Badgers in the pros: NHL Update

It's been far too long since we've recapped the successes that our former Badgers are having in the best league in sports, the National Hockey League. The Badgers have seen 19 former players wear NHL sweaters this season, which is the most amongst college hockey programs.

While we're on the subject of the NHL, don't forget that hockey picks at BetUS is your best online source for tips, news, and game lines on all NHL action.

Rene Bourque-Calgary Flames: Started the season on fired but has slowed considerably since. Although he has scored twice in his past four games. Bourque is fifth on the Flames in scoring and second on the squad in goals.

Adam Burish-Dallas Stars: Burish, who was playing in an expanded role this season has been out with injury since February 3rd. Burish was placed on injured reserve after suffering facial injuries in a fight against Boston earlier this month. His 7 goals and 11 points this season are both career highs.

Jake Dowell-Chicago Blackhawks: Finally in a full time NHL role the Eau Claire native is making the most of his opportunity. He's reached career highs in games (53), goals (5), assists (12), and points (17). He's also on pace to surpass his 23 points he scored in the AHL last season. His plus 9 rating is good for 6th amongst all NHL rookies this season.

Davis Drewiske-LA Kings: Davis, who is in his first year of a three year guaranteed contract with the Kings is experiencing the rocky road of professional sports. After being hit in the face with a puck in practice which according to reports caused significant blood loss and required stitches has had a tough time finding his way back into the every night lineup. The Hudson native has recorded five points in 36 games for the Kings this season.

Robbie Earl-Minnesota Wild: Earl, who is not currently on the roster with Minnesota was called up for six games earlier this season but was quickly sent back to Houston of the AHL. Earl is second on Houston in scoring, only one point behind the team lead despite playing 11 less games than the leader. Earl, who is a restricted Free Agent after the season needs to find a home with an NHL team willing to give him more than 8 minutes a night.

Brian Elliott-Ottawa Senators: Elliott has fallen victim of the worst thing that can happen to a goaltender, being on a terrible hockey team. The Senators are the worst team in the Eastern Conference and are making a run at the #1 pick in next summers NHL draft. The Senators have recently been alternating between Elliott and rookie Robin Lehner between the pipes although Elliott has started over 2/3 of the games this season.

Brian Fahey-Washington Capitals: Fahey, like Earl is no longer with the big club. The former Badger defenseman has been called up by the Capitals numerous times this season but has only seen action in seven games. Finally breaking through to the NHL at age 29, Fahey will no doubt look for a team to provide more minutes for him next season when he is an unrestricted free agent.

Tom Gilbert-Edmonton Oilers: One of the hero's of the 2006 NCAA title team, Gilbert is making the best out of a bad situation in Edmonton. The Oilers, who are one of the youngest teams in the league are brutal and it shows in Gilbert's numbers. Gilbert's 15 points in 56 games have him on pace for a career low. Despite being out of the race Gilbert is still willing to sacrifice his body as he's 9th in the league in blocked shots.

Dany Heatley-San Jose Sharks: He may not be having a Heatley type year but it's not a terrible year for the recently turned 30 year old. Heatley's 47 points this season pace the Sharks and have him amongst the top 25 scorers in the game. Heatley leads all former Badgers in total points.

Jamie McBain-Carolina Hurricanes: The former WCHA Player of the Year is enjoying the perils of his first full NHL season. McBain's 17 points rank him fifth amongst NHL rookie defenseman. McBain was recently invited to participate in the NHL's rookie skills challenge which was hosted by the Hurricanes.

Ryan McDonagh-New York Rangers: The most recent former Badger to see time in the NHL, McDonagh has seen his playing time skyrocket in recent days. Averaging just over 10 minutes the first six or so games of his call up McDonagh earned more ice time with is play and has been rewarded with about 20 minutes per game over the past 10 games. Expect the former Cretin Derham Hall star to have a Ryan Suter like career in the NHL.

