Welcome to week 31 of the New Jersey Devils’ 2020-21 Outlook update! What a strange, long, but exciting season for prospects around the world. This week’s update is the penultimate of this season’s series as only the AHL team and QMJHL Dawson Mercer are still active. Speaking of Mercer, he continues to dominate the QMJHL in the playoffs. Ethan Edwards and Akira Schmid saw their USHL season come to an end, but both have had good seasons. Nico Daws signed his entry-level deal with New Jersey days ago, adding to the action last week. Let’s take a look at how each prospect performed over the past week.

AHL

Binghamton went 0-3 last week and only has 3 games left in his season. Last Wednesday, Binghamton lost 6-3 to Wilkes-Barre / Scranton. Tyce Thompson and AJ Greer each had a goal and an assist. Fabian Zetterlund had the other goal. Alexander Holtz had 2 assists, followed by Brett Seney and Ryan Schmelzer with one assist each. Evan Cormier made 23 saves on 28 shots in the loss.

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Last Friday, Binghamton lost a close 2-1 to Hershey. Reilly Walsh scored the Devils goal with Nate Schnarr and Tyler Irvine collecting the assists. Alexander Holtz and Nikita Okhotiuk were tied for the lead with 4 shots each. Gilles Senn made 23 saves on 25 shots in the loss.

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Binghamton ended his week on Saturday with a 4-1 loss to Wilkes-Barre / Scranton. Graeme Clarke scored the Devils goal with Travis St. Denis and AJ Greer collecting the assists. Evan Cormier made 31 saves on 34 shots in the loss. The roster was the same as in the previous game, the only change being the goalkeepers.

Here are the stats lines for the Devils U24 forwards at Binghamton (min 5 GP):

On Sunday afternoon, Graeme Clarke ranks 10th among U-20 forwards with 16 points in 28 games.

Here are the stats for the Devils U24 defenders at Binghamton (no min):

Sunday afternoon, Reilly Walsh is 9th behind rookie defenseman with 14 points in 30 games.

Michael Vukojevic is 5th among U-20 defensemen with 9 points in 24 games.

Qualified goalkeepers:

Gilles Senn: 16 GP, 884: 05, 3-9-2, 3.66 GAA, .893 SV%, 0 SO

Evan Cormier: 10 GP, 607: 14, 2-5-3, 3.46 GAA, .885 SV%, 0 SO

QMJHL

Dawson Mercer helped Chicoutimi take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five quarter-final series against Quebec. He scored one goal, 2 assists (1 EV, 1 PP), even odds, 3 shots, and won 58.14% of his faceoffs in both games. Chicoutimi will seek to close the series this evening.

Qualifying statistics: 5 GP 4-6-10, +4, 2 PIM, 33.33 SH%, 2.40 SH / GP, 2.00 Pts / GP, 63.33 FO%

NCAA

USHL

Sadly, the season is over for Sioux City after being eliminated 2-0 by Fargo in the Western Conference final. So is life in a best-of-three series. I should note that the first game featured a savage brawl, although Schmid chose not to get involved, knowing his team needed him on the ice:

Ethan Edwards scored one goal, -2, 2 PIM and 5 shots in both games. This ends his career in the USHL as he travels to the University of Michigan next season. Check out his goal right after a face-off victory below:

Playoff statistics: 4 GP 1-0-1, E, 6 PIM, 8.33 SH%, 3.00 SH / GP, 0.25 Pts / GP

Akira Schmid had a rare bad outing on Friday, making just 21 saves on 27 shots in a loss in the opener. He played better on Saturday, making 29 saves on 31 shots, but that wasn’t enough to avoid loss in Game 2.

Playoff stats: 4 GP 2-2, 2.28 GAA, .920 SV%, 1 Shutout, 3 quality starts (75%), 1 really bad start (25%)

Russia

KHL

VHL and MHL

Finland

Liiga

Sweden

SHL

Switzerland and Germany

Swiss National League, Deutsche Eishockey Liga

This was reported last week, but Lausanne HC has officially announced the signing of Benjamin Baumgartner.

Peter Ruicci of The Sault Star has this article on the decisions the Soo Greyhounds (OHL) will face ahead of next season. The article contains quotes from Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis in which he talks about the situation of imported players and older players on the team. He mentions that Jaromir Pytlik has been on the verge of signing a professional contract with a team in Finland, as they say, for a few weeks now. In essence, the Greyhounds would be interested in him coming back for his surplus season, but it is true that they have no idea what’s going to happen and understand that he has to find the best situation for himself before next season.

Last Wednesday, the Devils announced that they had signed a three-year entry-level contract with Nico Daws starting with the 2021-22 season. Cap Friendly has contract details here. It looks like he will compete to play for Utica in the AHL next season.

I finally managed to gather the statistics for the above average registered LED lenses (GSAA). 25 goalies played at least 10 games last season in the DEL. On the surface, his numbers were just below average. His -2.52 GSAA ranked 16th, his -0.26 GSAA per 60 minutes (GSAA / 60) ranked 18th and his -0.28 GSAA by 30 shots (GSAA / 30) ranked 20th. There were 4 U21 goalkeepers to play in at least 10 games last season. Among this peer group, Daws placed 2nd in GSAA, GSAA / 60 and GSAA / 30. Tobias Ancicka ahead of him with 13 GP, 0.917 SV%, 3.32 GSAA, 0.29 GSAA / 60 and 0 , 31 GSAA / 30.

Your catch

What perspectives have marked you this week? What do you think of the Devils signing Nico Daws to an ELC? What about Dawson Mercer’s consistently strong play in the QMJHL? How do you rate Ethan Edwards and Akira Schmid’s seasons? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!