Let Talk Rookies, How'd They Do? Edition

Anaheim's Luca Sbisa - 8 points in 58 games thus far. Recently signed a 4-year extension on his contract.

Atlanta's Arturs Kulda - 2 PIMs and -2 in 2 games. I'm 1 for 2.

Boston's Tyler Seguin - A good young player whose production (21 points in 61 games) is less than expected.

Buffalo's Tyler Ennis - 38 points in 66 games, has made a big impact in Buffalo.

Calgary's Tim Erixon - Swing and a miss here, 0 points in 0 games. Maybe next year?

Carolina's Bobby Sanguinetti - 9 in 19 with Charlotte. Yikes!

Chicago's Kyle Beach - Another miss.

Colorado's Colby Cohen - The Avs did end up calling up Shattenkirk so this [-1 in 3 games] messed me up.

Columbus' Nikita Filatov - 7 in 23. Why can't they let this kid play?

Dallas' Philip "Danish D-Man" Larsen - 2 assists in 6 games with 11 shots (a lot for a rookie defenseman).

Detroit's Tomas Tatar - one goal in nine games.

Edmonton's 'Trio' - J.E.=36 in 55, M.P.=26 in 66, T.H. 42 in 65. Paajarvi disappointed but the other were good. Too bad about Hall's season.

Florida's Michal Repik - 5 in 16 games. I might have to stop doing this whole 'talk rookie' thing.

Los Angeles' Brayden Schenn - 2 assists in 8 games. I was piised when he was sent to the minors.

Minnesota's Casey Wellman - 2 in 14. Not good enough. I have four of his "Hot Rookies" card from this years Score set.

Montreal's P.K. Subban - 29 in 62 with 5 PPG, probably the biggest impact of 'my' rookies.

Nashville's Jonathon Blum - 2 points in 8 games.

New Jersey's Mattias Tedenby - 14 in 42 games.

New York Islander's Nino Niederreiter - 2 points in 9 games.

New York Rangers' Mats Zuccarello Aasen - 19 points in 34 games. Scored about three game-winning shootout goals in his first few games.

Ottawa Senators' Zack Smith - 6 in 39 with 54 shots and 63 PIMs.

Philadelphia Flyers - Backlund, Bourdon, Lehtivuori, Pither, and Testwuide have not played. Laliberte was traded. Holmstrom, Kalinski, and Wellwood have 3 points in 14 games, combined. Bobrovsky has 25 wins in 43 games with a .917 save % and a 2.52 GAA.

Phoenix's Oliver Ekman-Larsson - 11 points and 50 shots in 46 games.

(Arm)pitt's Eric Tangradi - 2 in 14.

San Jose's Nick Petrecki - Schenectady native hasn't played this season.

St. Louis' Alex Pietrangelo - 36 points in 64 games.

Tampa Bay's Dana Tyrell - 12 points in 63 games.

Toronto's Nazem Kadri - 6 points in 17 games. Too bad he didn't play the whole season.

Vancouver's Cody Hodgson - 2 points in 8 games.

Washington's Marcus Johansson - 20 points in 55 games. This guy impressed me.

So by my calculations, I was 13-for-41 (31.7%)
Not bad for... Okay it's bad.

2nd-Half Predictions

So I was already proven wrong by "The Great 8", Doughty, and Stamkos. Yet Carey Price is still playing great (I hope I predicted that one wrong).

West:

1 - Vancouver*
2 - Dallas*
3 - Detroit*
4 - Chicago
5 - San Jose
6 - Los Angeles
7 - Colorado
8 - Anaheim

---

9 - Nashville
10 - Phoenix
11 - St. Louis
12 - Minnesota
13 - Calgary
14 - Columbus
15 - Edmonton

---

East:
1 - Philadelphia*
2 - Washington*
3 - Montreal*
4 - pittsburgh
5 - Tampa Bay
6 - Boston
7 - Carolina
8 - Atlanta

---

9 - New York Rangers
10 - Buffalo
11 - Ottawa
12 - Florida
13 - New York Islanders
14 - Toronto
15 - new jersey

So there ya go. Last year I predicted only 7 correct teams in the second half, and the year before, 14. I already see problems with it, but it's on paper (and the internet), so be it.