Joe Pavelski-San Jose Sharks: The Polish Prince continues to be a point producing machine. Despite missing eight games this season Pavelski is still on pace to break his career high of 59 points. Pavelski has been hot since returning from injury recording 13 points in his past 12 games.

Brian Rafalski-Detroit Redwings: The wily veteran from Dearborn, Michigan is at it again. The 37 year old has 36 points which is good enough for fifth on the wings in scoring despite playing more than 10 games less than the leaders due to injury. He trails only Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk, and Franzen for the team lead.

Steven Reinprecht-Florida Panthers: 29 games into the 2010-2011 hockey season the Florida Panthers and Reinprecht decided to go their separate ways. The Panthers placed Reinprecht on waivers and Rino has found a home overseas in Germany with the Mannheim Eagles.

Jack Skille-Florida Panthers: Most of you are already aware but for those of you who aren't, Jack was traded last week by the Chicago Blackhawks basically in exchange for Michael Frolik. A change of scenery might have been the best thing for Jack who has yet to live up to his reputation as the 7th overall pick in the 2005 draft. He has set career highs in games (51), goals (7), assists (10), and points (17) this season.

Derek Stepan-New York Rangers: One of the biggest surprises amongst Badgers in the pros this year has been the play of Stapan. The rookie has put up 32 points for the blue shirts which leaves him in third place on the team in scoring and sixth amongst rookies in scoring, only 4 points from second. Stepan, like McBain was selected for the NHL rookie skills challenge. I think it's safe to say his decision to sign this off season was the correct one.

Ryan Suter-Nashville Predators: Suter continues to set the standard for what the NHL looks for in a defenseman. Teaming with Shea Webber to form one of the best back ends in hockey, Suter has recorded 26 points in 45 games for the Pred's this season.

Kyle Turris-Phoenix Coyotes: Back in the NHL once again after spending a full year in the AHL Turris is enjoying every moment of NHL life. While not yet living up to his third overall selection in the 2007 draft, Turris is back on the right track with 18 points in 46 games for the Coyotes. His 18 points are actually pretty remarkable when you realize that he's averaging less than 12 minutes per night.

Brad Winchester-St. Louis Blues: Winchester knows his role and he plays it well. The St. Louis Blues tough guy is second on the team in penalty minutes and has still found time to put up 9 goals this season.

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Badgers in the NHL, Part I

Now that NHL camps are wrapping up and rosters are getting finalized, I'll have a few installments of former Wisconsin Badgers either playing for an NHL team or in a squad's minor league system. Today we'll take a spin through the NHL's Eastern Conference.

D Ryan McDonagh '10, New York Rangers

McDonagh has been viewed as the most NHL-ready of last year's Badgers, and with good reason. The rock-solid defender's rights were traded from Montreal in a deal for Scott Gomez in 2008, and his chances of playing in New York improved after defenseman Wade Redden was sent to the minors on Sunday. McDonagh has impressed in camp with his physical play, and if he's not in playing his home games at Madison Square Garden in early October, his Rangers debut won't come much later. McDonagh led the Rangers in ice time on Sunday in an exhibition against the Detroit Red Wings, which bodes well for his immediate future.

C Derek Stepan '10, New York Rangers

I remember the moment when I knew Stepan was truly something special. While he had a magnificent sophomore year last year, his real coming-out party was when he scored two shorthanded goals in the same penalty against North Dakota on March 7th, 2009. Efforts like that get noticed, and he reminded me of that game tonight when he notched a shorty in the first period of the Rangers' game against Ottawa and a certain former Badger goaltender (more on him shortly). That was Stepan's second goal of the week, as he scored on Sunday against Detroit (with Brendan Smith on the ice). He also assisted on Marian Gaborik's OT game-winner last Thursday against New Jersey. At this time last week, I would have guessed that he'd be starting the season with Hartford of the AHL, but he's making a big run at a roster spot now, and my guess is he and McD are both in Gotham. If he does start in the minors, I expect him to be with the Blueshirts by the time they visit Columbus in mid-December.

