New Jersey Devils: Mike McLeod Faces Important Challenge

One of the New Jersey Devils top prospects is not playing like it, after Michael McLeod was a healthy scratch for the Binghamton Devils. How he reacts to this could determine his career path.

This was an unexpected turn of events. The Binghamton Devils looked very exciting coming into the season, and had two very good games to start the year. They scored 12 goals in two games, and looked like a high-flying offense. Ray Shero added some interesting pieces to the minor leagues, like Eric Tangradi and Yegor Sharangovich. They also had two very good draft picks in Michael McLeod and Joey Anderson playing their rookie AHL seasons.

Anderson has been good so far. He got the luckiest goal for his first professional tally when one went off his body into the net. He’s also added two assists in three games.

McLeod, on the other hand, has struggled immensely. In fact, McLeod’s struggles go back to last season. The kid with all the speed in the world looks like the pro game is going too fast for him. He’s missing his positioning, overrunning pucks and hasn’t been able to turn his speed into offense. Think Miles Wood in his first season.

Speaking of Wood, I honestly believe his breakout season was due to one very important decision. Head coach John Hynes decided he was going to sit Wood for the home opener last season. He was clearly not happy, especially during his introduction to the home crowd. Wood went on to have his best season yet, and he looked even better in two games this season.

That brings us to McLeod. He’s facing a similar decision that could make or break his career. Surprisingly, McLeod was a healthy scratch for the B-Devils on Friday night. He went from the savior of this team to not being good enough to be in the starting lineup.

Listen, it’s been three games, but the two games that McLeod played in were not good. He has four penalty minutes and no points. He hasn’t even taken a shot on goal. If that’s not something that worries you about a former first-round pick, then I don’t know what does.

McLeod sitting is a serious issue. Most people would bet he would have never been a healthy scratch no matter how bad he played. The fact that it happened so quickly means a wake-up call is in order. This needs to be that wake-up call.

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His woes started last season. He went back to Juniors after he sustained an injury during Devils training camp. It seemed like he lost a step. Most people blamed the injury for his lackluster season. Maybe it was something deeper than that.

McLeod hit the 73 point mark two seasons ago, but only recorded 44 last season for the Mississauga Steelheads. After leading his team to he OHL Finals, they went out in the first round last season. Then, when he went to the AHL after they were eliminated, he went pointless in six games. That’s not a huge sample size, but eight pro games with no points is concerning. Something had to be done.

I don’t expect this to last very long. With the Devils losing the game without McLeod in the lineup, we could see him back in the lineup Saturday afternoon. Honestly, after Nathan Bastian’s big night, they should probably put those two back together. They have never been as good as they were when they were together. Maybe that will be the key to getting McLeod back to what he was when Shero drafted him.