Pihlstrom and others in the Worlds

[Fergie]

Looking at a recap of the World Championships, which I was following closely, here are names of players in the top 30 scorers not playing in the NHL:

-Matthias Weinhandl (13 pts in 9 games)
The 27 year old played with the Islanders and the Wild years ago. Actually spent the 2006-07 season in the AHL, having 45 points in 48 games. Played last year in the Swedish Elite League and had 35 goals in 54 games. By looking at his poor NHL numbers, he won\'t come back.

-Tony Martensson (9 pts in 9 games)
Good chemistry with Weinhandl in the Worlds since they play in the same team in the SEL. The 27 year old Martensson played 6 games with the Mighty Ducks in 2003. By spending the last 4 season with Linkoping in the SEL, no more NHL for him.

-Alexei Morozov (8 pts in 9 games)
Captain of team Russia, no comments on him: just search his name in the forum and you\'ll see what people think of him.

-Antti Pilhstrom (7 pts in 9 games)
This 5\'11\" forward played last season with Milwaukee in the AHL where he got 27 goals in 78 games and got a tiny cup of coffee with the Predators. I personally saw this guy in Halifax and he is crazy fast. This 23 year old should be mentioned somewhere in Dobber\'s prospect report.

-Juraj Kolnik (7 pts in 5 games)
We probably have drafted him in our fantasy leagues at some point after he got 106 pts with Rimouski in the QMJHL. The 27 year old player in the Swiss league last year. After trying to play with the Islanders and the Panthers, safe to say that he\'s gone from the NHL.

-Denis Zaripov (7 pts in 8 games)
I wonder how much money he makes. He is 27 and has been playing the last 7 years with Ak-Bars Kazan. With the money he must make, no way he will come to the NHL. He has almost a point per game production for in his last 3 seasons in the RSL.

[SPOILER]

Sweet research Fergie, Karma for you

[fzusher]

Zaripov is the 3rd lowest paid player in the league, behind his two AK Bars linesmates. Yes, that means he\'s paid more than Alexei Yashin ...

Anyway, 3M. Adjusting for tax differences, that\'s the equivalent of a 5.22M NHL contract. btw, Zinoviev would translate into 6.09M and Morozov into 6.96M. I\'d say that if an NHL team is willing to cough up 20M, they can get the whole line. Thrashers, Avalanche, and Jackets have sufficient cap room, though the Islanders would be borderline. Rangers would definitely be able to go for two of the 3, as would a few other teams.

And no, I don\'t think they come over, though if I were the owner of the Thrashers i\'d definitely be asking ...

[fzusher]

I looked at the team-by-team stats to see if there were under the radar players whose stats make them worth taking a look at. Below is a team-by-team rundown with notes on some players that stood out, and players I paid attention to who didn\'t stand out.

A few players emerged to me as worth a look. If anyone has input on these in terms of NHL prospects, bring it on (my guess none have NHL potential, maybe except Biryukov, but figured I\'d ask):

Alexei Ugarov (F, Belarus)
Patrick Galbraith (G, Denmark)
Florian Busch (F, Germany)
Mikhail Biryukov (G, Russia)
Andrej Hoceval (G, Slovenia)
Anders Ambuhl (F, Switzerland)

Belarus:

Alexei Ugarov (F, UFA, 22, 5’10’’/174) 6, 4+1, +4
Solid tournament, top scorer on the team, with better numbers than the Kostitsyns, but likely too lanky for North America. Also, not really dominating in Russia. No one else was notable there.

Canada:

Marc Giordano (D, CAN) - DNP.

Denmark:

Patrick Galbraith (G, UFA, 22, 6\'0\'\'/168)
4.25 GAA does not seem impressive, but 0.901 save % is pretty solid and shows he just had a bad team. Still, size is a big issue with the guy. Might be worth keeping an eye on if he moves to a top league (currently in Denmark) just in case, but seems like a very long shot judging by numbers and size.

Lars Eller (STL) and Morten Madsen (MIN) had largely forgettable tournaments. I was most curious about Peter Regin (OTT), who had a coming of age season in the SEL and was interested in coming over in the past. With possible openings in Ottawa this could have been interesting, but I felt he didn\'t take the opportunity to really leave a mark. His stat line was 6, 2+1, E.
Most notable on the Danish team, btw, were former Habs pick Kim Staal, who\'s 28 and had a forgettable SEL season after returning from a (better) season in the AHL; and 27-year old undrafted Morten Green, who\'s been pretty solid in Sweden the last two years. I doubt either will be coming over.

Finland:

Janne Niskala (D, NAS [2004/147], 26, 6\'0\'\'/199) 9, 2+2, +1

The visible story by far is Nashville\'s Pihlstrom (9, 5+2, +7; best +/- on team), but Niskala was their most offensively productive D despite having the least minutes per game of the team\'s Ds. He also led all Milwaukee Ds in points and goals (6th and 5th on team, respectively; Pihlstrom, btw, led Milwaukee in goals) this season. He\'s an RFA this summer.
Also note Niko Kapanen\'s 2+5 and +3 in 9 games. He\'s a UFA, and had a frustrating couple of seasons, so I wouldn\'t be surprised if he prefers to go back to Europe.