D Jamie McBain '09, Carolina Hurricanes

McBain impressed in his first stint in the big leagues last season, putting up three goals and seven assists with a +6 rating in just 14 games at the end of the year. The Canes' early line sheet shows McBain matched up with US Olympian Tim Gleason on the second pair, and they should see plenty of ice time in all situations.

D Kyle Klubertanz '08, Montreal Canadiens

Kluby signed with the Habs over the summer after playing for a few years in Europe, where he ranked fifth in scoring among defensemen in the Swedish Elite League. He'll be manning the blue line for Montreal's AHL affiliate in Hamilton this season.

D Josh Engel '08, Toronto Maple Leafs
He of the miracle pass to Jack Skille against Cornell played all of last season for the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs' AHL affiliate, putting up 17 points in 70 games. He was invited to Leafs' camp this fall and will fight for a roster spot, but he will likely return for another year with the Marlies.

G Brian Elliott '07, Ottawa Senators

The goaltender on Wisconsin's most recent championship team entrenched himself as the starter in Ottawa over the second half of last season, posting a 2.57 goals-against and a .909 save percentage. Elliott struggled in his first playoff series, but many goalies have difficulty against the Pittsburgh Penguins' offense. Pascal Leclaire, from whom Elliott took the job, is still around, but he was ineffective last season. Elliott hasn't been extremely impressive in the preseason, but it appears that he'll go into the season as the starter.

D Joe Piskula '07, Philadelphia Flyers

Piskula signed a professional tryout contract with the Flyers, and was given the opportunity to play for a spot in the organization. Unfortunately, he was released over the weekend. Hopefully Joe can catch on elsewhere after playing three seasons for the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL. (UPDATE: Chuck reports that Piskula has signed with the Abbotsford Heat, Calgary's AHL affiliate, but this report puts him in Oklahoma City, the Oilers' farm team.)

C Steve Reinprecht '00, Florida Panthers

The guy who arguably should have won Wisconsin's first Hobey Baker award in 2000 will play his second season as a Panther after four years in Phoenix. Reinprecht consistently scores around 40 points per season, and will likely maintain that level of production for a seemingly constantly rebuilding Florida organization.

That's it for part one. Stay tuned for a look through the Western Conference soon.

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Burish Signs With Stars; Stepan Makes It Official

The flamboyant, energetic, quotable pest that every Badger fan loves, Adam Burish, has signed a free agent contract with the Dallas Stars. The deal is set to pay the former Wisconsin captain $1 million in 2010-2011 and $1.3 million in 2011-2012.

"There was a bunch of teams interested," Burish said. "It was a little overwhelming. I've never gone through this before. I was in the gym kind of working out and by 11:20 [a.m. CT] teams had been calling my agent. There were like five or six."

Burish would have loved to stay with Stanley Cup Champion Chicago but became a victim of the the salary cap crunch. The expected 59 million dollar salary cap is actually 55 million for Chicago next season who is penalized for going over the cap with bonuses from last seasons playoffs. With the expensive deals of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, and Brian Campbell already on the books, the Hawks have been forced to trade away, or let go in free agency a lot of mid level players who will be replaced with players expected to make around the league minimum so that they can sneak in under the cap and still keep their high end players like Patrick Sharp.

"He's a hard-nosed kid and very hard to play against," Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk said. "He plays with a lot of energy and pulls people into the fight with him. He skates really well and works hard. The games I watched in the playoffs, he was the first guy in on the forecheck and finished with authority." Nieuwendyk sees Burish as a third-line winger or a fourth-line winger or center.
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Wisconsin's leading scorer last season Derek Stepan has officially signed with the New York Rangers. Per NHL rules, the Rangers were forced to wait until July 1st to officially announce the signing even though they had a deal in place weeks ago.

