Right place, right time. It’s never been Scott Wedgewood’s strong suit.

Still just 23 years old, the former Trenton Titans netminder might have already received his first promotion to the National Hockey League in a different organization. But, in his fourth year in the Devils’ farm system, the personable native of Brampton, Ontario waits patiently for an opportunity that’s been derailed by both injury and lack of opportunity.

Having overcome a high ankle sprain that took him out of action for the first two months of the season for the Devils’ top minor league affiliate in Albany, Wedgewood returned to the American Hockey League with a vengeance, posting a near-spotless 1.68 goals against average and .935 save percentage in his first 10 games back.

“He had a tough start to the year where he was injured for a month or two, but he came back like a rock,” said teammate Joe Blandisi, currently on recall in New Jersey.

“I keep an eye on them when I’m not there, and he’s been playing amazing. He comes to the rink every day and works his hardest. In practice, he’ll fight you on four or five rebound before he gives up on the play. The time he puts in off the ice reflects in his on-ice talent.”

Ask around about “Wedge,” and his constant maturation seems to be the go-to topic of conversation. It was a process that began during a difficult 2012-13 season that was spent in Trenton, where he was arguably playing far too often in front of an abysmal team.

“Well, I think the biggest thing with Scott was the maturity, and that was a real big test,” said Albany Devils head coach Rick Kowalsky, a former Titans great and T-Devils bench boss.

“He spent most of that first year in Trenton and came in two years ago and played well, and (Keith) Kinkaid was our number one if you will. But he did a good job when he came in and still played a fair amount of games.”

That was his first taste of having to bide his time in Albany, first behind Kinkaid, who is now backing up Cory Schneider in Newark, then Scott Clemmensen, and now in splitting time with veteran backstop Yann Danis, who was recently named an AHL All-Star. This year, Kowalsky acknowledged that Wedgewood was “poised to be our top guy,” but the ankle injury sidetracked that.

“The mental side of it … I was ready to go this year, and the summer I had was awesome,” Wedgewood said.

“I was in the gym, and I got to skate with a lot of NHL guys, and I was happy with the way it went. Camp went well, and then I came back down … the high ankle sprain is a goalie’s worst nightmare. It’s just one of those things that took eight-plus weeks; I played a game in the eighth week and went down to (ECHL) Adirondack to test it out. It was good to see the team doing well, but I had to start off a little later than I’d ever had to before.”

Despite Wedgewood’s status as the top goaltending prospect in the organization, nothing was handed to him upon his return, nor will it be in the future.

“We’ve got something here where it’s got to be earned and not given, and I think that makes for a competitive balance,” Kowalsky said.

“I also don’t want to create an environment where it’s, ‘you play, play well, and now (the other goalie will) play,’ and keep moving forward like that. Depending on where we are as the season wears down, we believe we can use two goaltenders and we’ll need two goaltenders. But once Scott played well, we wanted to get him more games, and Yann understands that.

“Going forward, it’s going to be who’s playing better or maybe we like this guy against a certain team or he’s more comfortable against a certain team. Yann is a depth guy, but Wedge is our top prospect from an age standpoint. They both have to continue to play and earn their stripes.”

Added Wedgewood: “I feel good…I’m where I want to be. I want to keep the gym work up, and I’m trying to fight my way back with that a little bit, but other than that, on the ice my confidence is high. I haven’t lost the mentality I had to start the year, I still want to play and I still want to do well.”

Both privately and publicly, the Devils are very pleased with Wedgewood’s slow, but steady development process. And that isn’t limited to what they see on the ice or even in the gym.

“He’s a good guy in the dressing room, and he’s always there for you as a friend,” Blandisi said. “He’s a leader, too. I know goalies can’t get letters, but if you were looking in Albany for leaders, I think he’s definitely one of them.”