Yesterday was a busy day for the Whale, as they made six moves to fill out the roster in time for their Calder Cup run. The Whale called up forwards Jason Wilson, Danny Hobbs, and Jordie Johnston, and goaltender Scott Stajcer from the Greenville Road Warriors of the ECHL. In addition, the Whale signed forward Michael Kantor and defenseman Charlie Dodero to ATOs from Sudbury in the OHL.
All six will be with the Whale for their next game on Friday.
The Rangers returned Christian Thomas to the AHL today following practice. Returning Thomas was a paperwork thing, as Darroll Powe returned to practice, and was presumably taken off IR. In his one game –his NHL debut– Thomas played a little under 13 minutes, and finished with 2 shots and 3 hits.
The Rangers also sent Scott Stajcer back to the ECHL.
The Connecticut Whale have announced that they have recalled goalie Scott Stajcer from the Greenville Road Warriors, the Rangers ECHL affiliate. Stajcer was assigned to Greenville in late October, and went 8-4-3 with a 2.72 GAA and a .918 SV%. Stajcer was the Rangers fifth round pick in 2009.
The Rangers organization has assigned goalie Scott Stajcer to the Greenville Road Warriors of the ECHL. This move isn’t a surprise, Stajcer struggled in his two Whale games, going 0-2 with a 4.32 GAA and a .841 SV%.
Stajcer, the Rangers 5th round pick in 2009, was destined for the ECHL once Cam Talbot returned from injury. Currently Stajcer sits behind Talbot and Jason Missiaen on the goaltender depth chart, although none of the three project out to be more than a decent backup goaltender.
Let’s have a look at some of the Rangers draft picks and future hopes and how they’ve been doing recently. It’s been a while since we checked in around the junior circuits.
Saintly Returns
Michael St Croix is a plus 30 for the season. Yes, you read that right. It’s because he’s flat out scoring for fun. A mid round pick of the Rangers in 2011, its unlikely many people saw this level of scoring from St Croix. The skilled center has grabbed 77 points in just 48 games in the WHL this season, which given the stingier nature of the WHL (as opposed to other junior leagues) is an exceptional return.
You want progress? St Croix’s offensive return is the two points better than his total points from last season in 20 games less. Clearly, the Rangers have another talented center on their hands. Oh and he’s now been crowned player of the week twice. One to keep your eyes on folks.
Back in Scoring Mode
The Rangers seem to have offensive potential springing up everywhere right now. Joining St Croix in quality offensive production is JT Miller who has recently got back to his scoring ways and now boasts 43 points in 39 games for the Whalers of the OHL.
Miller has learnt a lot this season. From his time with the Rangers to the world Juniors, Miller has been exposed to a variety of levels of hockey this season as well as the exposure to more hockey than he’s been used to. Miller’s another player that looks a great draft pick so far.
Best of the Rest
Honourable mentions in the offensive stakes have to go to Shane McColgan, Andrew Yogan, Christian Thomas and Steven Fogarty who are all close to or above the point per game threshold in their respective leagues. Naturally, each player has a different level of expectancy placed on their shoulders and is in different stages of their development but so long as each one can continue to produce as their respective leagues head to the critical time in their seasons, it bodes well for their immediate futures. With Christian Thomas turning 20 in May, he’s almost certainly one that’s headed for pro hockey next season.
Final Mention
In need of a change of scenery all season has been Scott Stajcer. The Owen Sound goalie has put up solid numbers when called upon but has split the crease with Jordan Binnington. Wins aside, Stajcer has put up the far superior numbers (924% to .890, 2.53 GAA to JB’s 3.38) but it has to be a concern that as an over-ager Stajcer hasn’t had anywhere near the playing time his development needs.
Given the still murky goalie situation behind Lundqvist and Biron, Stajcer still has a shot with the organisation as no goalie with the Whale has shown to have full time NHL potential this season. Stajcer’s destination next season will be an interesting development over the coming months.
Rangers’ prospects are showing more offensive consistency this season than the players already donning red white and blue.
Mid round prospect Jesper Fasth continued his strong play over the past week and is averaging a point per game as we approach November. The Swedish youngster is now up to 14 points in 14 games for his HV71 side in the SEL and is second in the league in scoring. The SEL is a relatively low scoring league and is often veteran heavy in regard to the offensive leaders so it’s a great achievement for Fasth to be among the league’s best scorers.
Considering Fasth scored 16 points all of last season for HV71 it gives you a little more appreciation to quite how good his start has been. Indeed 16 points in 36 games was considered a solid year for a 19 year old in 09/10 so Fasth is really blossoming this season.
