RWC REPORT: Piche fits puck-moving mold

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / April 6, 2009

The Detroit Red Wings make no secret about the type of defenseman they covet, and they think Sebastien Piche fits the mold perfectly.

The Red Wings, a team that currently boasts three 50-point blueliners, inked Piche, a free agent defenseman with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Rimouski Oceanic, to a three-year contract last Tuesday.

The 6-foot, 200-pounder was a second-team QMJHL all-star after a breakout season with 23 goals and 49 assists for 72 points in 62 games.

"He's an offensive defenseman," said Red Wings scout Mark Leach, who handles the bulk of the team's scouting duties in the QMJHL. "He moves the puck very well, very good on the power play, good shot, creative, good hockey sense, good stick skills. He fits our mold as a puck-moving defenseman."

Piche, who turned 21 in February, has been a hot commodity during his five-year QMJHL career. He won a league championship and went to the Memorial Cup as an 18-year-old with the Lewiston Maineiacs in 2006-07. He enjoyed a productive run to the QMJHL final last season with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, finishing eighth in playoff scoring with 23 points in 17 games.

	Rimouski Oceanic defenseman Sebastien Piche will showcase his offensive skills at the Memorial Cup in May. (Photo: Red Wings Central)

The Oceanic acquired him in the off-season, seeking a veteran to bolster their defense corps for the Memorial Cup, which they host in May. They are currently battling the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL quarterfinals.

His point total has gone from 15 to 27 to 50 to 72 each season, while his 23 goals this season were nearly six times his previous career-best of four.

"We watched him play the past few years and he's a kid who, every year, progressed," Leach said. "He showed improvement and this year he had a breakout year and showed us his offensive abilities, his ability to move the puck on the power play, break it out of the zone. Everything developed.

"We've been keeping a close eye on him and felt we'd like to take a chance on him, give him a contract and see what he can do at the next level."

The first thing you might notice about Piche is his skating. It's not pretty by any stretch. Leach described him as a "knock-kneed skater" but said "he gets there" and "gets the job done." He also said Piche's backward skating isn't an issue and described him as "solid in his own end."

"He's not one dimensional at all," Leach said.

Piche tied for 35th in the QMJHL with 108 hits in 62 games. He has decent size, gets in the way physically and isn't afraid to mix things up.

"He's not a cruncher, not a stay-at-home physical type, but he does do the job," Leach said. "He finishes his checks and defends the net well. He doesn't often lay someone out with a huge hit, but he's very sufficient on the back end."

Oceanic head coach Clement Jodoin was the behind the bench in Lewiston for two-and-a-half seasons with Piche before taking the job in Rimouski. Piche was an integral part of Jodoin's blueprint for success.

"With the new way the game has to be played, I like defensemen to be involved in the attack, to be the second man, third man, fourth man (in on the rush)," he said. "I hate passive defensemen. I love active defensemen. He's the kind of defenseman I like and he's been doing it for (several seasons)."

With Jonathan Ericsson graduating to Detroit next season, the Red Wings needed to find defensive depth for their American Hockey League affilliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Piche will likely join fellow prospects Jakub Kindl, Logan Pyett and Sergei Kolosov in 2009-10 and should see regular ice time.

"He has a foot in the door," Jodoin said. "He's a very good junior player and it's up to him. If he wants to reach his goal (of the NHL), it's up to him."

The Red Wings are also looking at signing other free agent prospects.

Here are some notes from last week.

* The Griffins will meet the Hamilton Bulldogs in the first round of the AHL playoffs, although home-ice advantage is still up for grabs. Grand Rapids, 43-23-6-6, has 98 points, two points ahead of the Bulldogs, 46-27-4. The Griffins have two games remaining; the Bulldogs have three.

* The Griffins signed three Red Wings prospects to tryout contracts for the rest of the season. Defenseman Brian Lashoff and forwards Brent Raedeke and Zack Torquato got the call after their respective junior seasons ended.

Lashoff's impact has been instant. In four games, he has a goal and four assists and is a plus-2. He has points in every game so far. The Red Wings love what the 6-foot-3, 200-pound American brings to the table and his performance thus far in Grand Rapids is no doubt reaffirming their evaluation.

