Nicklas Jensen

Nicklas Jensen came into the season with the promise that he could be the best Danish born player ever. We never ranked Jensen in the preseason, as he came in as an import and was his first season in the OHL. However, it took less than a month to make our top 20 and moving up to 9th towards the end of the season.

During the preseason, we also did a survey of OHL general Managers and asked them to rank their top three choices in 4 categories, one of which was top import player available for the NHL Entry Draft.

In that survey, Jensen came in second place behind Gabriel Landeskog who has a year under his belt already in the OHL and shouldn't have been voted as an import.

Oshawa had a good season, finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference. Jensen helped the team along with a good mix of other draft eligible players and veterans. He played in 61 of the teams 68 games contributing 29 goals and 29 assists. Jensen came into the season not known for his playmaking ability. Playing for a Danish squad that lacked high end talent, he was forced to create his own chances and to finish for himself. But he showed he has playmaking ability.

The Generals won their opening round playoff series against the Frontenacs 4-1 before losing in the second round to the Ice Dogs 4-1.

Jensen is one player who's production actually increased in the playoffs becoming an over a point per game player with 7 goals and 4 assists in 10 games. He showed an ability to step it up to another level and raise his compete level in the more meaningful season. When it was all said and done, you have to think that Jensen's playoff performance helped his ranking.

The NHL Draft blog on nhl.com ranked Jensen as the third best right winger available for the draft (behind Ty Rattie and Tomas Jurco)  and the top OHL right winger available for the draft.

Nicklas Jensen Among Top Right Wingers in NHL Entry Draft

The NHL Draft Blog is doing the top 10 players available at each position. Yesterday, they started off with the top 10 left wingers and today they cover the top 10 right wingers.

Nicklas Jensen of the Oshawa Generals is the top OHL'er on the list coming in at number two.

"It's the best junior league in the world," Jensen told NHL.com regarding the OHL. "It's just to give the scouts a better look at me. In Denmark there's not that many scouts. Over here, there's scouts at every game. It's better for me, especially in my draft year, to be seen a little more."

There are four OHL right wingers that made the list. Joining Jensen are, Rickard Rakell,  Stefan Noesen and Brett Ritchie.

You can read the entire article here .

OHL Playoffs - Day 22

Niagara 7 Oshawa 3 - Niagara wins series 4-1 (Prediction: Niagara in 7 games)

Okay so it didn't last 7 games but as much as Niagara deserved to win in 5 games, Oshawa was to blame just as much for being undisciplined and taking foolish and needless penalties. That aside, we are going to see the Eastern Conference Championship pretty  much everyone expected when Niagara opens up on the road in Mississauga and the two battle it out for the Bobby Orr Trophy. And what a series that will be. But more on that later.

Last night marked the seventh time in 9 playoff games that Niagara has been out shot in a game and their record in those 7 games: 7-0. It really speaks to how well Mark Visentin has played in these playoffs.

It didn't take Niagara long to get the ball rolling when just 40 seconds into the game Dougie Hamilton and Steven Shipley set up Darren Archibald for his 9th goal of the playoffs. Then at 3:22, Archibald was at it again when Jesse Graham and Shipley set him up for his league leading 10th goal with this one coming on the power play to make it 2-0.

Nicklas Jensen and Calvin de Haan would set up Josh Graves for his first to get Oshawa on the board and pull within one at the 8:58 mark. But just 1:35 later Shipley would notch his first of the playoffs to restore the two goal lead when Dougie Hamilton and Andrew Agozzino set him up to make it 3-1 in favor of Niagara.

Ryan Strome would extend the lead to three goals when he scored his 6th of the playoffs from Jason Wilson and Milan Doudera at 14:46 of the first period. At 17:02 and on the power play, Archibald and Wilson would set up David Pacan with his second of the playoffs to go up 5-1. Oshawa would respond with a powerplay goal of their own at 17:48 when de Haan and Boone Jenner set up Christian Thomas for his 9th goal. And that, finally is how the first period would end, with Niagara up 5-2.