Another player impacting the box score on a consistent basis is Michael St Croix in the WHL. The Edmonton Oil King has 12 points in 13 games to go with a +1 rating and has notched a couple of PP goals as well. St Croix however will expect to kick on somewhat as the young center scored over a point/game last season with 75 in 68. With the Oil Kings sitting on an 8-3-1-1 record St Croix will hope to become the focal point of the in-form side.
Another player in the WHL is Shane McColgan and he’s another player that keeps troubling the scorers as he leads his Kelowna side with 14 points in 11 games. Unfortunately the -6 rating isn’t as impressive. McColgan looks like a good pick by the Rangers however, as he continues to produce despite his Rockets team struggling in 4th place in their division with a 4-7-1 record. McColgan will be looking to lead his side to a better record.
Quick Hit Time:
The New York Rangers made a few roster moves upon returning from Europe, one of which was a necessity, and the other was expected. The necessary move was returning Scott Stajcer to the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL. The Rangers were allowed to carry a third emergency goalie while they were in Europe, but are no longer allowed to do so since returning to North America. Stajcer will play his overage season with Owen Sound before joining the Rangers organization.
The other move was the easily predicted move, as the Rangers also sent Brendan Bell to the Connecticut Whale. Bell was kept on the roster as an emergency defenseman because of the Marc Staal injury, and because the Rangers didn’t want to send him home prematurely, like they had to do with Stu Bickel. The acquisition of Jeff Woywitka made Bell’s demotion to the AHL a certainty. Woywitka will still serve as the healthy scratch for now, until someone plays their way out of the lineup.
The Rangers kicked off their European trip with a solid 2-0 victory over Prague. Aided by second period goals from Artem Anisimov and Ruslan Fedotenko, the team was led by the strong play of Martin Biron who played very well in earning a shutout victory. According to beat writer Jim Cerny Biron made several impressive saves throughout.
Given the lack of TV coverage that is the shortest recap you’ll ever likely to see on the site so we’ll just get to some thoughts I have over the game.
Earlier this week, we ran the first part of our most recent Q&A with Brian Ring of the CT Whale who has kindly taken time out to discuss a whole array of things with us such as the Whale, Rangers’ prospects and his candidates for breakout performers in the future. Today we have the second part of the Q&A.
Today’s final part looks at the Whale’s potential season, more prospects, the goaltending carousel and MVP candidates for the 2011/12 season. Happy reading…
Brian: The benchmark of this franchise has always been to make the playoffs, as the Wolf Pack/Whale have made the playoffs in 13 of 14 seasons in their history. But I think that may be setting the bar low this season, as the upside given the talent and skill on this year’s team should be more than enough to set their sights on making a deep run into the postseason and going for the Calder Cup.
Brian: Kolarik is a highly-skilled player with a great sniping and playmaking ability. He had a bit of a nagging injury last year which kept him from being completely healthy but he still managed nearly a point a game during his time in a Whale uniform (17-14-31) in 36 games (he also played 13 games for Springfield). I would say he certainly has a chance of spending some time in New York this season, battling it out with guys like Kris Newbury, John Mitchell and Dale Weise, among others, for potential call-ups.
Brian: Kale really broke out last season with a pretty big junior year for Sarnia, totalling 37-51-88 in 68 games for the Sting. I haven’t seen enough of him to really make a solid judgement, but I did watch him a bit at the Rangers’ development camp and he seemed to be one of the more confident players on the ice and had no problem rushing the puck and making plays. All evidence points to Kale being a rugged guy who is not afraid to get physical on the ice, and the team was impressed enough to lock him up to an AHL deal this year.
Brian: I think it will be one of the more intriguing aspects of the preseason and the Whale training camp to see how Chad Johnson, Cam Talbot and Jason Missiaen will compete and battle each other for spots on the team. Throw Scott Stajcer into the mix and things get even more interesting. Johnson is certainly someone that has had success at the AHL level and has spent time with the Rangers, and Talbot has as well. If I had to venture a guess, I think Johnson and Talbot will be splitting time with the Whale, and I’m willing to bet that goaltending ends up more of a strength than people think, especially considering the team’s corps of defensemen.
Brian: I think the biggest thing is that the Rangers have continued to draft and acquire high-end talent that allows the Whale to both develop players and win hockey games with those player’s abilities at the same time. Even when the Rangers make a trade for a player that is likely to play in Hartford, such as a Kris Newbury or a John Mitchell, those are players that are able to step right into an NHL line up but are also excellent AHL players. That, combined with the solid drafting the Rangers have done for some time now, has led to good organizational depth and this lessens the need to compromise either player development or competitiveness. Development is certainly the first priority for most AHL clubs, however winning is always a nice side effect of generating top-tier talent.
