RWC REPORT: Emmerton endures forgettable season

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / March 24, 2008

Cory Emmerton’s final year of junior hockey was supposed to be a memorable one, but so far, it’s one he’ll probably want to forget.

The offensively-gifted 19-year-old center experienced his lowest points-per-game average (1.12 per game) since his rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League, collecting 25 goals and 36 assists for 61 points in 54 games.

The slide was a product of starting the season on the offensively-challenged Kingston Frontenacs, and because he got mononucleosis in December, derailing his excellent chances of making Canada’s world junior team.

After a trade to the Brampton Battalion at mid-season, he recovered from mono and continued to struggle, scoring 30 points in 30 games.

It’s not that his numbers are bad; they’re just not up to his standards. He had 66 points in 40 games in 2006-07 (a 1.65 point-per-game average), and 90 points in 66 games in 2005-06 (a 1.36 average). A scoring title was within reach.

Brampton currently trails its best-of-seven first-round series with the Barrie Colts 2-1, despite entering as massive 26-point favourites. Emmerton, drafted 41st overall in 2006, is scoreless with two assists in three playoff games.

Nonetheless, the Red Wings haven’t lost an ounce of faith in Emmerton. They consider him good as anybody in the system not named Jimmy Howard, Jonathan Ericsson and Jakub Kindl, and compare him to Ottawa’s Cory Stillman.

“He’s still up there,” Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said, of Emmerton’s status as a top prospect in the organization.

The 6-foot, 190-pounder has elite on-ice intelligence, is an outstanding playmaker, works hard and is underrated for his ability at both ends of the ice.

Here are some other tidbits from the past week.

• Goaltender Jimmy Howard (Grand Rapids, American Hockey League) has lost five of his past six games, and has a 3.52 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage in March. The monthly numbers are the worst of his season.
• Forward Zack Torquato (Grand Rapids, AHL) made his pro debut with the Griffins this week. He is without a point in three games.
• The season is over for Swedish Elite Leaguers Dick Axelsson, Johan Ryno and Daniel Larsson. All three are members of Djurgarden, which scored eight total goals in a 4-1 best-of-seven series loss to Linkoping. Axelsson had just one goal, Ryno was pointless and Larsson posted a 2.64 goals-against average.
• Forward Joakim Andersson (Frolunda, Swedish Elite League) is showing promising signs. He had a goal and an assist in four games as his team advanced to the second round. Interestingly, he is wearing No. 55, and Red Wings scout Hakan Andersson once compared him to Keith Primeau.
• Defenseman Brendan Smith (Wisconsin, NCAA) has missed more than 15 games with a back injury. It’s possible he’ll miss the rest of the season.

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	60	8	20	28	74
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	70	14	13	27	42
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	12	14	26	26
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	59	11	13	24	28
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	63	6	15	21	28
Kyle Quincey	Grand Rapids	AHL	56	4	14	18	109
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	65	3	11	14	71
Randall Gelech	Grand Rapids	AHL	60	5	8	13	29
Francis Lemieux	Grand Rapids	AHL	51	3	10	13	47
Johan Ryno	Grand Rapids	AHL	12	3	4	7	8
Zack Torquato	Grand Rapids	AHL	3	0	0	0	0
Igor Grigorenko	Grand Rapids	AHL	5	0	0	0	4
R U S S I A
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	57	2	12	14	34
Igor Grigorenko	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	27	4	6	10	24
Gennady Stolyarov	Moscow Dynamo	RUS	37	3	2	5	22
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Djurgarden	SWE	47	12	13	25	44
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SWE	54	10	10	20	10
Johan Ryno	Djurgarden	SWE	30	2	7	9	18
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SWE	9	1	0	1	2
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	33	6	17	23	26
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SWE-J20	6	8	2	10	30
C H L
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	66	25	42	67	112
Jan Mursak	Belleville	OHL	57	17	47	64	23
Cory Emmerton	Brampton	OHL	54	25	36	61	16
Logan Pyett	Regina	WHL	62	20	34	54	54
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	62	12	37	39	30
N C A A
Justin Abdelkader	Michigan State	CCHA	40	18	19	37	95
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	21	2	10	12	26
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	37	4	1	5	27
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	33	3	2	5	12
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	16	1	2	3	18

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Daniel Larsson	Djurgarden	SWE	46	--	2.29	.921
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	48	19-25-2	2.78	.910

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
R U S S I A
Gennady Stolyarov	Moscow Dynamo	RUS	7	1	0	1	2
Igor Grigorenko	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	3	0	1	1	0
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	RUS	7	0	0	0	8
S W E D E N
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SWE	4	1	1	2	2
Dick Axelsson	Djurgarden	SWE	5	1	0	1	2
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SWE	5	1	0	1	2
Johan Ryno	Djurgarden	SWE	5	0	0	0	2
C H L
Jan Mursak	Belleville	OHL	3	1	1	2	2
Cory Emmerton	Brampton	OHL	3	0	2	2	2
Logan Pyett	Regina	WHL	2	0	2	2	0

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Daniel Larsson	Djurgarden	SWE	5	--	2.64	.920

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.