RWC REPORT: Twenty below, Kindl struggles

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / January 14, 2008

A total of 917 players have skated in the American Hockey League this season. Exactly 913 of them have better plus-minus ratings than Jakub Kindl.

The first-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins rookie defenseman has a minus-20 this season, just ahead of Dave Schneider and Marc-Andre Gragnani (minus-21) and Dan Jancevski (minus-25).

The next lowest Griffins player, Garrett Stafford, is only a minus-8, while career minor-league blueliner Tom Galvin rates No. 1 on the club with a plus-10.

It's Kindl's first year out of the Ontario Hockey League, where he was a dominant defenseman with the Kitchener Rangers for three seasons.

"It is definitely different hockey,” Kindl told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record earlier this month. "Everything is happening so quickly. If you make a mistake in junior it's not going to cost you anything, but if you make mistakes here there are better players who can score. It's hard, especially when it's your first year.”

Kindl was selected 19th overall in the 2005 draft, the highest Red Wings pick in 14 years (Martin Lapointe, 10th overall in the 1991 draft).

The Red Wings tout him as a top-four defenseman and power-play quarterback who plays his best with good players, but turnovers and defensive-zone lapses have been his Achilles' heel during his first season in the professional ranks.

He has contributed two goals and six assists in 36 games.

Here's a look at news-makers from the past week.

• Griffins goaltender Jimmy Howard and defenseman Jonathan Ericsson were named to the PlantetUSA all-star team this week. Howard has overcome a slow start to post a 13-14-2 record, a 2.56 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. Ericsson is Detroit's highest-scoring prospect in Grand Rapids, despite being a blueliner, and has 17 points in 40 games.
• Forward Jan Mursak (Belleville, OHL) continues to light it up after a trade from Saginaw. He had a goal and five assists in three games this week for 14 points in nine game since the deal. He had 26 points in 26 games with Saginaw.
• Forward Cory Emmerton (Brampton, OHL) returned from mononucleosis this week and was a little slow off the mark. He had one assist in three games.
• Defenseman Logan Pyett (Regina, Western Hockey League) returned to the Pats lineup from the world junior and had a goal and three assists in two games.
• Forward Randy Cameron (Moncton, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) has responded well after the Wildcats traded off some veteran players last month. He had a goal and three assists in three games this week and has upped his faceoff winning percentage over to 50 per cent at 51.2.

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	40	5	12	17	38
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	41	6	6	12	20
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	39	5	7	12	14
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	38	3	9	12	34
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	35	4	4	8	12
Randall Gelech	Grand Rapids	AHL	35	4	4	8	20
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	36	2	6	8	34
Johan Ryno	Grand Rapids	AHL	12	3	4	7	8
Kyle Quincey	Grand Rapids	AHL	34	2	5	7	59
Igor Grigorenko	Grand Rapids	AHL	5	0	0	0	4
R U S S I A
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	40	2	8	10	30
Gennady Stolyarov	Moscow Dynamo	RUS	22	2	2	4	12
Igor Grigorenko	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	15	1	2	3	18
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Djurgarden	SWE	29	8	9	17	26
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SWE	36	5	7	12	6
Johan Ryno	Djurgarden	SWE	13	1	4	5	10
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	29	6	15	21	26
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SWE-J20	1	2	0	2	0
C H L
Jan Mursak	Belleville	OHL	35	9	31	40	21
Cory Emmerton	Brampton	OHL	30	14	22	36	8
Logan Pyett	Regina	WHL	37	15	19	34	38
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	40	13	21	34	59
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	39	9	14	23	18
N C A A
Justin Abdelkader	Michigan State	CCHA	23	8	11	19	43
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	21	2	10	12	26
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	23	3	0	3	6
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	16	1	1	2	6
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	14	1	1	2	6

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Daniel Larsson	Djurgarden	SWE	30	--	2.46	.915
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	30	13-14-2	2.56	.913

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.