The New Jersey Devils still have their focus on the goaltending in the NHL. Jacob Markstrom hasn’t played well this season, and fans are even calling for a new face of the franchise. Jake Allen has been great, but he’s still firmly their backup. Nico Daws had one start, and it was stellar.
However, we don’t want to lose sight of the future. There has already been bad news with a very important prospect. Jakub Malek was terrible in the AHL this season, putting up an .861 save percentage in five starts. Don’t get us wrong, the Utica Comets are terrible this season, but Malek hasn’t helped.
The Devils decided to send Malek down to the Adirondack Thunder to help his development and stop hurting the Comets in the standings. He’s been much better there, allowing just four goals on 53 shots.
Malek is important for the Devils in net, but the most important prospect for the Devils is Mikhail Yegorov. The Boston University product was incredible last season, driving the Terriers to a Beanpot win and to the National Championship Game.
This season, things didn’t go great to start. The Terriers lost a ton of players this offseason, including fellow Devils’ prospect Shane Lachance. The defense hasn’t been great, but Yegorov hasn’t done his part, either.
Going into the weekend, Yegorov had a save percentage below .890. He wasn’t stepping up for the Terriers like he was last season. It has become a problem.
Devils prospect Mikhail Yegorov finally gets a signature win for Boston University
This weekend, the Terriers took on the University of Cornell. They are 6-2 and are ranked 16th in the country, at least prior to their matchup with BU.
Cornell sent everything Boston’s way, taking 29 shots on Yegorov. He stopped all but one, securing a 2-1 victory for the Terriers.
It’s just one game, but it was the first time we’ve seen Yegorov really show why we think he will be a great NHL goalie.
Even better, the win came at Madison Square Garden. We like that Yegorov is getting used to winning at the home of the Devils’ biggest rival. We like it even more that he’s winning big games again. This performance has his save percentage back over .890. Hopefully soon, it’ll be over .900, and then .910. We need Yegorov to keep going up if we plan on getting him into professional hockey as early as next season.