RWC REPORT: Hat Trick Dick has skill to die for

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / November 12, 2007

Dick Axelsson might be the best prospect nobody's ever heard of.

The 21-year-old left-winger has flown under the radar, passed over in his initial NHL draft year and toiling in Sweden's seldom-scouted second- and third-tier leagues the past couple of years. But this season, Axelsson is starting to get noticed as one of the top-scoring rookies in the Swedish Elite League.

Detroit Red Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson calls Axelsson a "more talented version of Mikael Samuelsson."

"He's certainly our best European prospect in a bunch of years," Andersson says. "That talent, that's what people are dying for. In my book, I don't think there's a prospect in Sweden (already drafted) who I would trade him for."

Axelsson, drafted 62nd overall by the Red Wings in 2006, is nearly 6-foot-3 and checks in at 176 pounds. He has five goals and four assists for nine points in 12 games and has missed time recently with a shoulder injury.

The way things are going, he could be named Sweden's rookie of the year.

"He's big, he's fast, he has very good hands and hockey sense," Andersson says. "He's equally good at scoring and passing. Some guys are passers, some are goal-scorers. Samuelsson's a goal-scorer. Dick has both those assets."

Andersson hasn't spoken about a prospect in a contract year so glowingly since Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk were coming up the pipe. The natural talent is in place for Axelsson to become another gem along those lines.

"If he makes it, he has a chance to be first-line material," Andersson says. "He's that good. Pure talent-wise, he's up there with any name you can mention."

Axelsson is willing to play physical, has a mean streak, and according to Andersson, has the best 1-on-1 skill and hands in the entire Red Wings' system, which includes nifty players such as Jan Mursak. He also called Axelsson one of the quickest, fastest skaters on Djurgarden's roster.

But there are a couple of concerns that prevented Axelsson from climbing higher than seventh on Red Wings Central's most recent prospect ranking.

"Two things missing are he needs to fill out and he needs to be more consistent," Andersson says. "He's still not working as hard as he should some shifts. It's a typical youth problem, more so with talented youth.

"You'll see one shift, nothing happens. The next shift, he'll beat two guys and do some unbelievable things, and you say, ‘Wow, how the heck did he do that?'"

But Andersson also says that Axelsson has made good strides consistency-wise this season. He's playing more disciplined, too. After piling up 280 penalty minutes in 76 previous games, he has stayed out of the box completely this year.

There is little doubt that Axelsson will be signed at season's end. From there, he'll likely bring his game to the American Hockey League. The sky is the limit.

"If he can learn to work hard every shift and fill out, I've got to say, he's the biggest prospect we've had in years," Andersson says. "The upside is very, very exciting."

Here are some notes from the past week.

— Forward Cory Emmerton (Kingston, Ontario Hockey League) scored four goals and added five assists in three games this week, including a four-goal, two-assist performance in a 7-3 win over Belleville. Emmerton, who is the go-to scorer and captain of a struggling, rebuilding team, is the subject of heavy trade rumors, and could be headed to Memorial Cup host Kitchener in the next couple of months.

"I hear (the rumors) quite a bit," Emmerton told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. "I don't really know how to react to it. It's my first time in this position. So, it's different. I'm just going to go with it and try and help out Kingston as much as I can. If it comes down to that, there's not much I can do about that."

— Forward Justin Abdelkader (Michigan State, NCAA) is off to a great start this season. Abdelkader, ranked Detroit's third-best prospect by Red Wings Central, has five goals and four assists for nine points in nine games, plus 31 penalty minutes.

— Goaltender Jimmy Howard (Grand Rapids, American Hockey League) had a rough week. He allowed 10 goals on 72 shots (.861 save percentage) in back-to-back losses after being sent down by Detroit about a week ago.

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for skaters:

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
A H L
Johan Ryno	Grand Rapids	AHL	10	3	4	7	8
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	11	2	5	7	11
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	12	3	2	5	4
Randall Gelech	Grand Rapids	AHL	11	2	3	5	12
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	11	1	3	4	6
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	12	0	4	4	12
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	11	0	2	2	14
Kyle Quincey	Grand Rapids	AHL	6	0	2	2	10
Igor Grigorenko	Grand Rapids	AHL	5	0	0	0	4
R U S S I A
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	24	2	4	6	20
Gennady Stolyarov	Moscow Dynamo	RUS	12	1	0	1	10
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Djurgardens	SWE	12	5	4	9	0
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SWE	17	0	5	5	4
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	15	2	10	12	12
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SWE-J20	1	2	0	2	0
C H L
Cory Emmerton	Kingston	OHL	19	11	13	24	4
Logan Pyett	Regina	WHL	23	11	11	22	23
Jan Mursak	Saginaw	OHL	18	4	13	17	4
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	19	5	7	12	10
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	17	4	8	12	31
N C A A
Justin Abdelkader	Michigan State	CCHA	9	5	4	9	31
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	8	2	6	8	18
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	5	1	0	1	2
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	9	1	0	1	2
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	9	0	0	0	4

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for goaltenders:

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Daniel Larsson	Djurgardens	SWE	14	--	1.98	.924
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	6	3-2-1	3.62	.887

LEAGUE LEGEND: AHL -- American Hockey League; RUS -- Russian Elite League; SWE -- Swedish Elite League; SWE-2 -- Swedish second level; SWE-J20 -- Swedish under-20 league; OHL -- Ontario Hockey League; WHL -- Western Hockey League; QMJHL -- Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; CCHA -- Central Collegiate Hockey Association; WCHA -- Western Collegiate Hockey Association; ECAC -- East Coast Athletic Conference.