RWC REPORT: Larsson pushing Howard in AHL

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / January 5, 2009

Daniel Larsson is giving Jimmy Howard a run for his money.

The 22-year-old Swede has made a seamless transition to North America as a first-year goaltender in the American Hockey League, pushing himself into a timeshare with Howard in the Grand Rapids Griffins' crease.

Larsson, last year's Swedish Elite League goalie of the year, has been an absolute wall in his past 13 starts, going 10-2-1. He has three shutouts, a 1.77 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage in his last nine outings.

"He's really exceeded our expectations," said Griffins general manager Bob McNamara. "He's been very good for us. He plays a very simple style. He doesn't have a lot of extra movement in his game. He just gets out there and blocks the puck and he's very economical in his moves."

	First-year AHLer Daniel Larsson has a 10-2-1 record in his past 13 starts and is pushing Jimmy Howard for playing time. (Photo: Red Wings Central).

Overall, Larsson is fifth in the AHL in GAA (2.30), fourth in save percentage (.924), tied for first in shutouts (four) and tied for eighth in wins (12).

Howard, who has long carried the Red Wings' goaltender-of-the-future tag, is having a hard time fending off Larsson as a fourth-year pro. He still hasn't shaken his inconsistent play, something that has plagued him since he rewrote the NCAA record book in his days with the Maine Black Bears.

The 24-year-old has one more start than Larsson and is 9-8-2 with two shutouts, a 2.52 GAA and a .906 save percentage. He has been hot lately, posting two shutouts and a .952 save percentage in his past five outings.

"Both goaltenders are pushing each other and I think it's good for Jimmy that Daniel's playing well," said McNamara. "Daniel's made it a difficult decision every night for the coach in terms of who is starting."

Howard still has the best chance at graduating to Detroit next season, partially because he is no longer exempt from waivers.

McNamara said Howard had some tough starts in November and early December where "things didn't go well in terms of bounces."

"His numbers weren't great as a result and that plays on goaltenders' minds, when they look at the numbers and they're down," McNamara said. "But he's bounced back. He's played really well and seems to be back on track."

* Detroit's other top goalie prospect, Thomas McCollum, was the scapegoat for Team USA's quarterfinal upset loss to Slovakia at the world junior championship in Ottawa. He allowed four goals on 18 shots in a 5-3 loss.

McCollum started five games, finishing with a 3-2 record, a 2.83 GAA and a .860 save percentage. Backup Josh Unice took over in the fifth-place game and won.

It's a tough turn of events for the 19-year-old McCollum, who is having a tremendous Ontario Hockey League season with the Guelph Storm.

* Swedish prospect Joakim Andersson will play for world junior gold on Monday against Canada. He's been outstanding at the tournament, with a goal, four assists, a plus-8 rating and nine shots through five games.

* Evan McGrath's totals the past 19 games? Seven goals, 10 assists, 17 points. Ville Leino's? Four goals, six assists, 10 points. McGrath looked like a total write-off early this season, but he's played his way back onto the radar. Leino's gone cold again, with just two assists in his past five games.

* Forward Johan Ryno (AIK, Swedish Allsvenskan) has returned from a serious knee injury. He had a goal in one of his first three games back.

* Budding power forward (the Red Wings hope) Julien Cayer (Clarkson, NCAA) has two goals and six assists in 13 games. Not bad for a rookie in the college ranks, especially for a guy as big and physical as Cayer.

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
A H L
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	34	8	20	28	8
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	32	10	16	26	10
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	35	12	11	23	20
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	36	5	17	22	38
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	34	10	11	21	53
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	28	8	13	21	6
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	33	3	14	17	12
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	36	8	3	11	17
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	29	7	4	11	17
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	28	1	8	9	36
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	26	0	7	7	4
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	30	0	5	5	18
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	20	0	3	3	6
K H L
Gennady Stolyarov	Astana Barys	KHL	29	8	7	15	16
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	KHL	37	2	7	9	14
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Farjestad	SEL	22	5	10	15	12
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SEL	35	4	4	8	0
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SEL	32	2	6	8	14
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SEL	34	2	1	3	8
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	4	2	2	4	2
Johan Ryno	AIK	SWE-2	7	2	2	4	2
Jesper Samuelsson	Sundsvall	SWE-2	5	0	1	1	4
C H L
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	34	12	24	36	14
Brent Raedeke	Edmonton	WHL	41	12	24	36	46
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	37	16	18	34	52
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	36	11	18	29	20
Brian Lashoff	Kingston	OHL	37	2	15	17	29
N C A A
Gustav Nyquist	Maine	HE	19	9	9	18	18
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	21	7	11	18	40
Julien Cayer	Clarkson	WCHA	13	2	6	8	16
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	17	3	4	7	26
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	18	3	2	5	10
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	16	2	0	2	16
U S H L
Max Nicastro	Chicago	USHL	26	5	12	17	31

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Thomas McCollum	Guelph	OHL	30	16-10-4	2.13	.928
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	19	12-4-1	2.30	.924
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	20	9-8-2	2.52	.906

LEAGUE LEGEND: AHL — American Hockey League; KHL — Kontinental Hockey League; SEL — Swedish Elite League; SWE-2 — Swedish Allsvenskan (second level); OHL — Ontario Hockey League; WHL — Western Hockey League; QMJHL — Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; WCHA — Western Collegiate Hockey Association; ECAC — East Coast Athletic Conference; HE — Hockey East; USHL — United States Hockey League.