Jenner would score his 7th of the post season at 15:05 of the third period to cut the margin to two. The lone assist went to Alain Berger. That would be the lone goal of the period and the score remained 5-3 in favor of Niagara.

Things were looking good for Oshawa as they were beginning to get in on Visentin and create some chances. Almost half way through the period Niagara's Ryan Strome took a double minor for spearing that would put Oshawa on a 4 minute powerplay and a chance to tie the game.

Any attempt at a comeback was just about killed Jensen and Valentine took consecutive slashing penalties 36 seconds apart not only negating their powerplay, but putting them a man down. Agozzino scored his 6th on that powerplay at 11:45 of the third with the assists going to Alex Friesen and Dougie Hamilton, his third of the game. Hamilton now has two 3 point games, three 2 point games and two 1 point games (and only 2 pointless games) in the playoffs.

Pacan would close out the scoring with his 2nd of the game and 3rd of the playoffs from Friesen and Agozzino at 15:08 to make it 7-3.

With 4:29 remaining in regulation, the frustration got to Oshawa's Lucas Lessio when he went after one of the Ice Dogs in the corner and simply lost his cool. Lessio received a double minor for roughing, a 10 minute misconduct and a game misconduct. Lessio will almost certainly face a suspension to begin next season for his actions.

We will preview the Mississauga vs Niagara series once the Western Conference Final is determined. Owen Sound is awaiting the winner of the Saginaw vs Windsor series which is tied at 2 games apiece. Game 5 of that series goes tonight in Saginaw with game 6 back in Windsor on Sunday.

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OHL Playoffs - Day 16

Oshawa 6 Niagara 4 - Series tied 1-1

If game 2 was any indication, this is going to be a long hard fought series.

Alex Friesen scored for the visiting Ice Dogs just 2:43 into the contest with an unassisted marker and first of the playoffs. Oshawa bounced back with a powerplay goal at 5:36 Alain Berger notched his 5th of the playoffs from Calvin de Haan and Christian Thomas.

Oshawa took a 2-1 lead with another powerplay goal by Thomas, his 6th of the playoffs, at 9:38 set up by de Haan and Nicklas Jensen. Niagara would tie it on a powerplay of their own when Ryan Strome scored his 3rd of the playoffs from Friesen and Freddie Hamilton. And that would end the scoring in the first period.

Jensen would restore the Generals lead on the powerplay when he notched his 6th goal at the 11 minute mark with the assists going to de Haan and Berger. Darren Archibald would tie it again just 40 seconds later with his 6th set up by Steven Shipley and Myles Doan. The second period would end tied at 3.

Mitchell Theoret would give Niagara the lead 6:15 into the 3rd when he scored his 2nd of the playoffs on a set up by Victor Terreri. That lead was short lived as Jensen notched his 2nd of the game and 7th of the playoffs to notch the score up at 4 a piece. The lone assist went to Andy Andreoff.

Boone Jenner would score unassisted at the 8:30 mark to give Oshawa the lead for good. It was Jenner's 5th of the playoffs. Thomas would add an insurance goal at 12:45, his 7th, from Tony DeHart.

Niagara would go 1 for 7 on the powerplay while Oshawa was 3 for 5. Niagara's Mark Visentin stopped 28 of 34 shots while Peter DiSalvo stopped 37 of 41.

Game 3 goes back to Niagara on Monday

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Owen Sound 3 Plymouth 2 - Owen Sound leads series 2-0

A tired Whalers squad finally got some rest and things looked pretty good for them for a while in this game.

Colin MacDonald scored his 1st of the playoffs at 13:51 of the first period to give the Whalers a 1-0 lead. Alex Aleardi and Austin Levi would be credited with the assists.

Tha score would hole up until 17:02 of the second period when Stefan Noesen scored his 7th of the playoffs to make it 2-0 with the only assist going to Dario Trutmann.