Let's Talk Rookies. For The Last Time.

This is the last Let's Talk Rookies post. If you missed any they're all here.

Tampa Bay:
Dana Tyrell - Not much to say here.

Not many rookie choices in Tampa.

Toronto:
Nazen Kadri - 96 points in 56 OHL games last year, adding 27 in 12 games in the playoffs.

Strong candidate for Calder.

Vancouver:
Cody Hodgson - 20 in 13 games before injury sidelined him.

Top prospect until injuries hit.

Washington:
Marcus Johansson - Very smart player who played in Farjestad last year.

The Swedish Center, that's right, I went there.

Let's Talk Rookies. How Am I Not Done Yet?

A short break from the rookies but I'm back with the next four.

Phoenix:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - 6th overall in '09 enjoyed a nice season in Sweden.

Well, Turris isn't even a rookie any more.

pittsburgh:
Eric Tangradi - power-forward, I can't stay on the page with penguins on it for too long.

Came over in trade with the Ducks

San Jose
Nick Petrecki - Might not even play this year.

From Schenectady, which is like an hour from PhPh HeadQuarters.

St. Louis:
Alex Pietrangelo - big d-man, 29 points in 25 games for the Barrie Colts last year.

Been up with Blues twice, but sent back to the OHL.

Let's See Some More Tonight

Thursday brought about the start of the NHL season. The Flyers won their first game against their intra-state rivals. Tonight they play St. Louis, a tough team that might remind one of the late 60s-early 70s Blues... might.

Last night I put together my list of predictions for the Conference Standings and total goals and points for some players.

West:
1 - San Jose*
2 - Vancouver*
3 - Detroit*
4 - Chicago
5 - Calgary
6 - Los Angeles
7 - Edmonton
8 - Colorado

---

9 - Phoenix
10 - Nashville
11 - Anaheim
12 - St. Louis
13 - Minnesota
14 - Dallas
15 - Columbus

---

East:
1 - Washington*
2 - Boston*
3 - Philadelphia*
4 - Montreal
5 - pittsburgh
6 - new jersey
7 - Tampa Bay
8 - Buffalo

---

9 - Ottawa
10 - New York Rangers
11 - Toronto
12 - Carolina
13 - New York Islanders
14 - Florida
15 - Atlanta

---

Goals:
Ovechkin - 59, Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
Carter - 51
Ryan - 45
Marleau - 40
Iginla - 32
Richards - 32
Kopitar - 31
van Riemsdyk - 28
Alfredsson - 26
Getzlaf - 26
Doughty - 24

---

Points:
Ovechkin - 116, Art Ross Trophy
Datsyuk - 111
Malkin - 106
Kopitar - 98
Backstrom - 98
Thornton - 91
Stamkos - 87
Richards - 87
H. Sedin - 87
D. Sedin - 85
Stastny - 82
Iginla - 74

---

Explanation: San Jose puts together another great regular season, with Calgary making it back to the playoffs and Detroit having a comeback season, the Phoenix Coyotes fall out of their playoff position from last year.

Philadelphia's Sergei Bobrovsky puts together a Steve Mason-esqe season and wins the Calder Trophy as best rookie, Montreal's Price plays great for the first 3/4 of the season getting injured in February stopping his chance at the All-Star game and the Habs chances for the NE division champs, Tampa Bay makes the playoffs and Buffalo's slow start puts them on the bubble for the whole season.

The Ovie-Backstrom-Semin line becomes elite in NHL history scoring 137 goals with Ovechkin taking home the Richard, Jeff Carter comes back to form-playing with Mike Richards all season didn't hurt either, Stamkos doesn't reach 40 goals but Bobby Ryan hits 45 in a career year, van Riemsdyk is not affected with the sophomore jynx and Drew Doughty leads defensemen in goals and points (tying Larry Murphy's record of 76 points in 80-81).