According to the website CapGeek.com, Stepan will have a cap hit of $820,333 for the three years on his entry level contract. Officially he will receive $712,500 if he is in the NHL this season, and $875,000 if he is in the NHL for the next two seasons. Additionally, per the terms of the CBA, he will receive a signing bonus of $87,500 each of the next three seasons weather is in the NHL or not. Stepans salary in the AHL next season will be $65,000.

Stepan, 20, served as captain of Team USA at the 2010 World Junior Championships, leading the United States to a gold medal. He led all skaters in assists (10) and points (14) in seven games en route to being named to the tournament All-Star Team, as selected by the media.

This season, Stepan scored 12 goals and 42 assists and had 8 penalty minutes in 41 games with the University of Wisconsin. He established career-highs in games played, goals, assists, points and penalty minutes. Stepan ranked among the NCAA leaders in several scoring categories, finishing tied for first in the nation in assists and ranked second in points. He also led the WCHA in points, assists and power play assists (22), and tied for fifth in power play points (23). The second-year player led his team in assists and points, tied for third in game-winning goals (3) and seventh in goals while surpassing the 40-assist and 50-point marks for the first time in his collegiate career.

Geoffrion Nominated For An ESPY-VOTE NOW

Wisconsin Badgers Tri-Captain and 2010 Hobey Baker winner Blake Geoffrion continues to accumulate accolades. Just a few months removed from the Frozen Four, Geoffrion has been nominated for an ESPN ESPY award for "Best Male College Athlete."

You can vote for Blake by going to this LINK.

Other players nominated are Mark Ingram, Alabama football Heisman Trophy winner; Evan Turner, Ohio State baskebtall player; John Wall, Kentucky basketball player, and Garrett Wittels, Florida International baseball player who has a current 56 game hitting streak going.

In addition to his ESPY nomination, yesterday Blake was named the University of Wisconsin Male Athlete of the Year. Junior simmer/diver Maggie Meyer was named the Female Athlete of the Year.

Each Big Ten school nominates a male and female Athlete of the Year, and those two student-athletes become nominees for the Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Year awards. The Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year and Suzy Favor Female Athlete of the Year awards are then voted on by a panel of conference media members. The Big Ten will announce its athlete of the year award winners on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Photo by Melody Hasse

The Prince Gets Paid

Multiple outlets Thursday morning are reporting that former Wisconsin Badger Joe Pavelski has signed a contract extension with the San Jose Sharks. According to reports, the deal is worth 16 million over the next four years.

The 25 year old centerman tied a career high in goals with 25 despite missing 15 games with a broken foot. The Polish Prince took his game international during the Olympic break helping the United States to a Silver Medal at the Vancouver games. Pavelski was the center on the ice and got an assist on Zach Parise's game tying goal with less than a minute left in regulation in the Gold Medal game.

Coming off a great Olympics, Pavelski took his game to a whole other level in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Sharks. The Plover, WI native recorded 17 points in 15 playoff games leading the Sharks into the Western Conference Finals where they fell to eventual Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Pavelski was a key member of the 2006 National Championship team. The 5'11, 195 pound forward was named a second team All-American in the 2005-2006 season after recording a team high 56 points in 43 games for the Badgers.

A big player with a big heart, Pavelski can be found this weekend in his hometown where he is hosting a charity golf tournament. The NHL star will be donating all the proceeds of the tournament back to the youth hockey association that raised him, Portage County Youth On Ice.

Blackhawks Parade Pictures

Thanks to blog reader Chris for the pictures.

Adam Burish Interview with CBC

Burish, Blackhawks Win Cup

Photos by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Former Badger Mellanby Named Blues Assistant

Scott Mellanby, a veteran of 21 NHL seasons as a player, has been named an assistant coach of the St. Louis Blues according to team President John Davidson.

Mellanby, who was the 27th overall pick by the Philladelphia Flyers in the 1984 draft played two seasons with Wisconsin before going to the NHL, recording seasons of 38 and 44 points.

