The 2025-26 season hasn't been kind to the New Jersey Devils, but one of their forward prospects is at least going to leave the dismal season with a scoring record under his belt.
On Wednesday, Devils forward prospect Xavier Parent scored a goal in his seventh consecutive contest, breaking an AHL Utica Comets record for consecutive games with a goal.
Parent, 24, kicked off his streak on Feb. 27 with a tally in a 5-2 win over the Belleville Senators, then casually dropped a hat trick in a 5-1 win against the same Senators squad the very next day. Parent also scored in games against Lehigh Valley, Belleville (two more times in two more games), Syracuse, and Rochester.
In those seven games, the lowly Comets went 5-2-0, which goes to show what can happen for a struggling organization when players start scoring.
The formerly undrafted Parent doubled his season scoring in the last two weeks, jumping from just nine goals in 41 games to 18 goals in 48 games and recovering from what would have otherwise been a bad season for him.
For context, the 5-foot-8 sparkplug had scored 17 goals and 36 points in 61 games for Utica last year, and 15 goals and 45 points in 71 games the year before that.
The Devils are obviously bullish on Parent's talent, having given him an entry-level contract this time last year and handing him a five-game NHL cameo with the big club earlier this season.
Xavier Parent is on a heater for the Utica Comets
It remains to be seen how far Parent can climb from here, especially considering he will turn 25 years old later this month, but the talent is there. At a minimum, players who can score and cause trouble at the AHL level usually serve as valuable organizational depth pieces that can assist with the development of more talented prospects down the road.
The Devils already used one of their four post-trade deadline call-ups on defenseman Dennis Cholowski, and while injuries can change things, there is still a possibility we haven't seen the last of Xavier Parent with the New Jersey Devils this season.