Devils Development Camp 2017 Preview

The NHL season inches another step closer this week at Prudential Center as the Devils hold their 2017 Development Camp. Prospects will undergo a week of competition, highlighted by a 3-on-3 scrimmage on Wednesday and Saturday's Red-White Scrimmage at RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House. New Jersey's top prospects will also be participating in many off-site activities such as a cooking class, an Escape the Room team-building activity and a boat cruise down the Hudson River. It's an exciting time for the Devils franchise which will be hosting the 2017 No. 1 overall pick Nico Hischier as well as 32 other players.

There comes a time each summer for prospective Devils to earn their spot on an NHL roster. However, Development Camp is not the time to do that (we'll save those position battles for Training Camp in September). New Jersey's assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald was very deliberate when describing the Devils' approach to Development Camp. "No one's making our team in July. The main thing with development camp is to start the culture building with these kids. They're all here for a reason, whether they were drafted or they were a free agent - somebody noticed them, and they stuck their neck out to say: I want this guy to come to camp. They have Devil qualities. We want competitive players, we want competitive kids, so we put competition into the week. But we also want to teach them leadership and how to lean on one another. There are cooking classes - we're just trying to help these kids with living on their own. It's an educational week. It's a culture week. We're trying to set up what we demand and what our standards are, but no one's making our team in July," Fitzgerald explained.

Familiar faces

The Devils will host six players during 2017 Development Camp who skated with the club last season. Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood, Steven Santini, Michael Kapla, John Quenneville and Blake Speers combined for 188 games at the NHL level and will aim to improve their skills at Development Camp. Keep your eyes on these names as they'll be providing leadership and the most experience for newcomers this week.

Competition. Competition. Competition.

Tweet from @NJDevils: Today's final Go Kart Results at #njdevcamp16:1. Marc Biega2. @jaquinder88 3. @KAppleby35 pic.twitter.com/nmgytDkcIV
Although Development Camp is intended for personal growth, on-and-off the ice, it doesn't mean that the Devils aren't keeping score. Throughout the week of activities, the top three players that finish in each category will receive one, two, or three points. Players will receive points for physical activities like most pullups, lowest percentage body fat, a 3-on-3 victory and more. The fun part about this point system is that the grading scale goes beyond hockey activities. Last season, players were awarded points for strong performances at off-site locations, like cooking class, trivia night and go-karting. Stay up to date on how the top prospects perform and we'll announce the top-three at the end of camp.

It's all relative for the Carpenters

The Devils are no strangers to having a member of the Carpenter family suited up in the red and black. Back in 1995, forward Bobby Carpenter won his first Stanley Cup with the Devils. Eight years later, Carpenter won his second Cup with the Devils, this time as a coach. Fast forward another 14 years and Carpenter's son Robert will be attending Development Camp. Robert Carpenter is currently a student at Boston University and will be attending camp on a try-out basis. The third-year forward has totaled 26g-22a-48pts in 77 games played at the collegiate level.

SuperBuddies breakthrough?

During the 2016 Devils Development Camp, the friendship of New Jersey's first-and second round-picks, Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian, stole the show. The self-nicknamed "SuperBuddies" and OHL Mississauga Steelheads teammates attended their first camp and both provided strong showings. A year later, the duo is coming off an appearance in the OHL Finals and have another year of growth under their belt. These two have a huge chemistry advantage if they are slotted together in the 3-on-3 competition or the Red-White Scrimmage.

Stay tuned

Tweet from @NJDevils: JUST ANNOUNCED: The #NJDevils have released our 2017 #NJDevCamp Roster, which will get underway on July 11! https://t.co/nCKDIESDLs
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