RWC REPORT: Wings boast Hobey hopefuls

By Matthew Wuest – RedWingsCentral.com / February 9, 2010

No Detroit Red Wings prospect has ever won the Hobey Baker award, but Gustav Nyquist and Brendan Smith are taking their best shots.

Nyquist, a sophomore forward with the Maine Black Bears, and Smith, a junior defenseman with the Wisconsin Badgers, are among the 70 preliminary nominees being considered as the top player in U.S. college hockey.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Nyquist has 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 points in 26 games and is just two points behind Cory Conacher for the NCAA scoring lead. Maine, 14-9-3, is ranked 12th in the nation.

Smith, meanwhile, has led the Badgers, ranked third in the country, to a 16-7-4 record. Helping his chances is the fact that he easily leads all NCAA defensemen in scoring with 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points in 26 games.

Both are good bets to at least make it to the second phase of the process on March 18, when the top 10 candidates will be named. Three finalists will be chosen on March 31, with the winner named on April 9.

The Red Wings have recently turned more to the college ranks in search of young talent, mostly because they have more time to develop prospects since they don't have to be signed until after their senior season. They currently have six NCAA prospects, with one more — defenseman Nick Jensen with Green Bay of the United States Hockey League — on the way next season.

NOTES: Defenseman Sergei Kolosov (Grand Rapids, AHL) is going to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He was added to the Belarusian roster last week … Forward Stephen Johnston (Windsor, OHL) has returned from an injury and already has four points in five games with his new team …. Forward Andrej Nestrasil (Victoriaville, QMJHL) also returned from an injury … Forward Dick Axelsson (Farjestad, Swedish Elite League) has been very successful since leaving North America, with four goals and four assists in nine games … Jensen scored his first goal of the season and has 14 assists in 35 games while holding down a plus-23 rating.

Following is an up-to-date statistical report for skaters:

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
A H L
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	50	18	10	28	19
Francis Pare	Grand Rapids	AHL	49	10	15	25	12
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	48	8	16	24	14
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	44	11	10	21	40
Tomas Tatar	Grand Rapids	AHL	35	10	11	21	6
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	51	7	13	20	23
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	44	3	17	20	32
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	29	10	8	18	65
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	47	8	9	17	23
Dick Axelsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	17	2	3	5	6
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	45	1	3	4	17
Travis Ehrhardt	Grand Rapids	AHL	29	0	4	4	28
Sebastien Piche	Grand Rapids	AHL	9	0	0	0	4
E C H L
Sebastien Piche	Toledo	ECHL	25	4	12	16	30
Travis Ehrhardt	Toledo	ECHL	3	1	1	2	0
S W E D E N
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SEL	48	5	12	17	40
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SEL	44	5	6	11	6
Dick Axelsson	Farjestad	SEL	9	4	4	8	8
Adam Almqvist	HV-71	SEL	24	2	6	8	10
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SEL	23	0	1	1	8
Johan Ryno	AIK	SWE-2	38	6	9	15	28
Jesper Samuelsson	Sundsvall	SWE-2	28	2	11	13	4
Adam Almqvist	HV-71	SWE-J20	15	5	29	34	14
C H L
Willie Coetzee	Red Deer	WHL	55	25	47	72	24
Brent Raedeke	Edmonton	WHL	57	21	27	48	76
Mitchell Callahan	Kelowna	WHL	57	17	24	41	132
Andrej Nestrasil	Victoriaville	QMJHL	39	14	27	41	32
Gleason Fournier	Rimouski	QMJHL	46	10	29	39	68
Landon Ferraro	Red Deer	WHL	36	12	23	35	40
Brian Lashoff	Kingston	OHL	44	6	13	19	55
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	23	8	6	14	22
N C A A
Gustav Nyquist	Maine	HE	26	14	26	40	12
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	26	12	21	33	36
Brian Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	25	5	11	16	37
Max Nicastro	Boston U.	HE	26	2	8	10	24
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud St.	WCHA	20	4	4	8	20
Julien Cayer	Clarkson	ECAC	22	2	3	5	18
U S H L
Nick Jensen	Green Bay	USHL	35	1	14	15	29

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	32	14-15-1	2.99	.899
Thomas McCollum	Toledo	ECHL	4	2-1-0	4.48	.864
	Grand Rapids	AHL	22	7-11-0	3.50	.878
Jordan Pearce	Toledo	ECHL	23	13-6-3	3.47	.885
	Grand Rapids	AHL	5	1-2-0	3.82	.875