After having to read about several NHL teams’ rookie development camps this week…starting on Monday, it will finally be New Jersey’s turn. A total of 42 players will be taking the ice from July 13th-18th, culminating in a Red-White scrimmage on Saturday:
GOALTENDERS (4): Anthony Brodeur, Mac Blackwood, Ken Appleby, Colton Phinney.
FORWARDS (26): Brandon Baddock, Graham Black, Joseph Blandisi, Reid Boucher, Connor Chatham, Blake Coleman, Patrick D’Amico, J.D. Dudek, Matt Gaudreau, Artur Gavrus, Alexandre Goulet, Sergey Kalinin, Tyler Kelleher, Alexander Kerfoot, Ryan Kujawinski, Matt Lorito, Darcy Murphy, Max Novak, Blake Pietila, John Quenneville, Brett Seney, Brandon Shea, Blake Speers, Ben Thomson, Miles Wood, Pavel Zacha.
DEFENSEMEN (12): Joe Faust, Casey Fitzgerald, Raman Hrabarenka, Joshua Jacobs, Vojtech Mozik, Ryan Rehill, Steven Santini, Reece Scarlett, Damon Severson, Jacob Sweeney, Colton White, Tyler Wood.
A few fun facts about this group:
-8 players appeared in at least one game for Albany in 2014-15. It could have been 9 if Brandon Baddock had seen action.
-25 players are Devil draft picks, going as far back as 2010.
-Family ties: Martin Brodeur’s son Anthony (a 2013 draft selection who was not signed) leads the goaltending corps. Matt Gaudreau is the younger brother of Johnny Gaudreau, who just finished a stellar rookie campaign in Calgary. Tyler Wood is the older brother of 2013 draft selection Miles Wood.
Fire and Ice has more information on the undrafted invitees.
In league news, the AHL announced their annual rule changes and playoff format for 2015-16:
-All teams will still play 76 games. Unless you’re Bakersfield, Stockton, San Jose, Ontario, or San Diego, who will only play 68 (WHY???? Dumb dumb dumb…sorry. Getting off topic.) games. With an uneven schedule, playoff standings will now be based on points percentage instead of the actual point total (Math. Yay.). The top 4 teams in each division will qualify for a playoff spot…however, if the 5th place team in either the Atlantic or Central Division finishes with a higher percentage than the 4th place North or Pacific Division team, they can cross over and grab that spot. The divisional set up remains for the first two rounds of the playoffs.
-Overtime will now be 3 on 3 for 5 minutes, just like in the NHL and the ECHL. The shootout remains if a game is still tied after that. And also staying around…DRY SCRAPE!
-New for 2015-16: the coach’s challenge. If a coach still has a timeout remaining, they can use the challenge to initiate a video review, but only for rules that use replay.
Thoughts Inside The Box 