Tagged: Stanley Cup

27Nov

Adam Burish(37) Worcester Sharks

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Adam Burish3San Jose Sharks‘ 9th year veteran center Adam Burish(37) has never been a prolific goal scorer through 378 NHL games he’s skated, 27 goals and 33 assists.

Returning healthy after suffering an injury that tossed all but 15 games to the sidelines last season, he’s off to a less than stellar start with only a goal, a pair of assists and a -6 rating in 20 contests.

His team is also suffering from sub par performances on more nights than not. As they say, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

Originally a Chicago Blackhawks‘ very deep 9th round pick in 2002 (#282 overall), the 6’1″ 191 lbs. forward has played most of his big league games with them, winning a Stanley Cup in 2010.

He does seem to gravitate towards winning as he was team captain for University Of Wisconsin when they won the 2006 NCAA Championship.

In between he had a two season stop posting career highs with Dallas Stars before signing a very decent 4-year agreement with the Sharks.

He’s in the third campaign of his one-way deal but not producing and with the team slumping he finds himself on the outs, reassigned to minor league affiliate Worcester Sharks.

It’s his first appearance in the AHL in 7 years.

In two games he has one assist.

The 31-year old could be a huge asset with the farm club or could easily find himself on the payoff end of a buyout after this season.

04Mar

Andreas Lilja(6) Adirondack Phantoms

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Philadelphia Flyers‘ 13th year Swedish defenseman Andreas Lilja(6) is having a bit of a tough time finding a spot on the big club’s roster this lockout shortened season and has found himself reassigned to their farm team, Adirondack Phantoms on more than one occasion.

He’s played only a single NHL game thus far but has appeared in 11 AHL games and has three helpers.

The 37-year old has appeared through a smattering of loans to minor league clubs in the last few years but hasn’t spent significant time in the league since his rookie campaign with Lowell Lock Monsters in 2000/2001.

He was originally a Los Angeles Kings‘ 2nd round pick (#54 overall) in 2000 that already had 4+ years pro experience in SEL.

The sizable 6’3″ 220 lbs. blue liner has played an outstanding 577 NHL games scoring 16 goals and 77 assists with an overall +32 rating. He was also a member of the 2008 Detroit Red Wings’ Stanley Cup Championship team.

He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the current season and it would be no surprise to see him sign with his 6th team for at least one more run.

Andreas Lilja

 

 

19Feb

Dave Dziurzynski (22)

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david-dziurzynski

Ottawa Senators look to be tearing a page from Los Angeles Kings‘ playbook on how to win a Stanley Cup with their recent pair of forwards recalls, plus one defenseman.

6’3″ 204 lbs. 3rd year, undrafted left wing David Dziurzynski(22) gets recalled from affiliate Binghamton Senators along with other big guy Derek Grant to infuse some size and energy up front and hopefully match the same magic as they push towards the postseason seemingly much like the Kings did when they called up a pair of large frames that became assets in their Cup run.

The injury bug and a few slow starting forwards also likely influenced the decision to bring up the duo at this point in the season.

They are also not the only team using this same strategy.

In the final season of his 3-year entry level deal, he hasn’t put up numbers that scream to the parent club that they need to bring this player up now, but some of the intangibles look to be in the right place: increased penalty minutes, good on ice rating and it also helps that he looks to be having a career year in the assists category, so maybe his stars are aligning.

In his first 2 NHL games, the 23-year old skated an average of 15 shifts and 11:30 of ice time.

He took 3 shots in the pair of contests and was a -1 in a winning and losing effort.

His minutes increased from his first game to his second and now it’s just a question of will this logic work a second time.

15Oct

Todd McLellan(coach) San Jose Sharks

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San Jose Sharks “5th year” bench boss Todd McLellan is probably going to be taking in a lot more of the team’s AHL affiliate in Worcester‘s games this season than he would have a chance to if this were a normal NHL season.

He was already spotted during their only preseason home game at Holy Cross recently keeping an eye on potential prospects.

In his four years as head coach he has always maintained a winning record, ended regular season as Pacific Division champs 3 times and taken the team to the Western Conference Finals on a pair of occasions.

He won a Stanley Cup with Detroit Red Wings in 2008 as an assistant coach before being hired the next season by San Jose. The 45-year old also won a Calder Cup Championship with Houston Aeros in 2003.

As a player he only skated pro for two years in the late 80’s. He was drafted by New York Islanders and played 5 games (1 goal, 1 assists) but appeared in over 100 games with Springfield Indians of the AHL.