Ovechkin takes home the Art Ross with fellow countryman Datsyuk not too far behind, Anze Kopitar leads the Kings with 98 points (becoming the highest-scoring King since Gretzky in 93-94), Henrik shows last season was a fluke and Daniel tries but can't even the career total.


Also, last night I purchased The Rocket: The Legend of Rocket Richard from Best Buy's website. I've seen a little of it, from what I remember it's in French, multiple NHLers are in it such as Ian Laperierre and sean avery (who gets his ass whooped by Richard), and it was rated PG for adult language and smoking (?).
I would have put the trailer on here but I just can't figure out how. I do love the narrator of the trailer.

Let's Talk Rookies. Philly Rookies.

Well, this blog isn't called Random Prospect Phan in New York. Let's talk rookies.

Johan Backlund, G - Might have a chance at more than a period this year.

Played a few NHL minutes last year.

Sergei Bobrovsky, G - Looked great in the pre-season.

Great pre-season stats.

Marc-Andre Bourdon, D - Solid season in Adirondack last season.

Should be up in the next few years.

Ben Holmstrom, RW - He'll be called up for a few games this season.

He looked good, playin' in the pre-season with the big boys.

Jon Kalinski, C - Top-notch agitator, almost died last year when he was cut by a skate in L.A.

Strong chances at making team this year.

David Laliberte, RW - Scored in his each of his first two games, also assisted in the first game.

Shows a lot of potential.

Joonas Lehtivuori, D - Finnish defender, looks like 5th pair, which isn't bad considering Philly's depth.

The Finnish D-Man. Oh, yeah.

Luke Pither, C - 3rd in OHL points behind Hall and Seguin.

On the cover of CHL 11.

Mike Testwuide, RW - Played at Colorado College last year.

Scouts say he has what it takes.

Eric Wellwood, LW - 68 points in 65 OHL games last year.

Has the skill to be a third line role player.

Let's Talk Rookies. Some more.

Montreal:
P.K. Subban - Obviously the Habs big rookie this season. But lets not forget about Dutchman Lars Eller.

An early favorite for the Calder.

Nashville:
Jonathon Blum - was drafted with the Preds '07 first rounder, originally traded with Parent (who is back in "The Music City") and Upshall for Forsberg, and later traded back to Nashville for Hartnell and Timonen.

I had a Coach Blum when I was younger and played hockey.

new jersey:
A Swede? A New Yorker? Mattias Tedenby has been their biggest prospect since '08.

Two CNYers on the Devils this year.

New York Islanders:
Nino Niederreiter - Great young Swiss player should make team this year.

Niedermayer? Niedenfeitter? Nino? Oh, he's Swiss.

New York Rangers:
Mats Zuccarello Aasen - The Norwegian Winger played with Forsberg and Naslund last year. Lucky.

You think he knows the Danish D-Man?

Ottawa:
Zack Smith - Cowen and Lehner were both sent down, so...

I know a Zack Smith.

Six! my bad.

Let's Talk More Rookies.

Detroit:
Tomas Tatar - He probably wont make the team this year, but did you see him at the world juniors?

Good internationally.

Edmonton:Take yer pick - Hall, Eberle, Paajarvi. Also, AHL king, Alex Giroux is now out of Hershey and in Oklahoma City (a ploy?).

The trio looks to do damage to the Northeast.

Florida:
Michal Repik - shows great promise.

Chose to sign with a team in the Czech Republic. Wait a minute?

Los Angeles:
Braydon Schenn - Great playmaker and awesome awareness in his own zone.

Younger brother of Toronto's Luke.

Minnesota:
Casey Wellman - Not a great Calder city if you know what I mean.

Remember whatI said?

Let's Talk Rookies. Again.

