch

The early game features University of Denver center Samu Salminen, who had his best collegiate season this year after transferring from the University of Connecticut with 10 goals, 28 assists in 43 games. Denver is a stacked team and Salminen typically centers their second line.

For those who like the fancy stats, here are some for Salminen’s growth season.

The other two Devils play for Boston University in the 2nd game. Foward Shane LaChance potted 11 goals and 29 points in 38 games this year for the BU Terriers. His rights were acquired by the Devils shortly before the trade deadline. The other Devils prospect is goaltender Mikhail Yegorov, who has been a beast in net since joining Boston mid-season. Yegorov quickly took over the starter’s net and flashed gaudy numbers of a 2.04 GAA and .931 SV% to go along with a 10-5-1 record and 1 shutout.

Both games should be an entertaining watch, with the BU game being of a particular interest. When the playoffs are over, Devils fans should have a better sense of what may happen with Samu Salminen this offseason as the center would be entering his senior year next season.

Around the Pool

• For those wanting Arseni Gritsyuk or Lenni Hameenaho to come over early, you must wait a little longer.

Update: SKA has now been eliminated. Whether the team will grant Arseni Gritsyuk leave to sign as they did with Demidov remains to be seen, but this is a very encouraging sign:

• Devils forward prospects Cam Squires and Matyas Melovsky played in the 2nd longest game in QMJHL history finally ending 1:32 into the 5th overtime on a Cape Breton goal, extending the series. Cape Breton and Baie-Comeau will have played game six on Monday with Cam Squires and his Cape Breton Eagles facing elimination again.
• Anton Silayev’s season ends. Torpedo fired their head coach Igor Larionov after the game. Hopefully, his replacement keeps giving Silayev quality minutes.

• The Utica Comets season is crawling to a merciful close with the Comets likely to finish last in the North Division. The Devils AHL affiliate did win a 6-4 contest on Saturday against the Providence Bruins. Max Willman led the charge for the Comets with two goals, two assists. Willman has been on fire lately with seven points in three games. Defensive prospect Topias Vilen added two helpers, increasing his total to 21 on the year. Nico Daws stopped 20 of 24 shots for the win, even earning an assist on one of Willman’s goals.
• OHL forward Cole Brown tied for first place in the Coach’s poll for most improved player. Whether Brown signs with the Devils this summer or heads to Notre Dame remains to be seen.
• Lastly, goaltender Jakub Malek backed up Dominik Pavlat in the first round of Ilves sweep of Tappara. Pavlat had a 1.00 GAA and .961 SV% in the four game series. Malek and Pavlat platooned much of the season, but Malek had the better numbers leading the Liiga in GAA and tying Pavlat for fourth in the league in SV%. This seems to be the team riding the hot hand of two quality netminders. It’s common for teams in the Liiga to use both goaltenders. Even though Malek platooned with Pavlat during the season, Malek still played in the 8th most games of all goaltenders in the league with 33 to Pavlat’s 28.

Your Take

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