Rookies Staying in the NHL

Junior eligible rookies who are staying past the 10 game mark

When junior eligible rookies play more than 10 games with their NHL club, their contract kicks in and in the long term will mean one more year closer to unrestricted free agency, which management won’t want usually. Teams can keep their players up to see how they play and then send them back to juniors before the limit is reached, unless their play is good enough so that they can stick around. Several players who were up for the pre-season and/or played a few regular season games had to be returned to their junior clubs for further development like Jonathan Bernier last year.

Jakub Voracek – Columbus Blue Jackets
Jake is currently second behind his teammate Brassard in rookie scoring. Voracek has looked rather sharp for the Blue Jackets overall and along with Brassard have been two of the more consistent players on the team, scoring wise. Voracek plays the point on the first Columbus power play unit which helps his production overall, even though his inexperience has cost the team a couple shorthanded goals against, but that’s to be expected with a young player. Also, Voracek’s +/- rating is currently positive, which is pretty solid considering the BJ’s overall weakness in terms of giving up more goals than they score.

Steven Stamkos – Tampa Bay Lightning
Stamkos finally got his first goal (and his second) recently against goalie Ryan Miller. He still hasn’t produced as much as people were expecting him to but that’s perhaps due to heightened expectations, especially in comparison to the top rookies in the past few years. Stamkos hasn’t had the most ice time so far but looks to be getting more in recent games. Coach Melrose seems to be easing him into his minutes so look for Stamkos to get more steady production in the second half.

Mikkel Boedker – Phoenix Coyotes
Boedker hasn’t looked terribly out of place so far. In fact, Gretzky plays Boedker for a decent amount of minutes, much more than Turris on average. Boedker’s already got the size and speed to be able to compete so that is part of the reason he’s staying up. He’s also got plenty of raw talent so although he’ll have his fair share of rookie mistakes and slow periods, Boedker will have a good foundation to build upon for this year.

Kyle Turris – Phoenix Coyotes
Turris has been scratched for two games in a row, including his most recent homecoming game vs. the Canucks. However, Turris will be sticking around for the rest of the NHL season. Hopefully Turris’ games off will give him new motivation to get to the next level, similar to how Mueller performed after he was scratched for a game last season.

T.J. Oshie – St. Louis Blues
T.J. Oshie has already played 10 games for the Blues so he’s here to stay. Currently though, he has a high ankle sprain and could be out for several weeks. Oshie’s fellow rookie teammate Patrik Berglund didn’t have to worry about the games played limit, as he’s a European player and isn’t subject to the same rules because he wouldn’t be sent back to juniors.

Luca Sbisa – Philadelphia Flyers
Although not as highly touted coming into this season as some of his fellow rookie blue liners, Sbisa has arguably been the best thus far. Sbisa’s already notched 6 helpers in 12 games played so far and looks to try and continue with some offensive contribution as the year goes on.

Oscar Moller – Los Angeles Kings
Moller has occasionally been playing second line C for the Kings and is getting some decent minutes and linemates. Lately he’s been having some good games, with a 2 goal effort in a game on Nov. 1st. Look for Moller to continue his efforts and possibly get on the scoresheet more often, as he’s been playing well.

Some other notable rookies who made it past the 10 game tryout are some great young d-men in Doughty, Schenn, and probably Bogosian as well. Nikita Filatov is currently playing in the AHL and probably will not be sent to juniors any time soon, even though he’s technically eligible now.

Update – 10-14-2008: Alex Pietrangelo was sent to juniors in a bit of a surprise move. He had played only 8 games so his contract doesn’t kick in. He’s had a taste of the pro level though, so this will be great for his long term development. However, people seem to be wondering if it’s truly the right move at this point. Only time will tell.
Source: NHL.com