But with 2 minutes remaining in the second, things fell apart for the Whalers. Andrew Shaw scored his second of the playoffs to cut the lead to 2-1 from Geoffrey Schemitsch. Then, just 52 seconds later, Liam Heelis notched his 4th from Matt Petgrave and Schemitsch to send the teams to the dressing rooms tied at 2 for the third period.

The lone goal of the third came at 4:51 when Joey Hishon and Garrett Wilson set up Roman Berdnikov for his 2nd of the playoffs.

Owen Sound went 0 for 3 on the powerplay while Plymouth went 0 for 2.

Both goaltenders faced 31 shots with Scott Stajcer making 39 saves and Scott Wedgewood making 28 saves.

Game 3 goes Monday back in Owen Sound.

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OHL Playoffs - Day 14

Niagara 2 Oshawa 1 - Niagara leads series 1-0

 Niagara took game one against Oshawa in front of a sold out house at home at the Gatorade Garden City Complex last night.

Mark Visentin, who earlier this week signed an entry level contract with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, stopped 37 of 38 shots, none bigger than a third period breakaway on Oshawa's Christian Thomas to preserve the victory. Oshawa's Peter Di Salvo was equally as impressive stopping 33 of 35 shots for the Genereals. 

None other than one of our favorites, Ryan Strome, scored at 14:49 of the first on a breakaway and made one of his highlight reel moves to beat Di Salvo. Freddie Hamilton and Jason Wilson picked up the assists on the play on Strome's second of the playoffs.

Another of our favorites, Nicklas Jensen, scored at the 10:09 to tie things up 1-1. It was Jensen's 5th of the playoffs with Lucas Lessio and Daniel Maggio drawing the assists.

Jason Wilson scored his second goal of the playoffs to give Niagara lead once again at 2-1. It was a power play marker set up by Darren Archibald and Steven Shipley.

That's how this one would end.

Game 2 goes Saturday night in Oshawa.

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Owen Sound 4 Plymouth 3 OT - Owen Sound leads series 1-0

Is there a goaltending controversy in Owen Sound? Jordan Binnington, who carried the Attack for the bulk of the regular season was a healthy scratch again. And, well read on.

Michael Zador started for the Attack.  Scott Wedgewood tended goal for the Whalers.
 Jesse Blacker gave the Attack the 1-0 lead at 8:19 of period one.  Joey Hishon assisted.
  James Livingston evened it up less than 2 minutes later on the powerplay as he was the first to a loose puck in front of  Zador and tie the game 1-1 at 10:00.  Tyler Brown and Beau Schmitz drew the assists on Livingston's third of the playoffs.

The Whalers took advantage of another powerplay marker 2:36 into the second period when Beau Schmitz banged in the puck for his second of the playoffs. Robbie Czarnick and Brown assisted on the play.

Stefan Noesen made it 3-1 for Plymouth at 9:43 of the second. It was Noesen's fifth of the playoffs. Brown with his third assist of the night and Schmitz with his second to go along with his goal had the helpers.

A minute later, a nice passing play pulled the Attack within one. Daniel Sweep dished off to Robby Mignardi cross ice who then fired it to Liam Heelis cutting in the front of the Plymouth net and backhanded it passed Wedgewood at 10:44 for his third of the playoffs. That's the way the period would end.

So back to the original question: Is there a goaltending controversy or an injury?

 Scott Stajcer started the third period for the Attack and Zador was not on the bench for the remainder of the period. 

 Garrett Wilson tied the game at 3 at 11:09 of the period. It was Wilson's 4th of the playoffs and was set up by Brenden Childerley.

ANd that's how regulation would end with Attack outshooting the Whalers 44-30.

It was beginning to look like this game would go to a 2nd overtime  but at 14:45 we saw almost a replay of Blacker's first goal, this time from the other side of the rink and yes by Jesse Blacker himself who ended it with his second of the game set up by Wilson and Matt Stanisz.

Game 2 goes Saturday in Plymouth.