France:

Huet was by far the most notable player on the team. Their top forwards were 27 year old former Blackhawks pick Yorick Treille, diminutive 27 year-old undrafted former QMJHLer Julien Desrosiers, and Vancouver-born veteran former NHLer Sebastien Bordeleau. D Baptiste Amar surprised with offensive numbers, as his league stats don\'t indicate such production. None of the 4 look like they have an NHL future.

Germany:

Philipp Gogulla (W, BUF [2005/48], 20, 6’2’’/176) 6, 1+3, -3
Disappointing numbers.

Florian Busch (F, UFA, 23, 6’0’’/182) 6, 2+3, -5
May be too lanky for the NHL, and +/- is worrying, but he was the top forward on the team, so he\'s interesting. If anyone\'s got a quick assessment (I didn\'t watch Germany games) it\'s welcome.

Dimitri Patzold - SJ goalie is UFA this summer, but didn\'t seem to have made a case for himself this tournament (4.37 GAA, 0.994 save %)

Italy:

The only notable player there was veteran Jason Cirone, who had a 3-game cup of coffee with the Winnipeg Jets in 91-92.

Latvia:

Boston prospect Martins Karsums only played in 2 games, but got 3 points. 28 year-old goalie Edgars Masalskis posted a solid 3.37 GAA with a 0.91 save %.

Norway:

Only forwards with notable numbers were a pair of undrafted 27 year-olds, Bestiansen and Morten Ask (the latter had one ECHL season some years ago). Veteran D Matts Trygg also posted good offensive numbers. No NHL future here.

Russia:

Biryukov, who was the top goalie before Nabokov joined the team, and had pretty solid numbers (2.22 GAA, 0.912 save %) is only 22 so i\'m actually curious about people\'s take on him. Otherwise, they\'ve been done to death, so I won\'t say anything about them. Well, ok, one thing. The tournament\'s PIM crown, thanks to 2 game misconducts, goes to ... Ilya Kovalchuk :blink:

Slovenia:

Other than Kopitar (who stands 2 inches taller and 8 pounds heavier than the next largest player on the team), no skater stood out in any way. 25 year old undrafted goalie Robert Kristan played most minutes with a save % just above .900, but 23-year old back up Andrej Hocevar actually had far better numbers (2.82 GAA, 0.929 save %). He is also intriguing to me.

Switzerland:

Sprunger has been discussed here already. Two other players tied him for the team points lead, 24 year old Andres Ambuhl and veteran former NHLer Paul Dipietro. If anyone\'s got a take on Ambuhl, bring it on.
Otherwise, the one other thing to note is that Gerber seems to have been vastly outplayed by Hiller.

Slovakia:

Lubomir Visnovsky led the team in points; Marcel Hossa was tied for 2nd. Other notable scorers were Juraj Kolnik and Robert Petrovicki. \'Nough said? Peter Budaj didn\'t manage to crack the starter spot, losing out to former Nashville prospect (2 3-game cups of coffee) Jan Lasak.

Sweden:

Hornquist and Stralman are the stories here for me. Hornquist finished tied for 4th in goal scoring (same number of goals as the two 2nd place players, but with 2 more games), and the only non-NHLer in the top 11. Stralman officially led the tournament\'s D in goal scoring (same as Green, but one game less). The only 5 Ds who outscored him all played full NHL seasons.
The player I was most interested in was Daniel Fernholm, but he was largely disappointing offensively.

USA:

The only player on the team who wasn\'t in the NHL this season (well, ok, except for Jordan Leopold ... ) was Robert Esche, who therefore really intrigued me. He was their best goalie - in fact, he has the best save percentage in the tournament, 4th best GAA. I own him in one pool, and was really hoping for a sleeper 3rd goalie to add to my Leclair-Norrena pair there, but it is not to be, sadly. His 1.8M in the RSL pro-rates to a 3.13M NHL contract, which no one in the NHL will give him.

[fzusher]

Actually, one more player deserves note.

34 year old French center Olivier Coqueux was the top face-off man in the tournament. Gives something to talk about to his forer teammates on the Tuscon Gila Monsters ...

[Fergie]

fzusher wrote:

I\'d say that if an NHL team is willing to cough up 20M, they can get the whole line.

I was actually thinking of the same thing yesterday while reading Dobber\'s take on the Islanders.

Sign Morozov-Zinoviev-Zaripov, let them play, fans will come and see. Let you prospect mature a little bit. In two seasons, they\'ll go back to Russia and your prospect will be ready to take the first line.

[fzusher]

fergie26 wrote:

fzusher wrote:

I\'d say that if an NHL team is willing to cough up 20M, they can get the whole line.

I was actually thinking of the same thing yesterday while reading Dobber\'s take on the Islanders.

Sign Morozov-Zinoviev-Zaripov, let them play, fans will come and see. Let you prospect mature a little bit. In two seasons, they\'ll go back to Russia and your prospect will be ready to take the first line.

One phone call to Yashin and that move\'s over

[lockedge]

fzusher wrote:

Dimitri Patzold - SJ goalie is UFA this summer, but didn\'t seem to have made a case for himself this tournament (4.37 GAA, 0.994 save %)

Any goalie who fails to have a .995 sv% is pretty much a failure, true.

[fzusher]

lockedge wrote:

fzusher wrote:

Dimitri Patzold - SJ goalie is UFA this summer, but didn\'t seem to have made a case for himself this tournament (4.37 GAA, 0.994 save %)

Any goalie who fails to have a .995 sv% is pretty much a failure, true.

:blush: missed by one key ... make that 0.884 for Patzold