Mitchell Callahan (Credit: Sarah Lindenau)
Mitchell Callahan took another big step forward in his development this week by cracking the American world junior team.
It’s been an impressive evolution for Callahan, who made the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets as a walk-on in 2008 and found himself drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the sixth round (180th overall) a year later.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound native of Whittier, Calif., is known as an agitator who will throw down the gloves with anyone, as evidenced by his 45 fighting majors and 415 penalty minutes over the past two and half seasons.
But he’s also having a breakthrough campaign offensively, with 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points in 33 games, and has already been signed to a three-year, $1.675-million entry-level contract by the Red Wings.
“There is no doubt that his character is the reason he made the team,” Rockets assistant coach Dan Lambert told BCLocalNews.com. “He is a big-time team player and he adds a style of play that I don’t think the Americans have a whole lot of. Especially knowing Canada is going with a bigger more aggressive team.”
Callahan, who has been compared to Daniel Carcillo of the Philadelphia Flyers, will likely get a third- or fourth-line checking job with the defending world junior gold-medallists, the same role he projects to play in the NHL.
Also candidates to play at the world junior championship are Teemu Pulkkinen (Finland), Calle Jarnkrok (Sweden) and Andrej Nestrasil (Czech).
| NAME | TEAM | LEAGUE | GP | G | A | P | PIM | +/- | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nestrasil, Andrej | P.E.I. | QMJHL | 29 | 13 | 23 | 36 | 14 | -3 | 97 |
| Fournier, Gleason | Rimouski | QMJHL | 34 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 36 | +2 | 53 |
| Aubry, Louis-Marc | Montreal | QMJHL | 22 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 18 | +10 | 70 |
| Parkes, Trevor | Montreal | QMJHL | 32 | 17 | 16 | 33 | 14 | +14 | 116 |
| Ferraro, Landon | Everett | WHL | 28 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 34 | -3 | – |
| Callahan, Mitchell | Kelowna | WHL | 33 | 15 | 18 | 33 | 62 | +1 | – |
| Macek, Brooks | Tri-City | WHL | 32 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 24 | -11 | – |
| Stolyarov, Gennady | Dynamo Msk | KHL | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 15 |
| Pulkkinen, Teemu | Jokerit | FIN | 32 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 10 | +13 | 161 |
| Almqvist, Adam | HV-71 | SEL | 29 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 12 | +5 | – |
| Jarnkrok, Calle | Brynas | SEL | 30 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 4 | +1 | – |
| Axelsson, Dick | Farjestad | SEL | 28 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 77 | +3 | – |
| Axelsson, Anton | Timra | SEL | 27 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 4 | -2 | – |
| Samuelsson, Jesper | Vita Hasten | SWE-3 | 18 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 35 | – | – |
| Smith, Brendan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 32 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 23 | +3 | 57 |
| Mursak, Jan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 31 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 25 | +6 | 79 |
| Tatar, Tomas | Grand Rapids | AHL | 32 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 27 | +10 | 61 |
| Pare, Francis | Grand Rapids | AHL | 32 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 23 | -7 | 104 |
| Ehrhardt, Travis | Grand Rapids | AHL | 17 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 16 | +9 | 17 |
| Pyett, Logan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 26 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 22 | -9 | 48 |
| Andersson, Joakim | Grand Rapids | AHL | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 16 | -1 | 41 |
| Emmerton, Cory | Grand Rapids | AHL | 23 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 16 | +14 | 39 |
| Coetzee, Willie | Grand Rapids | AHL | 13 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 16 |
| Kolosov, Sergei | Grand Rapids | AHL | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | -3 | 18 |
| Lashoff, Brian | Grand Rapids | AHL | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 11 | +1 | 9 |
| Owens, Jordan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 31 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 46 | -8 | 36 |
| Filppula, Ilari | Grand Rapids | AHL | 29 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 8 | +1 | 47 |
| Raedeke, Brent | Grand Rapids | AHL | 30 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 38 |
| Piche, Sebastien | Grand Rapids | AHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | +2 | 0 |
| Piche, Sebastien | Toledo | ECHL | 17 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 17 | -7 | 65 |
| Coetzee, Willie | Toledo | ECHL | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | +2 | 15 |
| Lashoff, Brian | Toledo | ECHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 10 |
| Nyquist, Gustav | Maine | NCAA | 16 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 2 | +3 | 64 |
| Nicastro, Max | Boston U. | NCAA | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 29 | -5 | 22 |
| Oslund, Nick | St. Cloud St. | NCAA | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -3 | 20 |
| Jensen, Nick | St. Cloud St. | NCAA | 18 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 20 | -5 | 25 |
| Sheahan, Riley | Notre Dame | NCAA | 16 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 8 | -1 | 42 |
| Rufenach, Bryan | Clarkson | NCAA | 15 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | +4 | 38 |
| Cayer, Julien | Clarkson | NCAA | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | +3 | 8 |
| Marshall, Ben | Omaha | USHL | 23 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 14 | +16 | 54 |
| NAME | TEAM | LEAGUE | GP | W | L | T | SO | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrazek, Petr | Ottawa | OHL | 27 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2.73 | .923 |
| Larsson, Daniel | HV-71 | SEL | 26 | – | – | – | 2 | 2.16 | .925 |
| McCollum, Thomas | Grand Rapids | AHL | 17 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3.11 | .884 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Toledo | ECHL | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4.13 | .883 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.28 | .892 |