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Playoff Preview - Round 2 - Eastern Conference

Here's a preview of the Eastern Conference matchups in round 2 of the playoffs.

Mississauga (1) vs Sudbury (7) - Mississauga won season series 5-1

And they did so almost convincingly outscoring the Wolves 41-21 in those 6 games.

In Round 1 Mississauga swept the 8th seed Belleville Bulls while the Wolves surprised the hockey world and swept the 2nd seed Ottawa 67's.

Your draft eligible players to watch for Sudbury. Vs Mississauga, this is what they did:

Josh Leivo 1G 2A
Frank Corrado 0G 2A
Charlie Dodero 0G 0A
Justin Sefton 0G 0A

For Mississauga

Stuart Percy 1G 4A

For Bruins fans wanting to follow Marc Cantin, he had 1 goal and 4 assists in those 6 games against Sudbury.

Prediction: Mississauga in 5 games.

Niagara (3) vs Oshawa (4) - Season Series tied 1-1

In round 1 Niagara swept Brampton in 4 games while Oshawa ousted Kingston in 5.

For the serious draft junky, this is the series to watch. It's loaded with potential first round picks.

For Niagara, here's what the draft eligible players did vs Oshawa:

Ryan Strome 1G 3A
Dougie Hamilton 1G 1A

For Oshawa:

Boone Jenner 0G 1A
Nicklas Jensen 3G 0A
Lucas Lessio 0G 1A

This series will come down to home ice advantage. Therefore,

Prediction; Niagara in 7 games

OHL Playoffs - Day 9

Oshawa 6 Kingston 2 - Oshawa wins series 4-1 (Prediction: Oshawa in 7)

Well we thought Oshawa would win this series, but not this decisively. This came down to a goaltending issue, or lack of for Kingston. We touched on that before, so we won't get into it again.

But give the Generals credit. They thoroughly dominated through 4 games and deserved this series as it turned out, no questions asked.

Tony DeHart led the way last night with 2 goals and 3 assists for the generals. Boone Jenner added 1 goal and 2 assists while Lucas Lessio tallied 1 goal and 1 assist. Peter DiSalvo stopped 37 of 39 shots for the Generals.

Here's a look at the stats for Oshawa's big 3 draft eligible players in this series. Boone Jenner had 4 goals and 4 assists and was a plus 7; Lucas Lessio had 5 goals and 2 assists and was a minus 1; Nicklas Jensen had 4 goals and 2 assists and was a plus 2.

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Erie 6 Windsor 5 OT - Windsor leads series 3-2

This game had plenty of action with goals, comebacks, overtime, you name it it had it.

Windsor was able to come back from 4-1 and 5-2 deficits to force overtime with a huge comeback in the third period where they dominated it from start to finish. If not for the goaltending heroics of Ramis Sadikov, Windsor would have won this in regulation. The Spits peppered Sadikov with 22 shots in the third period alone, 50 in the game, while only allowing 7 shots against in the third.

Entering the third, the Spits trailed 5-2. With 9 minutes gone in the period they began the comeback. Kerby Rychel scored at 9:03 of the period with assists going to Carnevale and Ellis.

Then at 16:10 Jake Carrick pulled the Spits within 1 setup by Khokhlachev and Khunhackl. Just 41 seconds later who else but Ryan Ellis would tie it with assists to Brown and Kassian.


But the party ended there when 4:03 into overtime Anthony Luciani scored his 4th goal of the game, yes the game, to give Erie the victory and send them back home trailing the series 3-2.

Game 6 goes Sunday in Erie.

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Kitchener 6 Plymouth 4 - Plymouth leads series 3-2

With Kitchener leading 2-1 we saw a penalty that most people don't know or understand. Ryan Murphy was called for a minor penalty for illegal equipment. Under OHL rules, a player that loses his helmut must go directly to the bench or be assessed a minor. Murphy hesitated for just a split second and was called for the penalty. Stefan Noesen continued his clutch goal scoring just seconds into the power play to tie the game.