Mellanby is one of Wisconsin's most tenured NHL Alumni. He is second in NHL games played only behind Chris Chelios. Mellanby leads all former Badgers in goals scored in the NHL with 388, over 100 goals more than second place. Mellanby's 893 career points are third overall for Badger alumni, behind only Gary Suter (917), and Chris Chelios (1092).

Mellanby spent time in the NHL with five franchises, but made his name during an 8 year stint with the Florida Panthers where he helped lead them to the Stanley Cup Finals before falling to the Colorado Avalanche. Mellanby holds Panther records in games played, goals, and total points.

Mellanby may be best known for his role as a rat killer. As urban legend has it, Mellanby killed a rat in the locker room while he was playing with the Panthers with his hockey stick. As Panther fans found out about it, they started throwing plastic rats out on to the ice after a Panther player would score a hat trick. In Florida it was know as a "rat-trick".

Since retiring from the NHL in 1997, Mellanby has worked in an advising role for the Vancouver Canucks. Mellanby has a month left on his contract with Vancouver and then he will assume assistant coaching duties soon there after. Mellanby, will be one of three assisting Blues head coach Denis Payne this season, along with Brad Shaw and Ray Bennett.

In a statement, Payne said: “I’m excited to add a quality person like Scott to our staff, who was highly respected as a player on and off the ice. He has great knowledge of the game and will be a valuable addition on our staff.”

Brian Elliott: He's Freakin' Awesome

Els has once again been named NHL First Star of the Week.

Like everything else, he did it simply by being freakin' awesome. 4 wins in the week with a 1.00 GAA and .966 SV% on 120 shots. Well done, Brian! We offer congratulatory Moose Calls to you.

Tuesday Morning Catch-Up

(Photo from blackhawks.nhl.com)

As you know, I was out of town this weekend watching the Badger Women and Team Wisconsin, so now I'm playing catch-up with Badger Hockey News.

• Jake Dowell was assigned to Rockford yesterday. Dowell saw 10:57 of ice time in 1 preason game before being sent down. Last season, he played 19 games in Chicago, spending the rest of the season in Rockford (47 games). Jack Skille (and of course Adam Burish) remain in Chicago.

• DPlaya of HIW has results from Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 of the USHL Fall Classic. Future Badgers in the tourney include Chase Drake, Tyler Barnes, Craig Smith, Brock Montpetit, Aaron Crandall, Jefferson Dahl, Gavin Hartzog, and Keegan Meuer.

• DPlaya also has BCHL results from 9/23, 9/26, and 9/27 for the Westside Warriors and the Victoria Grizzlies. As you know, future Badger Justin Schultz plays for Westside and future Badger Derek Lee plays for Victoria. Schultz was injured and missed Friday's game, but apparently the injury wasn't too serious as he played on Saturday.

• Milewski had Badger recruit stats, updated through Sunday, Sept 28. Thanks, Todd!

• Milewski also has a list of Badgers playing professionally that are not in NHL camps. (He previously had a list of Badgers in NHL camps.)

• Everybody's doing WCHA previews, and now the Western College Hockey blog is getting in the mix. WCH has predicted Wisconsin to finish 7th (yeah, I'm gonna disagree with that), but at least he gives some love to Jamie McBain, Ryan McDonagh, and Jake Gardiner, picking them for All-WCHA 1st team, 2nd team, and rookie team. WCH will be doing previews for each team starting later today.

• The faltering College Hockey America conference will maintain its NCAA autobid this season, having received approval from the NCAA Championships and Competition Cabinet.

• The WCHA Women and the CCHA Men are implementing the shootout this season, and CHN's Special Report has reactions from the CCHA folks.
  

A couple of random items

• Mike Eaves participated in a pro camp with a whole slew of Badger (and a few non-Badger) alumni.


• Brian Rafalski is a nice guy and donated part of his first day with the Stanley Cup to participate in a charity fundraiser in Iola, WI. The lucky winner won half an hour with Rafalski and the Cup.