Carolina:
Bobby Sanguinetti - Became #1 when Boychuk was put down again.

Sanguinetti, or as I call him, Sanguitini

Chicago:
Kyle Beach - 52 goals, 86 points in 68 games with Spokane. 7 playoff goals in 7 WHL games, while 3 playoff goals in 4 AHL games.

Beach

Colorado:
Colby Cohen - I'm bitter because USA World Juniors star Shattenkirk has been sent to the AHL.

Cohen with the hardware that you get when you go to college in Massachusetts.

Columbus:
Nikita Filatov - 21 games. Is he still considered a rookie?

Filatov is gonna get big. Ability-wise.

Dallas:
Philip Larsen - Danish D-man. that's it.

Danish D-man would make a nice nickname. Maybe not.

Let's Talk Rookies.

So this years rookie class is lead by Taylor Hall, the #1 pick in the 2010 draft. I'm gonna talk about 5 rookies to look out for this year everytime there is nothing else to post about.

Anaheim:
Luca Sbisa, D - should be a name Flyer fans know. He looked good for Philly in 08-09.

Sbisa laying down the hammer.

Atlanta:
Arturs Kulda, D - +47 with Chicago Wolves last year while throwing in 25 points in just 66 games.

Kulda has a hammer too.

Boston:
Tyler Seguin, C - obviously the Bruins top rookie choice, after him is Zach Hamill.

Seguin was a dominant force in the OHL last year.

Buffalo:
Tyler Ennis, C - scored 9 points with Buffalo in 10 games last year. Named AHL Rookie of the Year.

Ennis taking a shot at Flyers goalie Ray Emery

Calgary:
Tim Erixon, D - son of Jan, and solid defenseman.

Nice shot of the draft puck.

So there is the first five. Let's see if they all make the NHL this year.

East/West Predictions, Part 2

wow. Montreal. disappointment. I was in awe of how terrible Washington played. Anyway, on to the predictions.

EAST
#6-Boston vs. #7-Philadelphia
Obviously Philly is gonna win and advance to play the ...

#5-pittsburgh vs. #8-Montreal
Montreal (not just because I hate the other team), Halak is playing so fantastic, he alone beat the highest scoring team in the league.

WEST
#1-San Jose vs. #5-Detroit
Detroit is so experienced and San Jose isn't getting much from anyone but Pavelski.

#2-Chicago vs. #3-Vancouver
tough one. Chicago won last year because of a hall of shame choke by Roberto Luongo. But the Sedins have really stepped it up since. I pick Vancouver in 7

West Predictions

I've made my East predictions, now for the west.
#1-San Jose vs. #8 Colorado
San Jose; San Jose has had some play-off disappointment in the past, but with the addition of Dany Heatley (who helped lead Ottawa to the 2007 finals) their chances are better. Plus, Colorado is led by rookies like Matt Duchene and goalie (with no NHL play-off experience) Craig Anderson.

#2-Chicago vs. #7-Nashville
Now here is an easy pick. Nashville will probably not even get a win. The Blackhawks have Kane, Toews, Seabrook, and Niemi, who all (except the latter) helped Chicago to the conference finals last year. I really think Nashville doesn't have a chance in hell.

#3-Vancouver vs. #6-Los Angeles
Vancouver has a good chance at this one, as long as Luongo comes up big against Kopitar and Smyth. Jonathon Quick is one of many rookie goaltenders this season who has a starting job but with Daniel and Henrik Sedin on the ice for 23 minutes a game he needs to make a couple big saves. So my verdict: Vancouver.

#4-Phoenix vs. #5-Detroit
Phoenix is gonna need some huge goals from Doan and Wolski to take a few games in this series. Detroit's experience will win this series in six games. Uh-Oh! a number prediction. Zetterberg (my guess for Detroit's next captain after the great Lidstrom retires) will lead the team with Datsyuk.

So there are all of my predictions for the first round (pretty great, eh?).