Maple Leafs Prospects Update

By Doug Evinou
This week sees top Leafs prospect Carlo Colaiacovo return to play for the OHL’s Erie Otters after training with the big club for 4 weeks. As well, former top prospect Petr Svoboda heads home to the Czech Republic to try and put his game back together. Pierre Hedin, Alex Steen and Max Kondratiev are busy representing their countries in international tournaments, while Brendan Bell and Matt Stajan are making strong cases for their inclusion on Canada’s World Junior entry.

Canadian Hockey League

Player	       Team                    GP       G      A	Pts     PIM

Kyle Wellwood    Windsor Spitfires       20      20      21      41       0

Matt Stajan      Belleville Bulls        17      16      13      29      22

Nicolas Corbeil  Sherbrooke Castors      22      14      14      28      16

Brendan Bell     Ottawa 67s              19       4      16      20      20

Ian White        Swift Current Broncos   23       5      13      18      24

Dominic D’Amour  Hull Olympiques         20       1       3       4      46

Carlo Colaiacovo Erie Otters              0       0       0       0       0
NB: David Turon (D) Portland WinterHawks is scheduled to return on December 27th from a broken collarbone.

Goalies 

Player       Team                    GP      Save %	W       L       T       GAA

Todd Ford    Swift Current Broncos   14      0.918	8       4       2       2.12

Notes: Stajan and Bell are tied for 2nd in the OHL with a plus/minus rating of +19. Bell’s 67’s recently came out on top 5-4 in a game against Stajan’s Bulls for first place in the OHL’s East Division. A number of prospects can be seen in the upcoming Hershey Cup All-Star games. Wellwood, Stajan, Bell, Corbeil and White will all be representing their respective conferences, as will newly-returned defensemen Carlo Colaiacovo. Erie recently made a significant trade with the Soo Greyhounds, acquiring high-scoring forward Rob Hisey. Coupled with the return of Colaiacovo, Erie may be poised to make a move out of the basement of the OHL’s Midwest division.

European Leagues

Sweden (SEL)

Player	          Team          GP      G       A       Pts   PIM

Alexander Steen   Frolunda        16      2       5         7    10

Pierre Hedin      Modo            16      3       4         7

Staffan Kronwall  Djurgarden      17      0       5         5     6

Notes: Hedin represented Sweden at the recent Karjala Cup.

Russia

Player          Team                    GP     G      A       Pts   PIM

Alex Shinkar    Severstal Cherepovets   14     2      1       3       6

Max Kondratiev  Lada Togliatta          17     0      1       1      16

Notes: Kondratiev and Shinkar have been held off the scoreboard recently. Kondratiev is currently taking part in the Under-20 Tourney being held in the Czech Republic.

Finland

Player          Team    GP      G       A     Pts	PIM

Jarkko Immonen  JYP     18      3       6       9	 10

Markus Seikola  TPS     18      2       1       3     10

Notes: Immonen is enjoying breakout success playing alongside teammate Tuomas Pihlman. His newfound confidence is evident in his game, as he consistently creates dangerous scoring opportunities. He still has a long way to go before being considered a legitimate NHL prospect however. Seikola is having a bit of an inconsistent season, occasionally making costly mistakes in his own end. He is paired with rookie defensemen Jussi Timonen which doesn’t help much. Seikola has never put up high points totals and probably never will; his strength is his physical and positional play (thanks to Seppo Lampinen for reports).

Slovakia

Player          Team            GP      G       A     Pts	PIM

Ivan Kolozvary  Dukla Trencin   20      1       4       5       4

Notes: Kolozvary plays for Robert Svehla’s Trencin organization.

Czech Repbulic

Player	           Team	              GP      G       A     Pts     PIM
Jaroslav Sklenar     Znojmo (Extraliga)      8      0       0       0       0

	          Trebic (1.liga)         7      0       1       1       2

Petr Svoboda         Trinic (Extraliga)      0      0       0       0       0

Notes: Sklenar finally collected his first point of the season this past week. Petr Svoboda, recently re-assigned from St. John’s, is expected to suit up for Trinic in the Czech Extraliga.

North America

US College Hockey

Player          Team                  GP       G       A       Pts    PIM

Scott May       Ohio State (CCHA)      9       2       8      10        2

Mike Knoepfli   Cornell (ECAC)         3       2       3      5

Notes: May’s Buckeyes look like the team to beat; they have 5 players scoring at better then a point per game clip. Knoepfli’s Cornell squad is off to a good start as well, led by sophomore goaltender Dave LeNeveu, one of the favorites to backstop Canada’s World Junior entry.

Minor Pro

Player          Team	                   GP     G      A      Pts   PIM

Vaclav Zavoral  Memphis Riverkings (CHL)   11    0      0       0     47

Rob Palahnuk    Memphis Riverkings (CHL)   11     1     1      2      25

Riley Cote      Memphis Riverkings (CHL)    9     0    1       1      55

Goalies

Player          Team                   GP      Save %           W       L       T     OTL       GAA

JF Racine       Memphis Riverkings      5      0.935           3       1       0      1       2.18

Jamie Hodson    Greensboro Generals     1      0.893           1       0       0      0       3.03

Notes: With Josh Holden in Toronto, and Bob Wren suffering a concussion, the Baby Leafs could be looking towards Memphis for some help. Palahnuk and Cote could both supply some grit to the line-up: they’ve accumulated 80 penalty minutes in their 18 games in Memphis so far. Goalie J.F. Racine is off to a great start in his professional career. Jamie Hodson is still stuck behind NHL veteran Daniel Berthiaume in Greensboro and hasn’t played much.