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Flyers' Farm Report; Forsberg moves up timetable |
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With the 2008 World Junior Championships behind them, the five Flyers' WJC participants have set their sites on the stretch drive of the season.
In this week's Flyers Farm Report, I will look at what has gone on with these players since the WJC. Next week, I will spotlight Andreas Nödl, Patrick Maroon and Michael Ratchuk.
* James vanRiemsdyk: After a very successful WJC tournament in the Czech Republic, vanRiemdsyk will face a new challenge at the University of New Hampshire. At least for the time being, he will be playing center instead of left wing.
The second overall pick of the 2007 Entry Draft originally got his start with the US National Team Development Program as a center but has been a winger for the last couple years. During the Flyers' summer rookie camp, vanRiemsdyk spent some time at center.
In UNH's 5-3 win over UMass this past weekend, JVR played center and was named the game's first star after scoring a breakaway goal and adding an assist. He centered a line with Jerry Pollastrone and Bobby Butler.
For the season, freshman vanRiemsdyk has eight goals and 19 points in his first 15 games.
* Claude Giroux: Hearst, Ontario native Giroux was honored for his part in Team Canada's gold medal at the 2008 WJC in a pre-game ceremony before Ottawa Senators game against the New York Islanders last Sunday. He scored a goal in his first game back with Gatineau after the WJC, in a 6-3 loss to Chicoutimi.
For the season, he has 25 goals and 58 points in 34 games, good for eighth in the Quebec League despite playing at least four fewer league games than every other player in the league's top-25 scorers with the exception of Jakub Voracek.
* Joonas Lehtivuori: Defenseman Lehtivuori had a quieter-than-expected WJC offensively, but was outstanding in his own of the ice and twice won Player of the Game honors for his Finnish team during the WJC. He has subsequently stepped right back into the Ilves Tampere lineup, and played a solid match in today's 3-2 shootout win over JyP.
For the season, the 19-year-old blueliner has five goals, 16 points and a plus-six rating in 34 SM-Liiga games.
Like all unsigned European draftees from the 2006 Entry Draft, Lehtivuori's NHL status is up in the air in lieu of a new NHL-IIHF transfer agreement.
Under the current NHL/NHLPA collective bargaining agreement, the Flyers have until June to sign Lehtivuori or lose his rights. Unfortunately, he's not NHL ready yet (few defensemen his age are) and he would probably be better served with another year or two in the SM-Liiga rather than the AHL. Lehtivuori re-signed a multi-year dear with Ilves early this season.
Flyers GM Paul Holmgren indicated to me last month that the Flyers will do whatever is necessary to protect Lehtivuori's rights when the time comes to make a decision, but for now will wait and see what happens with the transfer agreement and the two-year signing
window.
If the two-year rule is not changed, one possibility would be for the Flyers to sign Lehtivuori to an entry level contract and then "loan" him back to Ilves for next season. But there's a long way to go before any such decision would be made.
* Mario Kempe: Team Sweden coach Pär Mårts confined Kempe to the fourth line during the WJC, and the St. John's Fog Devils right winger was almost a forgotten man in the Swedish lineup by the time of the medal round. He did see a little powerplay time against Canada in the gold medal game.
Since returning to St. John's, Kempe has resumed playing on the top line with Jean-Simon Allard and Phil Mangan, and scored a goal against Rimouski. For the season, Kempe has 19 goals and 35 points in 33 games.
* Jakub Kovar: Kovar was in competition for Michal Neuvirth for the number one goaltender spot for the Czech Republic at the WJC, and was outplayed in both the pre-tournament and preliminary round. Neuvirth got the call in the medal round. Nevertheless, Kovar remains a well-regarded goaltending prospect.
Kovar has been traded from the Oshawa Generals to Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. In his first start for his new team, he stopped 34 of 40 shots in a 7-6 shootout win over Owen Sound. In the shootout, Kovar secured the win by turning back attempts from Chris MacKinnon, Joey Hishon, Matt Carter, David Kolomatis, Marc Franchini and Frankie Santini.
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Peter Forsberg may be returning to the ice a little sooner than he initially predicted.
Yesterday, Forsberg said he would take to the ice in two to three weeks.
Today, Team Sweden head coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson said in an interview that the 34-year-old superstar center will take to the ice next week and try to play for the Swedish national team at the LG Hockey Games.
The tournament will take place at Stockholm's Globe Arena from February 7 to 10. If all goes well, Forsberg would presumably be ready to sign a contract with an NHL team (or Modo) shortly thereafter, well in advance of the Feb. 26 deadline for playoff roster eligibility.
As long as he's signed to an NHL before the deadline, Forsberg need not play in an NHL game until he pronounces himself ready, and would still be able to play in the playoffs.
It appears that Forsberg hopes to get as many games as possible in to prepare for a playoff run -- assuming his right foot holds up before then.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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