RWC REPORT: Ericsson, Helm are silver lining

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / June 15, 2009

Although the Detroit Red Wings will feel the sting of losing in the Stanley Cup Final for months to come, perhaps they can find some comfort from the not-so-quiet emergence of youngsters Jonathan Ericsson and Darren Helm.

Ericsson and Helm, ranked Nos. 1 and 2 on Red Wings Central's prospect ranking, stepped into the lineup in the post-season and showed why they will be NHL regulars in 2009-10 — and probably could have nine months ago.

Ericsson logged more than 18 minutes per game, filling in admirably as a top-four defenseman when Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski were injured, and had four goals, four assists and a plus-8 rating in 22 outings. The 6-foot-5, 218-pounder even missed a game in the middle to have an appendectomy.

Helm played more than 12 minutes a game, won 51.5 per cent of his faceoffs, and had four goals and an assist in 23 games. More importantly, the 5-foot-11 forward led the playoffs with a whopping 118 hits in 23 games. Pro-rated over 82 games, that's 420 hits. No player had more than 356 hits last season.

Both still have work to do. Ericsson needs have his best games more consistently and Helm could stand to simplify his offensive game. But both will be key players as the Red Wings attempt to erase this year's disappointment.

Ericsson and Helm will not be included on RWC's end-of-season prospect ranking, as both are deemed full-time graduates to the Red Wings. Justin Abdelkader and Ville Leino will remain prospects until they do the same.

* The only other prospect who has been active since the last RWC Report was Sebastien Piche. The Rimouski Oceanic defenseman participated in the Memorial Cup and played well, recording a goal and two assists in four games. But the host Oceanic struggled and were unable to qualify for the playoff round.

This will be the last RWC Report until September or October. The annual end-of-season prospect ranking will be available shortly.

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
		PLAYOFFS	7	0	2	2	0
Jonathan Ericsson	Detroit	NHL	19	1	3	4	15
		PLAYOFFS	22	4	4	8	25
Darren Helm	Detroit	NHL	16	0	1	1	4
		PLAYOFFS	23	4	1	5	4
Justin Abdelkader	Detroit	NHL	2	0	0	0	0
		PLAYOFFS	10	2	1	3	0
A H L
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	76	24	28	52	102
		PLAYOFFS	10	6	2	8	23
Francis Pare	Grand Rapids	AHL	63	24	24	48	14
		PLAYOFFS	10	2	2	4	2
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	17	30	47	24
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	57	15	31	46	18
		PLAYOFFS	10	3	10	13	10
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	66	15	27	42	32
		PLAYOFFS	8	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	9	1	0	1	2
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	78	6	27	33	76
		PLAYOFFS	10	2	1	3	2
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	73	19	12	31	31
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	9	9	18	43
		PLAYOFFS	10	2	0	2	8
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	2	13	15	48
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	61	3	11	14	12
		PLAYOFFS	1	0	0	0	0
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	70	4	7	11	36
		PLAYOFFS	10	0	0	0	9
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	51	2	7	9	25
		PLAYOFFS	6	0	1	1	0
Brian Lashoff	Grand Rapids	AHL	6	1	4	5	0
		PLAYOFFS	8	1	4	5	2
Joakim Andersson	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0	1	1	2
		PLAYOFFS	10	1	2	3	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
		Memorial Cup	4	1	2	3	5
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	21	13-8	2.90	.898
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	45	21-18-4	2.54	.916
		PLAYOFFS	10	4-6	2.41	.900
	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.