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November Prospect Report – Goaltending success, Filip fire power

Photo credit: Jenae Anderson / https://www.accesshockeymi.com/

By Cameron Kuom

Dec 1, 2018, 15:09 EST

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November is a time to be thankful for what we have and cherish our loved ones, as is the case with American and Canadian Thanksgiving passing. For Red Wings fans, there was plenty to be thankful for when it came to the farm system as several prospects enjoyed a strong November. With the World Juniors approaching next month, this is the time for players to start heating up in hopes of being invited to Vancouver. For those not eligible, there is still much on the line with the grind of a yearly schedule starting to kick in.

Some of the headlines from this past November:

Goaltending Success

The goaltending position has been a major question mark in Detroit’s system for quite some time. Much progress was made this past month with some of the key netminders vying to wear the winged wheel one day showing signs of encouragement.

In Sweden, Jesper Eliasson had an outstanding month. In the Swedish junior league he posted a 5-2 record in November. Aside from one down performance where he allowed 5 goals (however still made 35 saves), no other game saw a save percentage lower than .935.

Keith Petruzzeli’s month was a bit more up and down. In his first three starts, he allowed 3 or more goals in every game, but finished strong with back-to-back shutouts. I guess he got the no-goal-November memo a little late! Staying at the collegiate level, Filip Larsson made his first start of the season. Returning from injury he stopped 42 of 46 shots in a 4-4 tie. In what has been his only appearance of the year, it wasn’t bad night for the Denver freshman.

Going back overseas, Joren Van Pottelberghe looks to have finally found a home. The crease was crowded for HC Davos, which resulted in him getting zero starts in the top Swiss league. The solution has finally been found with his being loaned to EHC Kloten in the second tier Swiss league for presumably the rest of the year. His first and so far only game there was a 4-1 win where he made 34 of 35 saves.

Filip Fire Power

What is better than One Filip? Two Filips!

Filip Hronek and Filip Zadina are starting to find their groove in the AHL. The Czech teammates are both key pieces to the Red Wings future and their contributions are all the more satisfying.

Hronek, who was sent down to get more ice-time, is banging on the door hard. In 13 games he was held scoreless only 4 times. He is currently riding a 5 game point streak, which included three multi point games. On top of that he became the first Griffins’ player to ever record back-to-back overtime goals. It may not be long before we see young blue-liner return to the big club if he keeps this up.

Zadina is developing nicely as well. In 12 games, he amassed 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists). A much better pace than his October which saw him put up 4 points in 8 games. Having just turned 19-years-old there is so much to be excited about as he continues to round out his game.

Notes

Jonatan Berggren will miss the next 3 months with a back injury. Berggren has missed Skelleftea’s last 6 games, although, it is currently unknown if he was out due to the injury or if he was being healthy scratched.
Joe Veleno was named QMJHL player of the week. He’s been putting up video game like numbers – 18 points over his last 5 games. He is coming for the Q scoring title.
Malte Setkov remains in the press box. He played a whopping 8:21 TOI in the entire month of November.
Victor Brattstrom picked up his first career SHL victory in a 4-3 win versus Mora.

Prospect of the Month

Jesper Eliasson

This is something new I’m adding to the monthly prospect reports – prospect of the month awards!

This may come as a surprise but I’m going with Eliasson for November. The popular answer would probably be Joe Veleno, having scored 18 points in his last 5 games, but Veleno is expected to dominate the Q. Eliasson on the other hand is much more of a work in progress. After a shaky start, his bounce back is pleasing to see. It also vaults him into the conversation as one of Sweden’s goaltenders at the WJC. Maybe still a long shot, its at least not a brush over thought like it once was.

November Stats

Skaters

Player	League	GP	G	A	P
John Adams	NCAA	6	3	2	5
Seth Barton	NCAA	8	0	3	3
Jonatan Berggren	SHL	3	0	0	0
Christoffer Ehn	AHL	8	1	5	6
Cole Fraser	OHL	11	1	3	4
Zach Gallant	OHL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Brady Gilmour	OHL	12	1	3	4
Joe Hicketts	AHL	13	0	4	4
Axel Holmstrom	AHL	13	3	0	3
Patrick Holway	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Filip Hronek	AHL	13	4	8	12
Otto Kivenmaki	Liiga	4	0	0	0
Otto Kivenmaki	Jr. A SM-Liiga	4	1	5	6
Kasper Kotkansalo	NCAA	8	0	1	1
Gustav Lindstrom	SHL	8	0	1	1
Jared McIsaac	QMJHL	10	3	8	11
Ryan O’Reilly	USHL	10	3	3	6
Chase Pearson	NCAA	7	5	3	8
David Pope	AHL	6	0	0	0
Alec Regula	OHL	12	1	6	7
Vili Saarijarvi	AHL	13	0	2	2
Dylan Sadowy	AHL	5	0	0	0
Malte Setkov	SHL	1	0	0	0
Givani Smith	AHL	9	0	2	2
Libor Sulak	AHL	13	0	1	1
Evgeny Svechnikov	AHL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Dominic Turgeon	AHL	13	1	5	6
Joseph Veleno	QMJHL	10	9	11	20
Reilly Webb	OHL	12	0	2	2
Lane Zablocki	WHL	10	1	1	2
Filip Zadina	AHL	13	5	5	10

Goaltenders

Player	League	GP	GAA	S%	Record
Victor Brattstrom	SHL	3	2.90	.897	1-2
Jesper Eliasson	SWE J20	7	2.14	.935	5-2
Kaden Fulcher	ECHL	4	2.75	.916	2-2
Filip Larsson	NCAA	1	3.69	.913	0-0-1
Keith Petruzzeli	NCAA	5	2.43.	.907	3-2
Joren Van Pottelberghe	NLB	1	1.00	.971	1-0