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Minor Devils' Signings/Albany Speculation Thread 2013


Triumph

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I wonder what Pesonen's angle is. Surely he understands his chance to make it to the NHL is slim-to-none for more than a handful of games at a time. Why make $105k to play in Albany when he could probably make double playing in his native Finland?

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I wonder what Pesonen's angle is. Surely he understands his chance to make it to the NHL is slim-to-none for more than a handful of games at a time. Why make $105k to play in Albany when he could probably make double playing in his native Finland?

It's not all about the money. He may see this as like a study abroad thing except he gets a decent paycheck while he's here. Gets to learn the NA game, play at a higher level in the NHL. Then if he gets just one NHL contract, he's probably made a lot more in a few short years than he would in many years in Europe.

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I was trying to piece Albany's roster together the other day and figured it'd be helpful, for me at least, to look to see who is signed and who isn't. In terms of acquisitions and free agents they have this:

 

Re-Signings:
RW Cam Janssen

D Dan Kelly

RW Mike Sislo
LW Harri Pesonen

RD Raman Hrabarenka

Additions:
C Rod Pelley

Subtractions:
RW/C Matt Anderson to Spartak Moskva (KHL)
RD Matthew Corrente to Carolina Hurricanes (2 way)

C Steve Zalewski to Lukko (SM-Liiga)

Free Agents/Unknown Status
G Jeff Frazee

G Keith Kinkaid
C Philip DeSimone

C Kelly Zajac
LW Chris McKelvie
LD Jay Leach
LW Chad Wiseman
RD Corbin McPherson
RW Scott Parse
LW J.S. Berube (Not Qualified)
RW Bryan Haczyk
LD Stefan Stepanov

 

Depth Chart (By natural position, obviously some guys will move in the middle or off wing):

 

LW
Matteau
Tedenby
Boucher
Whitney
Pesonen
Hoeffel

Young (ECHL)
Boychuk (ECHL)

C
Sestito
Wohlberg
D. Zajac

RW
Sislo
Janssen

LD
Merrill
Urbom
Gelinas
Burlon
Helgeson (ECHL?)
Kelly (ECHL?)

RD
Scarlett

Hrabarenka

G
Wedgewood
Clermont (ECHL)

 

Please tell me if I made any errors or left someone out. It's a lot to try to keep track of and I could've easily missed something.

Edited by thefiestygoat
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Kinkaid is still an RFA, fiesty.  Also Helgeson isn't likely going to the ECHL as a guy on an NHL contract who did 4 years of college.

Thanks, edited the post. Also had to add in Harry Young who I put as a LW since I think that's where they moved him. ECHL player though. The only reason I could see Helgeson starting out in the ECHL is due to the numbers game. I'm assuming Merrill, Urbom, Gelinas, Scarlett, Burlon, McPherson, and maybe a vet like Leach is added. Also I'd expect them to keep Kelly in Albany. Helgeson is a big physical player so he should be suited well for that league until a spot opens up for him in Albany.

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LD Stefan Stepanov to Atlant Mytishchi (KHL). Source link from EliteProspects (Russian) (Google Translation)

 

I was trying to clean up my earlier post with the free agents/unknowns. Is this correct?

 

Devils AHL/ECHL UFA's:
G Jeff Frazee
LW Chad Wiseman
LW J.S. Berube
LW Chris McKelvie
RW Scott Parse
LD Jay Leach

Devils AHL/ECHL RFA:
G Keith Kinkaid

Coming off AHL deals:
C Philip DeSimone (May be UFA?)
C Kelly Zajac
RW Bryan Haczyk
RD Corbin McPherson

