RWC REPORT: Crunch time for contract hopefuls

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / March 9, 2009

When it comes contracts, consider Joakim Andersson all but a done deal, Zack Torquato a good bet, and Randy Cameron a coin toss.

The Detroit Red Wings must sign the 2007 draft picks by June 1 or allow them to re-enter this year’s draft. As the 2008-09 season winds down, the Red Wings are making their final judgments before getting deals done.

Andersson is a lock. The 6-foot-2, 198-pound center was considered by some publications as a first-round prospect before the 2007 draft, but the Wings grabbed him in the third round (88th overall). He’s a two-way prospect of similar potential to Justin Abdelkader, but with more European flair.

The 20-year-old skates with Frolunda in the Swedish Elite League and was a stalwart for his country at the world junior championship.

Torquato, who captains the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, never truly exploded offensively in the junior ranks. In fact, he has yet to match his draft-year numbers of 69 points in 65 games. But he’s played well late this season, and was signed to a seven-game AHL tryout in 2007-08.

	Moncton Wildcats forward Randy Cameron is on the hot seat for a contract as the 2008-09 season winds down. (Photo: Red Wings Central)

The Red Wings like his smarts and offensive touch and realize the struggling Otters have contributed to Torquato’s ordinary numbers.

Cameron skates for one of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s top teams, the Moncton Wildcats. While a solid two-way player in the Q, he has produced only 13 points in 20 games in the new year. He’s not big or physical, and without more production, his odds of a contract diminish.

The Wildcats are expected to enjoy a lengthy playoff run, so the 5-foot-11, 187-pounder will have time to show what he can do.

It’s certainly never too late to make an impact. Last season, the Red Wings were planning to let Belarusian defenceman Sergei Kolosov walk. Then he earned a spot on his country’s entry at the IIHF world championship in May, and, just a month before the signing deadline, won the Red Wings over.

This is a small signing class in relative terms. The Red Wings inked seven players last season — Kolosov, Abdelkader, Cory Emmerton, Daniel Larsson, Logan Pyett, Jan Mursak and Dick Axelsson. And they would have had to lock up Shawn Matthias had they not traded him for Todd Bertuzzi.

Here are some notes from the past week.

* Defenseman Jakub Kindl (Grand Rapids, AHL) has suddenly gone quiet after a scoring hot start, producing just four assists in his past 20 games and without a goal since Dec. 20. Kindl had 27 points in his first 44 games.

* Goaltender Thomas McCollum (Brampton, OHL) was named the Canadian Hockey League’s goaltender of the week on Wednesday. It’s the second time this year he’s received the award, also taking it on Jan. 25.

* Defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Clarkson, NCAA) is putting together an impressive sophomore campaign. The 5-foot-11, 189-pounder has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points in 34 games, fifth in the East Coast Athletic Conference. Rufenach is also a minus-13 and needs to shore up his defensive game.

* The Red Wings shipped forwards Ville Leino and Darren Helm back to Grand Rapids this week. Leino had a terrific 13-game stint, scoring five goals and four assists in 13 games. Helm has one assist in 16 games.

* The Red Wings called up blue-liner Jonathan Ericsson from the AHL. Ericsson, who turned 25 last week, has an assist in three games.

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for skaters. Playoff statistics appear in red in the line following his regular-season stats.

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
A H L
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	61	21	26	47	78
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	57	16	27	43	20
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	47	12	27	39	14
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	57	15	23	38	30
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	58	7	25	32	18
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	11	20	31	18
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	64	5	26	31	64
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	65	18	10	28	29
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	9	9	18	43
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	2	13	15	48
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	52	3	11	14	8
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	57	4	6	10	32
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	41	2	6	8	21
K H L
Gennady Stolyarov	Astana Barys	KHL	44	12	9	21	28
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	KHL	54	4	10	14	14
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Farjestad	SEL	39	11	19	30	42
		PLAYOFFS	2	0	2	2	0
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SEL	52	6	9	15	0
		PLAYOFFS	2	1	0	1	0
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SEL	49	6	6	12	22
		PLAYOFFS	2	0	0	0	0
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SEL	40	2	1	3	10
		PLAYOFFS	1	0	0	0	0
Johan Ryno	AIK	SWE-2	21	5	8	13	18
Jesper Samuelsson	Sundsvall	SWE-2	13	1	5	6	38
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	4	2	2	4	2
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SWE-J20	4	2	0	2	2
C H L
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	63	28	30	58	78
Brent Raedeke	Edmonton	WHL	67	19	32	51	80
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	53	17	29	46	22
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	58	14	22	36	38
Brian Lashoff	Kingston	OHL	56	5	23	28	49
N C A A
Gustav Nyquist	Maine	HE	35	10	18	28	24
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	27	8	13	21	65
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	34	9	10	19	32
Julien Cayer	Clarkson	WCHA	29	4	6	10	30
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	33	4	3	7	26
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	32	4	3	7	38
U S H L
Max Nicastro	Chicago	USHL	47	9	20	29	70

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Thomas McCollum	Brampton	OHL	52	32-16-4	2.11	.927
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	35	16-13-4	2.58	.913
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	36	21-9-2	2.63	.912

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.