Andrew Gross

NorthJersey

It’s hard not to project ahead when seeing some talented young players on the ice, particularly when the franchise, in this case, the Devils, has missed the playoffs for five straight years.

Things to remember, though. This is July. And it’s Devils development camp, not training camp. Or, as Devils assistant general manager Tom Fitzgerald likes to remind, it’s a development camp, not an evaluation camp.

Still, there’s no doubt there should be some cause for optimism as the Devils do have some talented prospects.

Kowalsky assesses Devils' young talent

Hynes: Acquiring Boyle, Johansson 'moves the needle'

Speers making an impact at development camp

“I think the biggest thing that jumped off the page to me, especially today, is the skill set of these kids,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve added a lot of skill over the last couple of years and that’s real exciting, it really is. That’s what we set out to do and the goal was to get younger and have more skill and build through the draft and develop your players and that’s what we’re doing. It’s an exciting time. We had 33 skaters here, 30 of them draft picks, that’s pretty impressive. I know there are teams that invite a lot of free agents just to fill out. We don’t have to do that anymore. We’ve got our own kids.”

Development camp concluded on Saturday with the Red and White scrimmage. The White team, led by forwards Pavel Zacha, Michael McLeod, camp tryout Bobo Carpenter and Nathan Bastian, who scored the winning goal, defeated the Nico Hischier/Miles Wood/Blake Speers-led Red squad, 6-5.

“It was a fun week,” said Hischier, the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft last month. “A lot of good stuff. Meeting all you guys (the media), the guys, the staff, was awesome. I tried to play my game and do whatever it takes to help the team. There are steps to be a pro. It takes a lot and you’ve got to make sure you do it right. You act right on and off the ice. I know a couple of things I want to improve on.”

Hischier is headed back to Switzerland to continue training and will return in September for the Devils’ rookie camp. General manager Ray Shero said he expects an entry-level deal to be done with Hischier “sooner rather than later.”

First, here’s a rundown of the scoring in the scrimmage, which was contested in two, 25-minute running periods:

First period

Red 1-0: Hischier takes a shot from the right point through traffic that goes off Wood’s stick and Santini knocks past goalie Ken Appleby.

White 1-1: Defenseman Reilly Walsh, with the first of his two goals, gets the puck high in the slot with goalie Mackenzie Blackwood on the ice following a scramble at his crease. Bobo Carpenter gets the assist

White 2-1: Walsh converts again with a low wrister after Michael McLeod fed him cutting into the slot

White 3-1: Fabian Zetterlund scores off the rush as he’s set up by Pavel Zacha and Nikita Popugaev

Red 3-2: Defenseman Jeremy Davies, with a beautiful display of stickwork and skating, navigates through the offensive zone on the left wing and finds Hischier open low in the slot. Hischier wastes no time roofing a shot.

White 4-2: Popugaev leads a rush and feeds McLeod for the goal.

White 5-2: Carpenter picks up a loose puck in the offensive zone, goes to the crease and reaches the puck around Blackwood.

Second period

Red 5-3: Defenseman Jocktan Chainey converts a feed from Austin Cangelosi past Gilles Senn, who replaced Appleby after the intermission.

Red 5-4: Wood drops the puck for Joey Anderson, who rips a shot past Senn.

Red 5-5: Senn denies Cangelosi on a breakaway but the rebound is not cleared from the crease and Ryan Kujawinski swoops in to knock in the loose puck

White 6-5: Nathan Bastian, battling toward the crease, scores the winner off Carpenter’s assist past goalie Evan Cormier, who had replaced Blackwood after the intermission.

Other notes/observations from the scrimmage:

1. Shortly after Walsh scored his second goal, Kujawinski flattened him in the left corner of the defensive zone with a clean check.

2. Russian defenseman Yaroslav Dyblenko might have a shot in training camp. The 23-year-old, who has played five seasons in the KHL, has good size at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds and he looks particularly strong in front of his crease, trying to keep it clear for his goalie.

3. Man, does Popugaev have good hands and is also a good skater. Fitzgerald said the Devils certainly are hoping he turns out to be a steal in the draft as he slipped to the fourth round because of concerns of his consistency despite many grading him as having first-round talent. At 6-6, he’s got good size, too.

