Jan. 30 Prospects Watch
This Justin: Abdelkader coming along nicely at MSU ... '

By Matthew Wuest
January 30, 2006


The Detroit Red Wings are thrilled with the progress of Justin Abdelkader with the Michigan State Spartans this season.

While the freshman winger hasn’t bowled anybody over with his offensive production to date, his seven goals and eight assists in 30 games are a solid start for a prospect who doesn’t project as a point-producer.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder is one of Michigan State’s top-nine forwards, and he earns regular duty on the penalty-killing and power-play units. He also has a plus-1 rating, 90 shots on goal and 67 penalty minutes.

“There’s more than points with him; that’s not really his game,” said Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill. “He’s a real intense guy, real strong on the puck, and he bangs and he crashes.

“He’s a great puck-chaser. He’s played real well.”

Abdelkader was picked in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2005 draft. He is the Red Wings’ only prospect in the NCAA.

Red Line Report, an independent scouting service, compared Abdelkader to Calgary Flames forward Stephane Yelle prior to the draft.

HOT: Goaltender Joey MacDonald (Grand Rapids, American Hockey League) has been finding his groove, stopping 87 of 93 shots this week en route to three victories ... Center Evan McGrath (Kitchener, Ontario Hockey League) has been unstoppable of late, and is second in OHL scoring with 89 points in 47 games ... Winger Igor Grigorenko (Cherepovets, Russian Elite League) had a couple of assists this week to match his previous career high of 29 points in 2002-03 ...

COLD: Winger Andreas Jamtin (HV-71, Swedish Elite League) arrived from Finland this week but was held pointless in his first three games ... Center Valtteri Filppula (Grand Rapids Griffins) fell off the map this week, with just one assist in four games ... Forward Christofer Lofberg (Djurgardens, Swedish Elite League) has had a slow year in his country’s top league, with just one point in 40 games ...

INJURY UPDATE: Defenseman Kyle Quincey (Grand Rapids, AHL) returned from a concussion this week and had a goal and an assist ... Forward Jari Tolsa (Frolunda, Swedish Elite League) remains out of the lineup indefinitely with a foot injury... Defenceman Juho Mielonen (Tampere, Finnish Elite League) also remains out with an injury ...

The following is this season’s statistical report to date:

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP G A PTS PIM

A H L
Jiri Hudler Grand Rapids AHL 45 25 37 62 24
Valtteri Filppula Grand Rapids AHL 45 15 29 44 20
Tomas Kopecky Grand Rapids AHL 47 15 23 38 58
Matt Ellis Grand Rapids AHL 47 13 20 33 47
Darryl Bootland Grand Rapids AHL 49 12 20 32 226
Kyle Quincey Grand Rapids AHL 39 5 16 21 58
Eric Himelfarb Grand Rapids AHL 34 6 10 16 38
Ryan Oulahen Grand Rapids AHL 44 6 8 14 12
Derek Meech Grand Rapids AHL 48 2 11 13 57
Brett Lebda Grand Rapids AHL 11 2 5 7 10
Michael Hackert Grand Rapids AHL 16 0 3 3 14
Todd Jackson Grand Rapids AHL 5 0 1 1 2

E C H L
Todd Jackson Toledo ECHL 18 8 13 21 10

R U S S I A
Igor Grigorenko Cherepovets Rus 43 11 18 29 24
Alexander Seluyanov Magnitogorsk Rus 43 3 6 9 30
Gennady Stolyarov Dynamo Moscow Rus 6 0 0 0 0

C Z E C H    R E P U B L I C
Miroslav Blatak Zlin Cze 40 5 9 14 30

F I N L A N D
Andreas Jamtin TPS Turku Fin 37 8 7 15 81
Tomek Valtonen Helsinki Fin 40 6 5 11 116
Juho Mielonen Ilves Tampere Fin 16 0 1 1 4
Juho Mielonen Ilves Tampere Fin-2 5 1 2 3 6

S W E D E N
Tomas Kollar Sodertalje Swe 42 7 7 14 93
Jari Tolsa Frolunda Swe 25 3 6 9 16
Anton Axelsson Frolunda Swe 35 3 3 6 6
Per Backer Farjestad Swe 40 1 2 3 16
Mattias Ritola Leksands Swe 22 0 3 3 6
Mikael Johansson Farjestad Swe 39 0 2 2 14
Christofer Lofberg Djurgarden Swe 40 1 0 1 24
Jonathan Ericsson Sodertalje Swe 20 0 0 0 16
Johan Berggren Sodertalje Swe 9 0 0 0 2
Andreas Jamtin HV-71 Swe 3 0 0 0 0
Nils Backstrom Djurgarden Swe 1 0 0 0 0
Johan Ryno Oskarshamn Swe-2 28 11 9 20 52
Andreas Sundin Nybro Swe-2 28 3 3 6 4
Jonathan Ericsson Almtuna Swe-2 19 2 3 5 44
Johan Berggren Arboga Swe-2 18 1 1 2 28
Stefan Blom Arlanda Swe-3 23 0 5 5 16
Nils Backstrom Djurgarden Swe-J20 32 5 9 14 52
Christofer Lofberg Djurgarden Swe-J20 6 6 2 8 4
Anton Axelsson Frolunda Swe-J20 5 1 5 6 0
Mattias Ritola Leksands Swe-J20 12 4 1 5 14
Johan Berggren Sodertalje Swe-J20 6 1 2 3 2

G E R M A N Y
Michael Hackert Frankfurt Ger 19 6 7 13 22

C H L
Evan McGrath Kitchener OHL 47 29 60 89 45
Tyler Haskins Toronto OHL 45 22 45 67 98
Darren Helm Medicine Hat WHL 50 32 28 60 20
Jakub Kindl Kitchener OHL 40 10 32 42 78
Jeff May Prince Albert WHL 50 2 19 21 50
Bretton Stamler Calgary WHL 37 3 8 11 73

NCAA
Justin Abdelkader Michigan State NCAA 30 7 8 15 67

U S H L
Siarhei Kolasau Cedar Rapids USHL 29 2 4 6 42

The following is this season’s statistical report for goaltenders to date:

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP W-L-O GAA SPCT
Joey MacDonald Toledo ECHL 1 1-0-0 1.00 .962
Stefan Liv HV-71 Swe 33 -- 1.93 .929
Drew MacIntyre Grand Rapids AHL 12 8-3-0 2.53 .908
Jimmy Howard Grand Rapids AHL 17 11-3-2 3.16 .891
Logan Koopmans Toledo ECHL 8 5-1-2 3.19 .912
Drew MacIntyre Toledo ECHL 5 4-0-1 3.24 .891
Joey MacDonald Grand Rapids AHL 20 11-6-1 3.27 .892


NOTE: Prospects Watch appears Mondays and does not include non-prospects such as older unsigned Europeans, career minor-leaguers, or restricted free agents such as Dmitri Bykov.