Keeping an eye on the Q's Europeans

Each season a new group of European stars bring their skills to North America via the CHL Import Draft.

These players usually go on to play significant roles for their Canadian clubs. This season is no different with six European skaters in the top 30 in QMJHL scoring.

Three of these six skaters are QMJHL rookies, taken in the 2011 import draft.

Mikhail Grigorenko leads the charge of European’s this season. Grigorenko, the QMJHL’s top prospect for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, leads all rookies with 61 points in 39 games this season.

He was ranked second amongst all North American skaters by the most recent NHL Central Scouting Service (CSS) report and has a four point lead over Halifax’s Nathan MacKinnon in the rookie scoring race. CSS ranks players based on the geography of their current league, not birthplace.

Grigorenko stands a very good chance at becoming the first QMJHL player to make the transition to the NHL as an 18-year-old since Rimouski’s Sidney Crosby made the jump in 2005. This is a very exclusive club, including Crosby, only four 18-year-olds have made the jump from the QMJHL in the past 15 years. These players are: VincentLecavalier, Pierre Marc Bouchard, and Patrice Bergeron.

Anton Zlobin has a lot of ground to make up if he’s going to catch Grigorenko for the European scoring crown. Zlobin is currently second in European scoring with 56 points in 48 games this season. Those five points may not seem like much, but Zlobin has played nine more games this season than Grigorenko.

Undrafted at the 2011 NHL draft and not dominating the way most would expect a 19-year-old European skater too, has dropped his draft stock in 2012. Still, Zlobin’s 31 goals lead all European skaters in the QMJHL this season and thus CSS has him projected as the 128^th skater amongst players in North American leagues.

Despite missing time due to injury and the World Junior Championships, Saint John’s Tomas Jurco sits third in team scoring and third among Europeans this season with 51 points.

Having played only 35 games, Jurco comes in with the least amount of games among Europeans in the top five. Averaging well over a point per game and having the luxury of playing for a powerhouse Saint John squad, expect Jurco to take over second spot among the top five by season's end. If anyone has the ability to challenge Grigorenko for the European scoring lead this season it will be Jurco. A late birthday delayed Jurco’s draft eligibility until 2011 where he was taken 35^th overall in the second-round by the Detroit Red Wings.

A three way tie rounds out the top 30 in QMJHL scoring as well as the top five amongst Euro’s.

Sven Andrighetto, Marek Hrivik and Matej Beran each have 50 points on the season.

Andrighetto leads the three with 23 goals on the season, yet of the three, he’s the lowest ranked by CSS at 186th.

Hrivik and Beran are tied with 19goals each and are likely to be drafted this summer. Beran is ranked 59^thamong North American skaters and Hrivik 65^th.

Despite various rankings, all six are playing crucial roles for their respective teams this season. Grigorenko and Zlobin are the leading scorers for two Presidents Cup contenders in Quebec and Shawinigan.

Andrighetto leads his club, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, as well. On P.E.I., Beran follows only star Ben Duffy in scoring and Jurco and Hrivik sit third on their respective teams in scoring.

Jurco and Sea Dogs look to repeat

Tomas Jurco of the Saint John Sea Dogs has experienced a lot of success this past season. He was a key part of the Sea Dogs tying the QMJHL record for wins in a season. He also helped the Sea Dogs win the Memorial Cup, a win that finally brought a Memorial Cup championship to the Maritimes. On top of the championship season, Jurco also got drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round of the NHL draft (35th overall).

Jurco finished the 2010-11 QMJHL season with 31 goals and 25 assists. In the playoffs, Jurco finished with six goals and 12 assists in 19 games. He finished the Memorial Cup with four goals and one assist in four games.

This year Jurco hopes that the thrill of the Memorial Cup can help motivate himself as well as his teammates to go for a repeat of last year. It will be a challenge though, because Jurco and his teammates have to step up their game because of some key injuries. The Sea Dogs are missing players like Stanislav Galiev, and Ryan Tesink.

Jurco’s season is going the way he wants it to. He is getting a lot of points and he hopes his play will earn himself a spot with the Red Wings next season.

“So far it’s a good season, it got off to a slow start because a lot of people were missing.”

He did suffer a set back however, with the plane crash that happened in Russia. Being a Slovakian born player, he was really upset by the death of Pavol Demitra. Jurco had to fly to Detroit the next day for training camp.

“It was such a weird feeling, I am kind of afraid to fly now.”

WJC Today - Day 7 Preview

It's day seven of the World Junior Hockey Championships and there are three games on the clock.

Round robin is now over and team's will now be competing in either the relegation round or the quarter finals.

The scene will now shift to the Pengrowth Saddledom in Calgary, Alta.

Switzerland and Denmark will battle in a relegation-round match at 1 p.m. EST. Switzerland finished round robin with a 1-2-1 record. Denmark lost all four of their games in round robin.

At 5 p.m EST, Slovakia and Finland will battle against each other to earn a spot in tomorrow night's semi-finals match up against Sweden. The loser will play on Wednesday Jan. 4 to qualify for the Bronze medal game.

Slovakia finished the round robin with a 2-2 record for a third place finish in Pool A. They were led by Saint John Sea Dogs forward Tomas Jurco with a goal and six points.

Finland finished second in Pool B with a 3-1 record and were led by Teemu Pulkkinen's five goals and eight points.

Goaltender Christopher Gibson of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens has appeared in two games recording a 4.50 goals-against-average.

Last but not least, is the Czech Republic battling Russia in the second quarter final game of the night at 9 p.m. EST.

Russia finished second place in Pool A with a 3-0-1 record. The Russians are led by Nikita Gusev and Yevgeni Kuznetsov with three goals and nine points each.

Quebec Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko has two goals and four points.

The Czech Republic finished third place in Pool B with a 2-2 record and were led by Petr Mrazek's solid goaltending.

The winner will advance to play Canada tomorrow night in the semi-finals. The loser will play on Wednesday Jan. 4 to qualify for the Bronze medal game.

Photo courtesy of TSN.ca