RWC REPORT: Crunch time for Swedes

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / January 21, 2008

The Detroit Red Wings will be keeping a close eye on a couple of Swedish prospects in contract years over the next few months.

Swedish Elite Leaguers Daniel Larsson, a goaltender for Djurgarden, and Anton Axelsson, a left-winger for Timra, must be signed by June 1, 2008, or they are eligible to reenter the draft and, if not selected, become free agents.

The Red Wings have already signed forwards Cory Emmerton and Jan Mursak and are expected to ink forwards Justin Abdelkader and Dick Axelsson and defenseman Logan Pyett — so it’s not going to be easy for the two Swedes.

Larsson has turned heads with his strong play for Djurgarden. He is third in the league in save percentage (.913), seventh in goals-against average (2.50) and tied for second in shutouts with four. He has started 32 games and made his debut with Sweden’s national team at a tournament in December.

“He’s playing very well and we have to make a decision,” Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said. “We don’t have a lot of depth in our system (in goal). If we feel he has a chance (to play in the NHL), he’ll get signed.”

Anton Axelsson, a 6-foot, 187-pound winger, has five goals and seven assists in 39 games. He quietly impresses despite not putting up big numbers. As it has been said countless times before, Anton plays a style similar to his older brother P.J. Axelsson, a defensive winger for the Boston Bruins.

“He works so hard up and down all the time, he reads the game well and he kills penalties,” said Red Wings director of European scouting Andersson. “He’s a very dedicated kid so if he doesn’t get signed, that’s not going to stop him. He could be on the national team in three years and get to the NHL another way.”

One concern the Red Wings have with signing Europeans by their deadlines is that there is a high risk they will not stay in North America to play in the minors.

The Red Wings already have one player under contract playing in Sweden — Johan Ryno — and likely aren’t interested in having any more. The NHL imposes a 50-contract limit per team, and the Red Wings need those to fill up their minor-league affiliate. They also like to keep spots open for trade-deadline acquisitions.

Here are some other items from this week.

• Abdelkader netted three goals in two games this week. His reigning NCAA champion Michigan State Spartans are 14-5-4. That’s good for seventh in USCHO.com’s nationwide poll and sixth in USA Today’s.
• It was a good week for defenseman Jakub Kindl (Grand Rapids, American Hockey League) in what has been an up-and-down rookie season. Kindl had a goal, two assists and a plus-3 rating in three games. Forward Ryan Oulahen, another member of the Griffins, also had a goal and two assists in three games.
• Goaltender Jimmy Howard (Grand Rapids, AHL) returned from a fractured pinky finger this week, while fellow stopper Logan Koopmans resurfaced with the Griffins. Koopmans, who contemplated retirement last season, practiced in Grand Rapids after spending all season in Detroit recovering from hernia surgery.

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	43	6	13	19	44
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	44	7	8	15	26
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	42	6	7	13	18
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	41	3	10	13	40
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	39	3	8	11	38
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	38	4	4	8	12
Randall Gelech	Grand Rapids	AHL	38	4	4	8	20
Kyle Quincey	Grand Rapids	AHL	37	2	6	8	65
Johan Ryno	Grand Rapids	AHL	12	3	4	7	8
Igor Grigorenko	Grand Rapids	AHL	5	0	0	0	4
R U S S I A
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	43	2	9	11	32
Gennady Stolyarov	Moscow Dynamo	RUS	23	2	2	4	12
Igor Grigorenko	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	16	2	2	4	18
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Djurgarden	SWE	31	8	9	17	26
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SWE	39	5	7	12	6
Johan Ryno	Djurgarden	SWE	13	1	4	5	10
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	31	6	16	22	26
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SWE-J20	1	2	0	2	0
C H L
Jan Mursak	Belleville	OHL	38	10	32	42	21
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	43	14	25	39	61
Cory Emmerton	Brampton	OHL	33	15	23	38	8
Logan Pyett	Regina	WHL	41	16	20	36	38
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	42	10	15	25	20
N C A A
Justin Abdelkader	Michigan State	CCHA	25	11	11	22	47
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	21	2	10	12	26
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	23	3	0	3	6
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	18	1	2	3	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	32	--	2.50	.913
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	32	16-14-2	2.50	.915

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.