RWC REPORT: Abdelkader likely to sign in off-season

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / December 10, 2007

There’s a good chance the name of left-winger Justin Abdelkader will be added to the Detroit Red Wings’ prospect signing class of 2008.

The Red Wings have already completed contracts with skilled Ontario Hockey League forwards Cory Emmerton and Jan Mursak, and it would be a shock if they didn’t add Western Hockey League offensive blueliner Logan Pyett and Swedish sniper Dick Axelsson to that list by the June 1 deadline.

Swedish goalie Daniel Larsson and left-winger Anton Axelsson are among the other draft picks the Red Wings need to make decisions on.

Abdelkader, who is in his junior year of U.S. college hockey with the Michigan State Spartans, has another season before his signing deadline, but the Red Wings are hoping to get him into the American Hockey League next fall.

Abdelkader has six goals and seven assists for 13 points in 17 games, along with 35 penalty minutes. The Spartans have a 12-3-2 record overall.

The 6-foot-1, 209-pounder projects as a rock-solid third-line forward with the potential for more if his offensive game comes around. He won an NCAA championship with the Spartans last season and was the Frozen Four most outstanding player.

— Mursak and Emmerton were traded this week.

Mursak was traded as part of a five-player deal from the Saginaw Spirit to the Belleville Bulls, a team featuring former Red Wings draft pick Shawn Matthias. The Bulls are a contender and could help Mursak up his production.

Emmerton went in a blockbuster deal from the Kingston Frontenacs to the Brampton Battalion for two roster players and five draft picks.

“He’s going to be one of our go-to guys,” Battalion head coach Stan Butler said.

— Mursak is en route to Latvia to represent Slovenia at the third-tier world junior championship. Action starts on Wednesday.

— Emmerton, along with fellow Red Wings prospects Pyett and Brendan Smith, begins competition for a job on Canada’s world junior team at a selection camp starting Monday in Calgary. Emmerton and Pyett have a great chance at jobs, while Smith — who has made impressive strides defensively as a freshman at Wisconsin — is slightly lower on the depth chart coming in.

Forward Joakim Andersson has already made Sweden’s world junior team.

— The Grand Rapids Griffins are 5-3-1-1 in their last 10 games, shaking off a disappointing 5-10-0-1 start to the season. The Griffins, a potentially contending team on paper coming into the season, still sit near the bottom of the standings, so they’ll need to show this recent stretch isn’t an aberration.

Leading the way has been goalie Jimmy Howard, who has posted a 3-1 record and two shutouts while allowing just four goals in his last four games.

— Axelsson and Larsson made Sweden’s team for the Channel One Cup in Russia. Defenseman Miroslav Blatak is on the Czech team.

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
A H L
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	25	4	8	12	17
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	26	4	5	9	14
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	24	3	6	9	8
Randall Gelech	Grand Rapids	AHL	23	4	3	7	16
Johan Ryno	Grand Rapids	AHL	12	3	4	7	8
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	21	1	5	6	18
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	23	1	5	6	22
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	21	3	2	5	8
Kyle Quincey	Grand Rapids	AHL	19	1	2	3	32
Igor Grigorenko	Grand Rapids	AHL	5	0	0	0	4
R U S S I A
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	34	2	4	6	22
Gennady Stolyarov	Moscow Dynamo	RUS	18	2	1	3	10
Igor Grigorenko	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	9	1	2	3	18
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Djurgarden	SWE	22	7	7	14	6
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SWE	28	3	7	10	4
Johan Ryno	Djurgarden	SWE	6	1	3	4	2
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	25	4	14	18	24
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SWE-J20	1	2	0	2	0
C H L
Cory Emmerton	Kingston	OHL	27	14	21	35	6
Logan Pyett	Regina	WHL	35	14	16	30	38
Jan Mursak	Saginaw	OHL	26	6	20	26	15
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	28	10	15	25	47
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	29	7	11	18	10
N C A A
Justin Abdelkader	Michigan State	CCHA	17	6	7	13	35
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	16	2	7	9	24
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	13	1	1	2	6
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	10	1	0	1	6
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	15	1	0	1	4

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Daniel Larsson	Djurgarden	SWE	23	--	2.16	.924
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	18	8-9-1	2.81	.901

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.