Edited by thefiestygoat
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I didn't feel like starting a new thread devoted to this, but with Jagr in the fold NJ has 47 on the reserve list with 2 RFAs.  Dan Kelly remains to be seen, I could see him signing in e.g. Germany, Austria, or Finland or on an AHL deal.  Still, Henrique makes 48, and if they wanted to sign Myles Bell, that's 49.  I still think Albany is short a top line center with Zalewski gone - the centers on the roster seem to be Pelley, D. Zajac, and Sestito, not exactly offensive flair there.  And of course there's 3 goons, always good to have.  Anyway, I feel like another move is coming somewhere, even though I do think NJ could go into the season with 50 players on the reserve list.  They may wait to demote Severson to juniors before signing Bell, thus effectively giving them another spot on the list, but there's still Ben Thomson and Graham Black who are AHL-eligible this year.  They may not ultimately sign either of these guys, but it's still weird what a mess they have made of their 50 spots.

Edited by Triumph
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  • 3 weeks later...

Dan Kelly signed an AHL deal with Albany, according to Gulitti.  That leaves a reserve list of 48 with Henrique and with Severson as a possible slide candidate, so they could go up to 50 at training camp if they signed 2 players and then be at 49 all season.

Edited by Triumph
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RUMOR from Jeff Frazee's EliteProspects page has him heading to Sweden (now another one saying Italy). Nothing official though but here are the links to the first rumor (Swedish, Translation).

 

Makes sense to have Kinkaid and Wedgewood split AHL time with Clermont an available call up in case of injury.

Edited by thefiestygoat
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  • 3 weeks later...

This includes my wishful thinking that Brunner's arrival in NJ could possibly push Gionta out of a spot with the big club.

I didn't try to project any specific lines or pairings but I did try to put players somewhere near where they could be in the pecking order. Due to the large number of LW's, I had to move some of them over to RW to make this a bit more tidy.

Please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.  

Projection
Matteau-Gionta-Tedenby
Boucher-Sestito-Whitney
Pesonen-Pelley-Sislo
Hoeffel-Wohlberg-D. Zajac
McKelvie-K. Zajac*-Janssen

Urbom-Gelinas
Burlon-Merrill
Hrabarenka-Scarlett
Kelly-McPherson

Kinkaid
Wedgewood

ECHL
LW Boychuk
LW Young
RW Carrier
D Helgeson
G Clermont

Notes:
*Not sure if they re-upped him on AHL deal

LW/RW Myles Bell should be in the AHL in my opinion but the roster crunch in NJ and Albany, plus on the reserve list makes me wonder if they will sign him to an ELC soon after all. If the Devils sign Brunner he'd be the 49th contract and Bell would make 50 but Severson will slide so it's more like 49.

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http://blog.timesunion.com/hockey/a-devils-open-training-camp-sestito-pelley-on-their-way/16212/

 

Sestito, Pelley, and Young clear waivers and are assigned to Albany. Carrier whose in year 2 of his AHL deal joins the group, as does Kelly Zajac whom I wasn't sure had an AHL deal or not.

 

The Devils have 2 Europeans in camp that I guess are on tryouts:

 

RW/C Artem Demkov of Belarus who spent the last 2 years with Elmira - ECHL (106 GP 43-54-97 +10 58 PIM) and has represented Belarus at the WHC twice, including last year. The ECHL site list him at 5'10, 180 lbs. who shoots right and is about to turn 24. He did leave Elmira in January of last year to play with Hamburg - DEL (12 GP 0-1-1 -3 8 PIM) but it appears he re-signed with Elmira in July.

 

LW Dmitri Goldenkov of Russia who has bounced around in the Russian leagues as of late. Career numbers - KHL: 26 GP 1-1-2 -2 4 PIM, VHL: 63 GP 6-14-20 -6 55 PIM, MHL: 84 GP 34-36-70 +22 50 PIM. The VHL is the professional league just under the KHL, the MHL is Russia's major junior league. He's listed at 5'11, 183 lbs. who shoots left and will be 23 in late February. He attended the New York Islanders developmental camp in 2012.

 

Devils prospect G Maxime Clermont did spend last year with Elmira, so I wonder if the Devils may be sending players there this season? They are the Senators affiliate though.

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