Utica Gearing Up for Playoffs | PROSPECT WATCH

The Utica Comets have clinched a playoff berth.
After a record 13 victories to start their American Hockey League season and then winning half its games since (plus points for OT/SO losses), the Comets were no surprise to clinch with almost 10 games to spare. Devils assistant general manager Dan MacKinnon, who serves as the Comets GM, cautioned that his team will have to find another gear when playoffs begin in about three weeks.
"Whoever we get, Laval, Belleville, Toronto…they are playing desperate," said MacKinnon, in reference to the surge bubble teams put together to make the postseason that often carries over to the playoffs.
The Devils affiliate has not made the playoffs since 2017 but as MacKinnon points out, the drought doesn't tell the full story.
"In Binghamton, I think, we were the best team (in the division) when COVID hit," said MacKinnon, referencing improved play under former head coach Mark Dennehy, who is now the Devils chief scout.

"Last year, we (moved the team to Newark) and didn't really look to be competitive. We took our lumps."
It's been a long haul for the organization and players alike.
"That's why we play, what we play for, the playoffs," said Comets defenseman Kevin Bahl, who will rejoin Utica once New Jersey's season is complete.
MacKinnon was asked a few different ways to describe the Comets role in the big-picture development of players.
"The draft is for players that are 17, or have just turned 18," he explained. "Really what it is, is a mechanism to identify NHL upside."
MacKinnon also added:
"Mental maturity is not something you can accurately predict."
The real work, as cliché as it may sound, begins once a player becomes part of the organization. Only a miniscule percentage - such as Jack Hughes and even he has acknowledged how difficult his 18-year-old rookie season was at times - make the NHL right away. A slightly higher portion - Dawson Mercer, Ty Smith - crack NHL rosters without playing in the AHL.
The vast majority spend time on the farm, which for the Devils is now Utica.
It falls to MacKinnon, Comets coaches led by Kevin Dineen and the organization's development staff to make the Utica-Newark journey as rewarding as possible.
Rewarding doesn't always mean quickly.
Playing in the AHL playoffs is an important part of that path, especially since most Comets have not experienced any sort of postseason action since 2019, and even those that have, it was not in the American league.
Starting in goal, both Nico Daws and Akira Schmid will get a chance to continue their domination of most AHL statistical ledgers at that position. Both have had unexpected doses of NHL time this season, with Dawes spending most of the season with the big club, though he will be returned to Utica in time for the AHL playoffs.
As MacKinnon has pointed out in a few media interviews, Schmid and Daws' NHL exposure was a direct consequence of losing Scott Wedgewood on waivers and then injuries with the big club. Had Devils goaltenders Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier been sidelined earlier, Wedgewood would not have been exposed to waivers.
"We expected (Schmid) to be the starter in Adirondack," he said, pausing as if to emphasize logging more than 34 AHL games and another six in the NHL is a long way from the original plan of playing in the ECHL.
The rest of the Comets lineup has been an effective blend of veteran pros in their mid-to-late 20s and prospects. Those youngsters, led by Bahl and Reilly Walsh at the back end, and Alexander Holtz, Nolan Foote, Tyce Thompson up front right now, with Fabian Zetterlund and probably A.J. Greer coming back once injured Devils regulars return to the lineup.
The group of early- and in-between pros are being helped by captain Ryan Schmelzer, Tyler Wotherspoon, Chase DeLeo and other older players such as Robbie Russo.
"I think those guys are not afraid to step up," said MacKinnon, of veterans who often fill roles of unofficial coaches, both in-game and in-practice.
"Sometimes, even in the gym after practice."
That prodding has been needed more lately. Coming up against opponents desperate - there's that word again - for wins in the tough AHL North Division, the Comets have had a couple mini-losing streaks to contend with down the stretch.
"We've identified some things with our younger guys here (to finish strong)."
Beyond this season, what can Devils fans expect from what's been going down on the farm?
There will be more prospects added into the wider pool in the July draft, though not necessarily in Utica for next season. MacKinnon says steady overall growth of the group is important and that individuals' progress has different variables.
"We have tried to strike a balance," he said of the timelines of certain players getting to the NHL faster, which doesn't mean the ones still in Utica aren't doing well.
Utica, of course, is a new locale for the Devils farm team. Variously, Albany, Lowell and Binghamton have housed the Devils affiliate.
"We have been fortunate to work with a lot of good people," said MacKinnon, rhyming off people that have helped in those places, along with the farm team's brief stay in Newark last season. "But when the opportunity in Utica came up, working with Robert Esche … for 10 years, we couldn't really pass that up."
A long playoff run would be the perfect way for the hockey club, its players and the community that has embraced them to begin its stay in their new home.