Brian: Such a tough question because there are a lot of factors regarding who will be here to start the year, who will miss a lot of times with call-ups or injuries. I’m going to take Kris Newbury, who I’ll project to finish top ten in the AHL in points this year. I think there will be a lot of goals scored this season and he’ll have plenty of guys to dish the puck to.
A final big thanks to both Brian Ring and the CT Whale for participating with the Q&A. It’s always interesting to hear insight from Brian about the Whale and the Rangers prospects. Be sure to follow both Brian and the Whale on twitter at @brianring and @CTWhale. Make sure you check back throughout the season for updates on how the Whale (and the Rangers future) are getting on with their season and be sure to check out the Whale’s own website too.
That title is my highly inflated ego talking, but all jest aside – I haven’t been around on the site much recently but I’m back now and it’s a Musings day! Time to throw my random thoughts at you before I throw the mike over to the Suit; yes – it’s a double barrelled Musings (gasp!).
So the Rangers apparently won’t be skating on to the ice via center-ice anymore? Is it that big a deal, I mean really?
I’m really excited at the organisational depth at the moment evidenced by my genuine excitement at following the CT Whale this coming season. There’s a lot to monitor down on the farm. Depending on the training camp shake down there could be some serious NHL potential starting the year in the AHL. Depth wins baby.
Random me: I’m probably going to a Wedding in California in November. If I do, I’m not even paying for my flight, which means there’s a good chance I’ll be in the US twice in 6 weeks. Check me out, the high flyer!
I’m sure, as an ambitious prospect he won’t like my theory but I really hope Scott Stajcer ends up back in the OHL this season. Why? The kid has legitimate talent and I’d rather not see him rot away in a three man rotation in the minors or be sent to the ECHL. Staying healthy and playing a full year with an OHL club surely is better than a handful of appearances as a minor pro.
Christian Thomas reported to his OHL Generals on Tuesday. Chance he starts the year there? Probably headed to the OHL due to numbers and age and if he does spend another year in the OHL, I expect another monster year from the blue chipper scorer.
Keeping on the prospect theme: Andrew Yogan was recently traded to the OHL Peterborough Petes. Like Thomas it’s not a given where he will play this season yet and could be a dark horse Rangers candidate but…very likely a candidate for the Whale. The kid has great size and good talent and is healthy. One to watch for sure.
More me: By the time you read this I’ll have picked up my new car! Went and got myself a shiny VW Golf. Definitely an upgrade.
So, Henrik Lundqvist is seventh on Yahoo’s top 100 fantasy hockey players? That’s high (and deserved) praise. I firmly believe the Rangers have the best goalie in the league and with more offense in front of him it’s hard not to love him as a fantasy pick this year.
That’s all for my ramblings today folks. Carry on down for some expert talk from The Suit.
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Chris, until you learn how to correctly place commas, you need to take that ego down a notch…damn Brits
Just kidding bro. I love English Muffins.
Dan David over at the Rangers Offiicial site had a great article on Christian Thomas, which included some excellent scouting/analysis by Adam Graves. Here’s one quote:
His (Thomas) shot is as good a shot as I have seen in a long, long time,” said Graves. “Inside the top of the circles, he has a special shot. He knows where it’s going and he can move it and he can change the angle on a goalie in a hurry. When the goalie is looking at him, he can change the angle because he drags the puck with equal amount of zip. I used to have to bring the puck in tight to my body where I had all my strength to change the angle like that, but by just movement of his stick and his sense of scoring, Christian is very good at changing the angle on the goalie.”
That’s analysis people! They need to get Adam Graves in the TV booth more often. You’ll never hear analysis in that detail from a TV commentator. Hell, you won’t even get that from “expert” prospect bloggers.
Chris mentioned that Lundqvist was ranked the seventh best overall player by Yahoo, which is refreshing to see. Yet ESPN has Hank ranked the 11th best goalie some reason beyond my comprehension.
I know ESPN sucks at life, but really…11th? Since the lockout, no goaltender has been more consistent than Henrik Lundqvist, save Vokoun. Miller has had bad seasons, as well as Bryz, Price, Fleury, etc. Year in and year out, Hank is up there in every goaltending category, yet the people around him keep changing. It makes no sense to me how anyone could list Lundqvist outside of the top 5.
Anyway, last week I mentioned that we would be organizing a Fantasy Hockey league between myself, Dave, Chris, and some of our readers. I haven’t set anything up yet, but expect an email shortly after Labor Day. If you are interested, and you haven’t yet dropped a comment, please do so here or shoot me an email.
