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By Matthew Wuest - www.RedWingsCentral.com March 19, 2007 The small don’t always survive in hockey — especially when it comes to defensemen — but Logan Pyett is showing the right stuff. The 5-foot-11, 198-pound Detroit Red Wings prospect is a prototypical small defenseman trying to survive in a big man’s game. He’s having a banner year with the Regina Pats, third among Western Hockey League blueliners with 14 goals and 48 assists for 62 points in 71 games. “He’s one of those guys the new rules have really helped,” Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said. “Size is a factor but he’s strong for his size and he’s one of those (Derek) Meech- or (Andrew) Ference-type guys. He’s a very good skater, he competes hard and he can move the puck.” Pyett, 18, trails only 20-year-olds Raymond Macias and Michael Busto and 19-year-old Kris Russell on the WHL defense scoring list. He also has 84 penalty minutes and a plus-14 rating and is third on his team in scoring. Regina has already clinched a playoff spot and sits in the middle of the pack in the WHL Eastern Conference with a 36-28-2-6 record. Pyett will return to the WHL next season, where he could pile up even more points in a contract year with the Red Wings. As a former member of Canada’s under-18 team, the Balgonie, Saskatchewan, native has a chance to represent his country at the world junior (under-20) championship. He’s not a lock for a contract, but if he continues to progress, the Red Wings may not want to let him go. They have until June 1, 2008, to sign him. GRIGORENKO DONE: Igor Grigorenko’s team, Lada Togliatti, was swept in three straight in the Russian Elite League best-of-five first round. The 5-foot-10, 209-pound right-winger finishes the season with 16 goals and 14 assists for 30 points in 51 total games. Grigorenko led all Togliatti forwards in regular-season scoring and finished second on the team behind Columbus Blue Jackets defense prospect Alexander Guskov. The Red Wings plan to sign Grigorenko this summer. HOT: Goaltender Logan Koopmans (Toledo, East Coast Hockey League) is 4-1 with a sensational 1.80 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage since returning on March 2 from a three-month injury layoff ... Forward Jan Mursak (Saginaw, Ontario Hockey League) is heating up. He has six goals and six assists in his last eight games and eight points in his last four contests ... Defenseman Alexander Seluyanov (Magnitogorsk, Russian Elite League) continued his career year with four points in three playoffs games. His club swept its opponent and has advanced to the quarterfinals. COLD: Defenseman Kyle Quincey (Grand Rapids, American Hockey League) has just two assists in 13 games. With 17 points in 56 games, Quincey will not come close to his 33-point rookie total of 2005-06 ... Forward Darren Helm (Medicine Hat, WHL) has been slightly off his usual point-per-game clip of late, with six points in his past nine games. NOTES: Defenseman Derek Meech (Grand Rapids, AHL) has sat out four games with an injury ... Forward Mattias Ritola will train with Grand Rapids for the next few weeks, according a Swedish newspaper report ... London was disciplined by the OHL this week, with two players earning lengthy suspensions (10 and 15 games) and coach Dale Hunter getting a five-game ban. The incidents occurred in a game against Kitchener earlier in March. Red Wings defense prospect Jakub Kindl was the reason for all London’s angst because of a hit on Knights captain Rob Drummond in a previous game. The following are this season’s playoff statistics (grey background indicates prospect whose team has been eliminated from post-season):
The following are this season’s regular-season statistics (grey background indicates prospect whose team has completed its schedule):
The following are this season's regular-season goaltending statistics (grey background indicates prospect whose team has completed its schedule):
LEAGUE LEGEND: AHL -- American Hockey League; ECHL -- East Coast Hockey League; RUS -- Russian Elite League; RUS-2 -- Russian second level; FIN -- Finnish Elite League; FIN-J20 -- Finnish under-20 junior league; SWE -- Swedish Elite League; SWE-2 -- Swedish second level; SWE-3 -- Swedish third level; SWE-J20 -- Swedish under-20 junior league; OHL -- Ontario Hockey League; WHL -- Western Hockey League; NCAA -- National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1; USHL -- United States Hockey League. |
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