Marek Tvrdon (Credit: Vancouver Giants)
The Vancouver Giants are looking for more consistency from Marek Tvrdon.
Although the 6-foot-2, 212-pound left-winger appears to be fully recovered from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the majority of his draft year, he’s been inconsistent while producing at a point-per-game clip in the Western Hockey League.
Tvrdon, taken in the fourth round (115th overall) of last June’s draft by the Detroit Red Wings, has seven goals and 10 assists in 17 games, but he’s been held completely off the score sheet seven times.
His best game all season came on Oct. 21, when he produced two goals and two assists with Detroit Red Wings director of player development Jiri Fischer in town to watch him play.
“He knew that Detroit was there and that was a big part of it,” Giants head coach Don Hay told the Vancouver Province. “He has to do it every night — not just when Detroit is here.
“Was it a breakout game? I want to know why he can’t play like that every game. If he can do it once, he should be able to do it again and again. That’s what we want from him.”
Tvrdon followed up his big four-point outburst with just one assist in three games, so there’s still work to be done for the right-shooting Slovak. But it’s only fair to cut him some extra slack because of his long injury layoff.
The Red Wings admitted on draft day they were “rolling the dice” taking Tvrdon after he produced 11 points in 12 games before undergoing season-ending surgery. They compare his style of play and skill-set to top pick Tomas Jurco, another Slovak.
NOTES: Left-winger Gustav Nyquist (Grand Rapids, AHL) was rewarded for his good start on the farm (four goals and five assists in nine games) with an NHL call-up. Nyquist hasn’t wasted any time positioning himself at the top of the prospect heap among forwards since turning pro last April … Defenseman Adam Almqvist (HV-71, Swedish Elite League) is picking it up offensively. The small, skilled blueliner had a slow start but has two goals and three assists in his past six games … Defenseman Mattias Backman (Linkoping, SEL) is playing in the Swedish Elite League, but averages less than four minutes per game. He still has two assists and a plus-3 rating in 14 outings … Center Landon Ferraro (Grand Rapids, AHL) remains out with a concussion.
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 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -2 | 24 |
| Ferraro, Landon | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| Nyquist, Gustav | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | +1 | 26 |
| Tatar, Tomas | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | -2 | 33 |
| Andersson, Joakim | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 10 |
| Aubry, Louis-Marc | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -2 | 12 |
| Callahan, Mitchell | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | -3 | 5 |
| Ehrhardt, Travis | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | -1 | 5 |
| Lashoff, Brian | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 6 |
| Pare, Francis | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 22 |
| Parkes, Trevor | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Raedeke, Brent | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Smith, Brendan | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 18 | -1 | 10 |
| Piche, Sebastien | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | -1 | 2 |
| Pyett, Logan | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -1 | 17 |
| Nestrasil, Andrej | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -1 | 10 |
| Fournier, Gleason | Toledo | PRO | ECHL | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -3 | 9 |
| Nestrasil, Andrej | Toledo | PRO | ECHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 |
| Ouellet, Xavier | B.-Boisbriand | JR | QMJHL | 16 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 29 | -9 | 36 |
| Macek, Brooks | Calgary | JR | WHL | 13 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 0 | N/A |
| Nedomlel, Richard | Swift Current | JR | WHL | 17 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 18 | -10 | N/A |
| Tvrdon, Marek | Vancouver | JR | WHL | 17 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 12 | 0 | N/A |
| Sproul, Ryan | Sault Ste. Marie | JR | OHL | 13 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 11 | +11 | N/A |
| Quine, Alan | Peterborough | JR | OHL | 15 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 2 | +2 | N/A |
| Jurco, Tomas | Saint John | JR | QMJHL | 13 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 13 | +15 | 46 |
| Jensen, Nick | St. Cloud State | COL | NCAA | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | +6 | 10 |
| Nicastro, Max | Boston U. | COL | NCAA | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 7 |
| Cayer, Julien | Clarkson | COL | NCAA | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 | -1 | 16 |
| Marshall, Ben | Minnesota | COL | NCAA | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | +12 | 16 |
| Sheahan, Riley | Notre Dame | COL | NCAA | 5 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 6 | +3 | 15 |
| Pulkkinen, Teemu | Jokerit | EUR | FIN | 18 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 2 | +3 | 65 |
| Almqvist, Adam | HV-71 | EUR | SEL | 15 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +8 | N/A |
| Axelsson, Dick | MoDo | EUR | SEL | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | -2 | N/A |
| Jarnkrok, Calle | Brynas | EUR | SEL | 18 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 6 | -6 | N/A |
| Backman, Mattias | Linkoping | EUR | SEL | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | +3 | 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 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2.65 | .920 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | .844 |
| McCollum, Thomas | Toledo | ECHL | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.03 | .892 |
One would think that Tvrdon should consider himself in heaven this year, playing on the #1 line with two guys, Cunningham and Henry (captain) who have been drafted already. Getting plenty of ice time and PP time, so hopefully after 20 games he will be over last years injury and but up bigger numbers. He has the size and skill to be a good NHL’er so lets give him more time.
According to the Elitserien site, Mattias Backman averages 15:20 TOI. Are you sure you didn’t look at his total TOI this season of 3:34:49? http://estat.hockeyligan.se/c/LPlayer.aspx?LId=248&PlayerId=3181
According to Tvrdon, as per story in local paper, he is going to world juniors this year, but Slovakia has yet to announce it. Tvrdon has 9 goals and 13 assists in 19 games. I f he keeps this pace may reach 90 points.