WJC Preliminary round done

[Sylvanfan]

Well the preliminary round of the WJC is done and 6 of the 7 Oiler players will advance on to the medal round although only 5 will play. Ironically the player who performed as well as any is the one guy who is going to the relegation round. Poor Meszaros would likely be inline to be a tourney allstar on defence if not for todays loss to the Swedes and an unfortunate tie breaker formula (I still don't understand how Finland goes on over Slovakia) but thus far Meszaros is backing up former Oiler GM Speeds claim from draft day that he was the best d-man to be had in the draft. Jeff Carter, Johannes Salmonsson, Colin Fraser, and Andrej Meszaros have so far averaged at least one point per game. Both Carter and Salmonsson have each scored 5 goals in 4 games. Meszaros finished the prelim round tied for the lead in defenceman scoring, and leading all d-men with 3 goals. Lauri Korpikovski has 2 goals in 4 games and Cam Barker had 1 in 3 games, but will now sit out after being diagnosed with mono (still messing around with all them highschool girls in the Hat methinks). The other Oiler prospect Johan Fransson has yet to put up a point, but is even in the +/- which is acceptable considering that Canada pounded the Swedes. So far it's been a good tourney for Oiler prospects and we'll wait to see what the medal round holds.

[looooob]

For the Sabres F Petr Vrana has been very good for the CZE team. Over a point a game, and a solid plus minus. Robert Nilsson remains enigmatic, but both he and Linus Videll have put up some points for the Swedes. Piispanen and Pineault have struggled in this tourney, and Colliton has not yet played due to injury. However his mere presence in the stands has helped push Canada to new heights.

[icarus]

The five Los Angeles Kings prospects have all been impressive in the preliminaries, and their two representative countries each finished first in their pools. Four of the five players finished in the top ten in assists, including three in the top five, and the top two positions. Especially notable was the play of Patrice Bergeron, who finished the round robin as the tournament's top scorer.

Here is how the Kings prospects have fared:

CANADA (GP G A PTS PIM +/-)
Patrice Bergeron 4 3 7 10 6 +5 (1st in scoring, 1st in assists, 7th in goals, 17th in +/-)
Dion Phaneuf 4 0 4 4 12 +7 (2nd in D scoring, 4th in assists, 5th in +/-, 13th in PIM, 30th in scoring)

RUSSIA (GP G A PTS PIM +/-)
Evgeni Malkin 4 1 6 7 14 0 (2nd in assists, 7th in scoring, 8th in PIM)
Enver Lisin 4 1 3 4 0 +6 (8th in assists, 13th in +/-, 24th in scoring)
Dmitri Vorobiev 4 1 1 2 0 +7 (5th in +/-, 7th in D scoring)

[flamesrule14]

The Dallas Stars have two prospects in this year's WJHC. First round pick Rostislav Olesz and Grigori Shafigulin. Olesz has once again had a solid tournament thus far and leads his team in scoring and has been a major reason the Czechs finished 2nd in pool A. He is tied for second in scoring thus far in the tournament. Shafigulin has played solid so far for the Russians. The Russians finished in first place in pool A and have a bye to the next round.

Here are the stats for the two Stars prospects so far:

(Player, Country, GP, G, A, PTS, PIM, +/-)
Rostislav Olesz Cze 4 5 3 8 8 +7
Grigori Shafigulin Rus 4 0 1 1 4 Even

[Flickered Flame]

The Devils have been pleased with Alexander Radulov's performance thus far. Radulov has 2 goals in 4 tournament games.

[Pointman]

Meanwhile the Hawks have signed russian goalie Anton Khudobin as rookie UFA. Khudobin already player 113 minutes in RSL and didn't let in any goals.