RWC REPORT: Scouting horizons expanding

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / April 27, 2009

With the NHL draft trimmed to just seven rounds, the Detroit Red Wings are innovating new ways to uncover quality prospects.

The Red Wings, already kings of the late-round gem, have been devoting more and more scouting resources to finding talent among the draft's leftovers — "bonus draft picks," as assistant general manager Jim Nill once called them.

The Red Wings have signed six undrafted free agent prospects in the past year, bringing in forwards Ville Leino, Brent Raedeke and Francis Pare; defensemen Brian Lashoff and Sebastien Piche; and goalie Jordan Pearce.

"You see that in all organizations," said Red Wings scout Mark Leach. "The older kid in major junior, the college kid, developing and getting better. Teams are saying, ‘Hey, put this kid in the AHL. Let's see what he can do.'"

Prior to the recent outburst of signings, the Red Wings had only handed out contracts to three free agent prospects in five seasons. Brett Lebda is now an NHLer; Eric Himelfarb and Michael Hackert were the others.

As long as the Red Wings haven't maxed out their NHL-imposed 50 contract limit, they're willing to consider just about anybody.

"Every day you come to the office, you're trying to get better," said Nill. "If there's a player that helps us do that, we'll sign him."

Teenaged prospects should take note of this trend on draft day. If they aren't selected, by no stretch does that mean the dream is over.

"We're looking for anybody who can be a player," Leach said. "The good thing (about these signings is) it shows kids that organizations are out there, watching them develop and are willing to sign them to contracts."

* Leino, mentioned earlier, leads the AHL playoffs in scoring after the first round with a whopping three goals and 10 assists for 13 points in six games. He helped the Grand Rapids Griffins cruise to a 4-2 series win over the Hamilton Bulldogs. They advance to face the Manitoba Moose in the next round. Forward Justin Abdelkader is also atop the charts with a league-best six goals. Leino, Abdelkader and Darren Haydar combined for 31 points as a line.

* Also from Grand Rapids, the aforementioned Lashoff continues to excel. Since signing a tryout contract with the Griffins, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound blue-liner has two goals and seven assists for nine points in 12 games, significantly more productive than the more highly-touted Jakub Kindl.

* Goaltender Thomas McCollum (Brampton, Ontario Hockey League) has led his team to the OHL final against the Windsor Spitfires. The Battalion beat Stephen Johnston's Belleville Bulls 4-2 in the semifinals.

McCollum had the last laugh on Bulls goaltender Mike Murphy, who won OHL goaltender of the year on Monday. McCollum was runner-up.

* Defenseman Sebastien Piche (Rimouski, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) saw his team eliminated in four straight at the hands of the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the QMJHL semifinals. Piche and his troops will get a second chance — they have a spot at the Memorial Cup in May as tournament host.

* Forward Dick Axelsson has gone back to Sweden after coming to Grand Rapids on a tryout contract. He had a finger injury and did not play.

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	19	1	3	4	15
		PLAYOFFS	4	1	0	1	8
Darren Helm	Detroit	NHL	16	0	1	1	4
		PLAYOFFS	4	0	0	0	2
Justin Abdelkader	Detroit	NHL	2	0	0	0	0
A H L
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	76	24	28	52	102
		PLAYOFFS	6	6	2	8	15
Francis Pare	Grand Rapids	AHL	63	24	24	48	14
		PLAYOFFS	6	0	2	2	2
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	17	30	47	24
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	57	15	31	46	18
		PLAYOFFS	6	3	10	13	4
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	66	15	27	42	32
		PLAYOFFS	6	0	2	2	0
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	13	24	37	24
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	69	10	25	35	18
		PLAYOFFS	5	1	0	1	0
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	78	6	27	33	76
		PLAYOFFS	6	1	1	2	2
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	73	19	12	31	31
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	9	9	18	43
		PLAYOFFS	6	1	0	1	4
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	2	13	15	48
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	61	3	11	14	12
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	70	4	7	11	36
		PLAYOFFS	6	0	0	0	9
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	51	2	7	9	25
		PLAYOFFS	3	0	0	0	0
Brian Lashoff	Grand Rapids	AHL	6	1	4	5	0
		PLAYOFFS	6	1	3	4	2
Joakim Andersson	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0	1	1	2
		PLAYOFFS	6	1	1	2	4
Brent Raedeke	Grand Rapids	AHL	2	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	9	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	9	3	5	8	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	12	2	4	6	14
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	10	3	5	8	14
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	58	14	22	36	38
		PLAYOFFS	8	0	2	2	13
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	16	12-2-2	2.62	.899
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	45	21-18-4	2.54	.916
		PLAYOFFS	6	4-2-0	2.49	.891
	Detroit	NHL	1	0-1	4.10	.857
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	22-12-2	2.76	.907
Jordan Pearce	Notre Dame	NCAA	39	30-6-3	1.68	.931
	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0-1-0	5.11	.868

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.