* Forward Justin Abdelkader (Grand Rapids, AHL) was named to the AHL all-rookie team last week, a fantastic accomplishment for the 22-year-old. His 23 goals are tied for second among rookies, while his 51 points are tied for seventh. He also eclipsed the 100 penalty minute plateau last week and most importantly has been an outstanding defensive presence for the Griffins.

Abdelkader is capable of playing in the NHL at the start of next season — if not already — and probably would in another organization. But with Darren Helm and Ville Leino ahead in the pecking order, and Abdelkader's waiver-free status, it's possible he'll be on the farm for another season.

* Goalie Jimmy Howard (Grand Rapids, AHL) recorded his fourth shutout of the season on Sunday. His numbers since Dec. 17 are excellent — he's 16-10-2 with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. He has made up for a slow start, but his playoff performance will be key.

* Defenseman Max Nicastro (Chicago, United States Hockey League) saw his season come to an end this week. The Steel missed the playoffs with a 31-27-2 record, but Nicastro, 19, had a terrific campaign. He finished with nine goals and 22 assists for 31 points in 57 games, 10th among USHL blueliners. His 121 shots were sixth in the league and his nine goals were tied for fifth.

Nicastro will try to make his mark in the NCAA next season at Boston University, a team that will compete in this weekend's Frozen Four.

* Forward Stephen Johnston (Belleville, Ontario Hockey League) remains out indefinitely with a back injury. He has been limited to just two playoff games as the Bulls face the Niagara IceDogs in the quarterfinals.

* Goalie Thomas McCollum (Brampton, OHL) is up 2-1 on the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in the best-of-seven quarterfinals.

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
N H L
Ville Leino	Detroit	NHL	13	5	4	9	6
Jonathan Ericsson	Detroit	NHL	14	2	2	3	8
Darren Helm	Detroit	NHL	16	0	1	1	4
Justin Abdelkader	Detroit	NHL	2	0	0	0	0
A H L
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	74	23	28	51	100
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	17	30	47	24
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	15	31	46	18
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	64	15	26	41	32
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	53	13	24	37	22
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	10	25	35	18
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	77	5	27	32	74
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	73	19	12	31	31
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	60	3	11	14	12
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	4	7	11	34
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	50	2	7	9	25
Brian Lashoff	Grand Rapids	AHL	4	1	4	5	0
Brent Raedeke	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0	0	0	0
Zack Torquato	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0	0	0	0
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	7	1	3	4	2
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SEL	52	6	9	15	0
		PLAYOFFS	7	1	0	1	0
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SEL	49	6	6	12	22
		PLAYOFFS	11	0	0	0	4
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SEL	40	2	1	3	10
		PLAYOFFS	3	0	0	0	2
Johan Ryno	AIK	SWE-2	21	5	8	13	18
		PLAYOFFS	7	1	1	2	4
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
Sebastien Piche	Rimouski	QMJHL	62	23	49	72	69
		PLAYOFFS	6	2	3	5	8
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	66	29	34	63	78
		PLAYOFFS	5	2	4	6	11
Brent Raedeke	Edmonton	WHL	70	19	36	55	86
		PLAYOFFS	4	1	1	2	6
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	56	19	32	51	24
		PLAYOFFS	7	3	5	8	8
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	58	14	22	36	38
		PLAYOFFS	2	0	1	1	2
Brian Lashoff	Kingston	OHL	60	7	25	32	51
N C A A
Gustav Nyquist	Maine	HE	38	13	19	32	28
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	29	8	13	21	69
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	34	9	10	19	32
Julien Cayer	Clarkson	WCHA	29	4	6	10	30
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	35	4	3	7	26
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	34	4	4	8	38
U S H L
Max Nicastro	Chicago	USHL	57	9	22	31	84

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Thomas McCollum	Brampton	OHL	54	34-16-4	2.11	.927
		PLAYOFFS	7	6-1	2.28	.912
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	44	21-17-4	2.53	.915
	Detroit	NHL	1	0-1	4.10	.857
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	22-12-2	2.76	.907

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.