| NHL Grumblings: Wales Watching - Jan 31, 2008 |
| By Pete Colaninno |
Published
01/31/2008
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Wales Watching
| Unrated
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Pete Colaninno
Pete "Hat Trick" Colaninno has more than 20 years of fantasy hockey
experience. He was the fantasy hockey expert for NHL Extreme! and has written for a number of national magazines such as Pro Hockey Preview and has appeared on several radio sports talk shows around the country.
View all articles by Pete Colaninno
Backstrom in the middle of the rookie scoring race...
WALES WATCHING
Rating the Rookies
An overall look at the rookie stats shows that the Eastern Conference palls in comparison to the Western Conference. Only 11 Eastern Conference rookies are in the top 30 in total points scored and only 3 are in the top 10. Nonetheless, Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom is challenging Chicago’s Patrick Kane for top honors.
Nicklas Backstrom-WSH: Backstrom got off to a very slow start scoring only 6 assists in the first month of the season, However, he is starting to live up to the fanfare that had him pegged as a top prospect entering this season and has scored 13 points in the past 11 games while going plus six. If he doesn’t wear down in the later part of the season, he could finish on top in the rookie scoring race.
Tobias Enstrom-ATL: Enstrom likely was not on many draft day cheat sheets as it was felt that Alexei Zhitnik would get most of the defenceman playing time especially on the power play. Enstrom got off to a slow start but has made steady progress and has cracked the top 5 in rookie scoring while going a respective minus 4 for a defensively challenged Atlanta Thrasher club. He will by far be the leading rookie defenceman in points this season.
Brandon Dubinsky-NYR: Dubinsky currently sits in ninth place in rookie scoring but has come alive as of late. He is playing an up-tempo game on a line with fellow rookie Nigel Dawes and the two players have developed a bit of chemistry. If he doesn’t tire and continues to play with passion, he could crack the top five in rookie scoring by season’s end.
David Clarkson-NJ: Clarkson has been making a name for himself with his fists as opposed to his stick. He has 13 points in 48 games with 114 penalty minutes. He could develop into a power forward but must work on his offensive skills.
Tyler Kennedy-PIT: Kennedy was called up from the minors by the Pens in late October and has shown a bit of a scoring punch around the net notching eight goals in 31 games. He is currently sidelined with mononucleosis and if the illness doesn’t zap his strength, he could finish with 15 goals.
Milan Lucic-BOS: Lucic has the size (6’4”, 220 lbs.) to become a power forward in the NHL. He does have some scoring ability as evidence by his 30 goals and 38 assists last season for Vancouver of the AHL. What’s even more impressive is his 296 penalty minutes the past two years in the WHL.
Kris Letang-PIT: Letang was up with the Pens for 7 games last season, scoring two power play goals. He didn’t make the team out of training camp this year but was called up after the first 6 weeks of the season. He has great speed and can bury the biscuit as he scored 68 points in 2005-06 and 52 points last season for Val D’or. It has taken awhile for Letang to get comfortable but he has the skills to stay with the Penguins.
Sergei Kostitsyn-MTL: Kostitsyn is more of a playmaker than a pure goal scorer. In the past two seasons in the OHL, Kostitsyn scored 66 goals and 143 assists. Time will tell if can crack the top two lines for the Habs.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT (For games played January 21-24)
Burning it up
Goals, assists
Daniel Alfredsson-OTT: 3 goals, 4 assists
Patrik Elias-NJ: 4 goals, 1 assist
Alexander Ovechkin-WSH: 3 goals, 3 assists
Viktor Kozlov-WSH: 3 goals, 1 assist
Evgeni Malkin-PIT: 3 goals, 1 assist
Mike Fisher-OTT: 1 goal, 4 assists
Mike Sillinger-NYI: 3 goals
Plus/minus
Mike Komisarek-MTL: +6
Nathan Horton-FLA: +4
Andrej Meszaros-OTT: +4
Andrei Markov-MTL: +4
Shots on goal
Alexander Ovechkin-WSH: 21 SOG
Simon Gagne-PHI: 17 SOG
Brendan Shanahan-NYR: 11 SOG
Evgeni Malkin-PIT: 10 SOG
PPGs
Petr Sykora-PIT: 2 PPGs
Patrik Elias-NJ: 2 PPGs
Jaime Langenbrunner-NJ: 2 PPGs
SHGs
Mike Sillinger-NYI: 2 SHGs
Daniel Alfredsson-OTT: 1 SHG
Goaltending
Henrik Lundqvist-NYR: 2 wins, 0.48 GAA, .969 SP
Brent Johnson-WSH: 1 win, 1.00 GAA, .969 SP
Ryan Miller-BUF: 1 win, 1.00 GAA, .962 SP
Cold as Ice
Alex Auld-BOS: 1 loss, 12.00 GAA, .429 SP
Antero Nittymaki-PHI: 1 loss, 8.57 GAA, .750 SP
Filip Kuba-TB: 2 games, 0 points, minus-4
Chris Gratton-TB: 2 games, 0 points, minus-5
Ray Whitney-CAR: 2 games, 2 assists, minus-5
Vaclav Prospal-TB: 2 games. 0 points, minus-4
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