Tomas Jurco (Credit: David Connell/Saint John Sea Dogs)
Tomas Jurco is positioned for a big year with the Saint John Sea Dogs.
The Detroit Red Wings prospect is not only back with the defending QMJHL and Memorial Cup champions, he is also skating on the No. 1 line with first-round NHL draft picks Jonathan Huberdeau and Zack Phillips.
Jurco, who the Red Wings drafted in the second round (35th overall) in June, didn’t skate regularly with Huberdeau and Phillips last season, instead playing a second-line support role and collecting 31 goals among 56 points in 60 games.
“Obviously, it’s great,” said Jurco, who has seven goals and six assists through 11 games and showed signs of heating up this past week. “They’re both smart, good players and it’s just fun to play with them.”
The 6-foot-2, 193-pound right-winger — rated as a first-rounder last season by several scouting agencies — is known for his elite skill level, with Youtube clips of his moves receiving hundreds of thousands of hits.
Although that skill level makes him an ideal fit with Florida Panthers third overall pick Huberdeau and Minnesota Wild 28th overall pick Phillips, Jurco wants to make sure he’s using those deft moves at the right times.
“It’s not about those moves — sometimes you can (use them), but sometimes it’s not the right time,” Jurco said. “Sometimes you can do three really nice moves but you won’t score. Sometimes you can get a point just by shooting the puck (at the net) from the corner. I’m just trying to play my game and we’ll see how many points I’m going to finish with.”
Jurco, whose late birthdate makes him eligible to play in the American Hockey League next season, said among his goals for this season are to get “stronger, bigger, faster — just basic things young guys have to do.”
After losing their first three games of the season, Jurco and the Sea Dogs have been on a tear ever since. They’ve gone 12-2 in their past 14, including a current five-game winning streak, and are first in the QMJHL with a 12-5 record.
“We started winning again and that’s the most important thing,” the 18-year-old said. “We want to go this far this year and maybe win it all again, so we’ll see.”
NOTES: Goaltender Petr Mrazek (Ottawa, OHL) signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Red Wings this week in a move that surprised no one. Mrazek is the best goaltending prospect the Red Wings have and is only getting better … Defensemen Xavier Ouellet (QMJHL) and Ryan Sproul (OHL) will play in the CHL’s Canada-Russia Super Series next month … Right-winger Mitchell Callahan (Grand Rapids, AHL) received a four-game suspension for a boarding incident on Oct. 18 … Winger Andrej Nestrasil (Grand Rapids, AHL) has two goals and an assist in three games after being called up from his brief ECHL assignment … First-rounder Riley Sheahan (Notre Dame, NCAA) is starting to show what he can do, off to a hot start with a goal and five assists in three games. It’s especially nice to see because he had such a sluggish start to last season.
Following is this week’s statistical report.
SKATERS: REGULAR-SEASON REPORT
| NAME | TEAM | LEVEL | LEAGUE | GP | G | A | P | PIM | +/- | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coetzee, Willie | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -2 | 17 |
| Ferraro, Landon | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| Nyquist, Gustav | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | -1 | 19 |
| Tatar, Tomas | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | -1 | 25 |
| Andersson, Joakim | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | -2 | 6 |
| Aubry, Louis-Marc | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
| Callahan, Mitchell | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | -2 | 5 |
| Ehrhardt, Travis | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | -1 | 5 |
| Lashoff, Brian | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 5 |
| Pare, Francis | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 18 |
| Parkes, Trevor | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Raedeke, Brent | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 6 |
| Smith, Brendan | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 6 |
| Piche, Sebastien | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | -1 | 1 |
| Pyett, Logan | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 16 |
| Nestrasil, Andrej | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | +1 | 5 |
| Fournier, Gleason | Toledo | PRO | ECHL | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -2 | 8 |
| Nestrasil, Andrej | Toledo | PRO | ECHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 |
| Ouellet, Xavier | B.-Boisbriand | JR | QMJHL | 14 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 27 | -7 | 31 |
| Macek, Brooks | Calgary | JR | WHL | 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 11 | +2 | N/A |
| Nedomlel, Richard | Swift Current | JR | WHL | 13 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 16 | -8 | N/A |
| Tvrdon, Marek | Vancouver | JR | WHL | 13 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 0 | N/A |
| Sproul, Ryan | Sault Ste. Marie | JR | OHL | 13 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 11 | +11 | N/A |
| Quine, Alan | Peterborough | JR | OHL | 13 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 0 | +1 | N/A |
| Jurco, Tomas | Saint John | JR | QMJHL | 11 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 8 | +12 | 40 |
| Jensen, Nick | St. Cloud State | COL | NCAA | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 7 |
| Nicastro, Max | Boston U. | COL | NCAA | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -2 | 2 |
| Cayer, Julien | Clarkson | COL | NCAA | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 6 | +1 | 11 |
| Marshall, Ben | Minnesota | COL | NCAA | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | +11 | 13 |
| Sheahan, Riley | Notre Dame | COL | NCAA | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | +4 | 13 |
| Pulkkinen, Teemu | Jokerit | EUR | FIN | 15 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 2 | +1 | 53 |
| Almqvist, Adam | HV-71 | EUR | SEL | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | +4 | N/A |
| Axelsson, Dick | MoDo | EUR | SEL | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | -2 | N/A |
| Jarnkrok, Calle | Brynas | EUR | SEL | 14 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 6 | -3 | N/A |
| Backman, Mattias | Linkoping | EUR | SEL | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | +2 | N/A |
| Marchenko, Alexei | CSKA Moscow | EUR | KHL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 2 |
GOALIES: REGULAR SEASON REPORT
| NAME | TEAM | LEAGUE | GP | W | L | O/S | SO | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrazek, Petr | Ottawa | OHL | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2.43 | .927 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | .848 |
| McCollum, Thomas | Toledo | ECHL | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.43 | .886 |
11th hour story, but great job…Red Wings will be in dire need of skilled, goal-scorer in couple of years or so, and sure looks like they got a steal with Jurco in 2nd round….
Motowndm:
With Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar up front and Brenden Smith on the back end; it appears that there will be some young talent on the Wings sooner rather than later. I agree though, Jurco will be in that next wave in a few more years along with Calle Jarnkrok, and Temmu Pulkkinen.
To 11B3PF7;
Exactly…the guys you named are the future skilled players along maybe with Tvrdon, Nestrasil,Sproul, and Oulette…I think Sheahan turns out to be same player as Abdelkader…and 4 of these have great size along with the skill…worried about Tatar as he does not seem to be much better at 20 than he was at 18, but he is a scrappy little guy…I actually believe the Wings have more talent in the system than they have ever had in my 57 years of following the team (true)…my dark horse is Parkes…
Anybody know if Philippe Hudon began his season with Cornell yet?
Rich : Cornell beat Carleton (Ottawa) 5-1 and Guelph 4-1 last weekend in pair of exhibition games and Hudon was not in the lineup for either game, but he is listed on the roster..big guy at 6-1, 200, and probably still growing…
hudon was injured to start camp along with an illness acquired during his rehab.
@motowndm. Have to agree, I’ve been following the Wings for 18 years and this is definitely the best group of prospects I’ve seen us posses. If you made a team out of them right now you’d have a great mix of high end talent, secondary scoring threats, physicality, a great mix of talents on defense, and a possible stud in goal (Mrazek). Exciting group.
I believe Mursak will develop into a real-good NHL:er after what will very probably be some ups and downs during his first year with the big club. I think Kindl is doing really well, and moreover is still young and has many years of growth before coming into his prime. Darren Helm should be a really good role model – he’s an absolute one-man-army.