“This was a good experience this week with new guys and now I’ve got new friends here,” said Popugaev, whose locker stall was next to Hischier’s.

Popugaev, 18, will report back to Prince George (Western Hockey League) on Aug. 19 but understands there is an opportunity with the Devils.

“I was really happy they picked me,” Popugaev said. “It’s a really young team and I have a chance to play here.”

While he displayed good hands and skating, Popugaev did look like he could use a little more strength around the opponent’s crease as he battled for position.

4. Fifth-round pick Marian Studenic nearly converted early in the second period as he stickhandled past Santini to get to the crease but couldn’t pull the trigger on a backhander to beat Cormier.

5. Hischier and Wood nearly converted on a two-on-one early in the second period as Hischier made a subtle move to slow down and allow the play to develop. But he couldn’t connect as he tried to feed Wood on the left wing.

6. It wasn’t just the two goals Walsh scored in the first period that stood out, it was back-to-back defensive plays he made on a second-period sequence. First, he essentially stood up Blake Speers trying to come over the blue line. Then, playing at the right post, he got down to one knee and effectively denied a crossing feed that was earmarked for the slot.

“Obviously, scoring is awesome,” said Walsh, whose father, Mike, an ex-Islander and Fitzgerald’s former roommate, was in attendance. “But I wanted to play a complete game. I got a lucky bounce on the first goal and I got a good feed from McLeod on the second one.”

Walsh, who is headed to Harvard for his freshman season, said it was good to test himself at a faster pace against bigger and stronger players.

7. Cangelosi almost had the move of the day during the post-scrimmage shootout, in which every player took a turn. Coming in on Senn, Cangelosi stopped short of the crease, flipped the puck into the air, then spun and took a backhanded swipe at the puck. He connected on the flying puck but his trick shot went wide.

8. Both of the development camp tryout invitees, Bobo Carpenter and Nicolas Guay had strong games but Fitzgerald said, at this time, there are no plans to sign them.

9. John Quenneville, the 30th overall pick in 2014, did not participate in the on-ice sessions this week for precautionary reasons after he twisted his right ankle doing an off-ice workout last week. Shero said Quenneville will certainly be ready for the start of training camp in two months.

“It sucks but it happens,” Quenneville said of the twisted ankle. “I got some really good rehab this week and it was good to come to camp.

“I’m excited with how I played last year with Jersey and this year will be a big step to come into camp and show them that I belong here,” added Quenneville, who had a goal and three assists in 12 games for the Devils and 14 goals and 32 assists in 58 AHL games. “Just from watching today, we have some players with some super skills. We have as good young players as I’ve seen since I’ve been in the organization.”

10. Again, not an evaluation camp but, speaking of steals, the Devils may have another one in defenseman Jeremy Davies, a seventh-round pick in 2016 who had eight goals and 15 assists in 38 games as a freshman at Northeastern. The way he set up Hischier’s goal not only showed real talent in terms of skating and stickhandling but good on-ice vision and toughness in keeping the puck on his stick through a maze of defenders.

Here were the rosters:

Red Team

Forwards

33. Nico Hischier

44. Miles Wood

48. Joey Anderson

54. Ryan Kujawinski

58. Jesper Boqvist

61. Austin Cangelosi

63 Jesper Bratt

74. Blake Speers

77. Aarne Talvitie

Defensemen

32. Michael Kapla

34. Steven Santini

73. Jocktan Chainey

76. Jeremy Davies

Goalies

60. Evan Cormier

70. Mackenzie Blackwood

Team B

Forwards

37. Pavel Zacha

41. Michael McLeod

42. Nathan Bastian

59. Fabian Zetterlund

62. Nikita Popugaev

67. Marian Studenic

72. Bobo Carpenter

78. Nicolas Guay

Defensemen

45. Joshua Jacobs

48. Yaroslav Dyblenko

57. Reilly Walsh

68. Colton White

71. Colby Sissons

Goalies

55. Ken Appleby

65. Gilles Senn

****

Follow me on Twitter at @AGrossRecord

Follow the Record Sports Staff at @TheRecordSports