A couple of news items to pass along before the schedule resumes tomorrow night at home:
-Congrats go out to goaltender Keith Kinkaid, who yesterday was selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for his performance last week. All he did was go 3-0, give up just 3 goals on 82 shots, pitch his first shutout of the season Friday evening in Hartford, and go 5 for 5 in a shootout win Saturday night in Syracuse. He is the first Devil to earn the honor since Matt Anderson in February. Kinkaid also won the honor during his rookie season in 2011-12, and is the only Albany goalie to win it since the Devils return to the Capital District.
-Defenseman Jon Merrill was activated off of injured reserve yesterday, and New Jersey has returned him to Albany. He only made it into one game, his debut on November 2nd in Minnesota, where on his third shift he went face first into the boards and suffered facial lacerations (later it was revealed he did get a concussion). With Anton Volchenkov going on IR as the Devils start a 3 game road swing out west tomorrow, it seemed like another defensive callup was a given. But not so fast…as of now no one from here has been summoned. But now Albany is back to having 8 defensemen on the roster with Merrill’s return and Harry Young’s callup from Elmira on Saturday. We’ll have to see how the pairings will be affected starting tomorrow night, if Merrill is indeed ready to return to the lineup.
Thoughts Inside The Box 