Prospect of the week

Andrey Pedan (OHL Images)

It was a pretty quiet week for the prospects of the New York Rangers and New York Islanders so quiet that only an Islander prospect got the nod for prospect of the week. A couple of Ranger prospects had good games but one has to play well in all of their games to earn consideration.

Defenseman Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) is a prospect that I admit at times frustrates the heck out of me. There is no question that Pedan has the talent to make it to the next level but talent is just one part of the equation.

It is his lack of on ice discipline that keeps me from believing he will become a solid NHL player. 40 PIMs in 12 games (and that is not counting misconducts) is too much and only hurts your own development but risk your team's chances at winning.

But giving credit to where it is due, Pedan had a strong 3 game in 3 night week to help his Guelph Storm go undefeated last week and improve the team's unbeaten in regulation streak to 8-0-0-1 and an overall record of 9-2-0-1.

Pedan had a quiet start to his week on Friday recording a power play goal (4th goal overall) of the season as part of Guelph's 6-3 win over the Sarnia Sting. It wasn't a perfect game as Pedan was in the box (along with a teammate creating a 2 man advantage) when Saginaw scored their first goal of the game.

On Saturday, Pedan had 2 primary assists on the power play against the Saginaw Spirit as Guelph won 8-5. Defensively Pedan was a -2 but his assists helped the Storm put away the Spirit so they get forgiven.

Sunday in the 3rd game in 3 nights was Pedan's best effort of the season as he earned the game's first star as the Guelph Storm made it a clean sweep of the week winning 7-1 over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Pedan scored his 3rd power play goal of the season, added a primary assist on a shorthanded goal and finished his week off with a secondary power play assist. It was Pedan's best effort of the season as he finishes the week off with a 2-4-6 stat.

For the season Pedan is 4-6-10 (10th among OHL defenders), +3, 40 PIMs (3rd overall in the OHL) and right now playing like he wants that Islander contract. Now if he could find a way to cut down on all the penalties he takes then his potential to make the NHL increases.

As for the New York Rangers; Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) had a hat trick last Friday evening against Moose Jaw and Cristoval Nieves set up his 2nd game winning goal in 3 games also on Friday.

If they had either played a second game (Nieves) or a decent one (St. Croix) then one of them would have earned the nod. The standards for being the prospect has to start with what did you do to help your team win during the week. One game or even a individual performance can't be enough.

Brendan Kichton (Spokane Chiefs)

Game Action

Just one prospect saw action on Tuesday evening as the Spokane Chiefs traveled to Prince George for back to back games against the Prince George Cougars. The Spokane Chiefs took game 1 with a 6-1 win.

Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) earned the game's 2nd star with a 3 assist, +3 effort as Spokane blew the game wide open with a 5 goal 3rd period. With Spokane trailing 1-0; Kichton got his evening going when he set up Todd Fiddler for the game tying goal at 18:51 of the 2nd period.

In the 3rd period, Kichton earned his 2nd assist of the night (a secondary one) as the Chiefs cashed in a power play goal for a 3-1 at 5:21. Kichton added a 2nd secondary assist on Spokane's 5th goal of the game at 12:35 of the same period.

Kichton's 3 assists helped Spokane win their 3rd straight game to improve their record to 9-3 on the season. Kichton is now 3-12-15 which puts him 3rd in the WHL among defensemen scoring.

Congrats on Making Team OHL

The OHL announced their rosters for the annual Subway Super Series which pits all-star teams made up of Canadian born junior players against those from Russia. The games will be held first in Guelph on November 8 and the second one in Sarnia on November 12.

Playing in both games with be Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) of the Niagara IceDogs. Playing just in the game in Sarnia will be defenseman Adam Pelech (NYI 2012 3rd)

Hockey Canada uses these games as part of their process in naming those players who will be given the chance to play for Canada in the 2013 World Under-20 Championships. This year's event will be held in Russia beginning on December 26th.

No Ranger or Islander prospect was invited to play for Canada in the QMJHL portion of the series. Griffin Reinhart (Islanders) is expected to be named to Team WHL and Michael St. Croix (Rangers) might be the only Ranger invited but with Hockey Canada one can never be too sure.