The teams were tied going into the third when Robbie Czarnick scored 34 seconds into the third to put Plymouth up 3-2. Then Murphy, who had over 30 minutes of ice time and had rush after rush up the ice in front of a bevy of NHL scouts and General Managers and the penalty still fresh in his mind, made another rush up the ice.

People will call this a lucky bounce, but i've seen Murphy do this before going back to his days with the York Simcoe Express. His usual move is to fire a shot from the circle or take it around the net. But as he crossed center ice you could see him take a peek over his left shoulder. He saw Jerry D'Amigo coming up the left side and from behind. He slowed up just a bit as he crossed the blue line and put a shot off the end boards that bounced in front to D'Amigo who had a wide open net to tie the game up. Call it luck if you wish, but that is a set play by Murphy.

Michael Catenacci then scored to make it 5-3 set up by Murphy and Sol. It was Catenacci's 2nd of the game at 15:30 of the third. Game over right? Wrong. We've seen Plymouth come back before from 2 goals down and defeat the Rangers. Could it happen again?

With 32 seconds remaining and goaltender Scott Wedgewood on the bench for the extra attacker, Alex Aleardi scored to make it interesting. Was there another comeback left in the tank for Plymouth?

With Wedgewood on the bench and play in the Rangers zone, it happened again. Murphy's helmut popped off. He had no choice, v-line for the bench or take another 2 minute minor. He went for the bench. Luckily, the Rangers were able to clear the zone and Jason Akeson scored his 3rd of the game into the empty net.

Akeson's 1st goal of the game was the first goal for the OHL scoring champion since February 21. That's 39 days without a goal for Akeson ended. And just in time for the Rangers.

Just a note on Gabriel Landeskog, who had 2 assists on the night. With the Rangers down a goal he stood up at the bench and gave his team mates the rah-rah. He never let his team down and he would never let them let themselves down. The consummate leader that he is.


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Danish prospect has Generals in contention

Nicklas Jensen may be just 17 years old, but he's smart enough to know where most NHL scouts are.

And it's not Herning, Denmark.

Full story here

My survey of OHL General Managers

As in the past, I conducted a survey of OHL GM's in 4 categories of their top 3 picks to go in the 2011 NHL entry draft. Again, this is just OHL players. New this preseason is the category of top import player. It probably would have been better to include that in the mid season rankings, as some of the GM's didn't feel knowledgeable enough to select more than 1 or 2.

The survey covered 60% of the GM's so it should be a pretty accurate picture of the league. In 2 instances, the survey was done with an assistant GM or head scout, one because he is a new GM and felt he didn't know the players as well yet. 

Each GM was asked to select a first, second and third pick in 4 categories. Those categories are, Top Goaltender, Top Import Player, Top Forward and Top Defenseman. The players are then scored based on those votes with the best possible score being 60 (12 first place votes).

Only 4 players received at least one vote from each GM. They are Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Puempel and goaltenders Tyson Teichmann and Matt Mahalak. Every player that received at least 1 vote is listed. So, without further delay, here are the results:

Top Goaltender

Tyson Teichmann (48)

Matt Mahalak (40)

Jordan Billington (11)

Tadeas Galansky (7)

Mike Morrison (1)

Jacob Riley (1)

It's pretty similar to my rankings which i did at the end of last season. Mahalak was an exception because he didn't play in the OHL last season, therefore wasn't eligible for my rankings. Tadeas Galansky was also picked in the top imports (below) therefore his numbers maybe a little skewed by that.

Top Import

Gabriel Landeskog (41)

Niklas Jensen (27)

Alex Khokhlachev (11)

Tadeas Galansky (7)

Vladislav Namestnikov (6)

Mika Partanen (2)

No surprise here as Landeskog has a year under his belt in the OHL. The fact that the rest are rookies, and some GM's stayed away from selecting 3 imports because they didn't know them well enough hurt some player. But i expect Landeskog to stay near the top of this category all season. It also indicates that Niklas Jensen is the real deal and comes as advertised. And with Khokhlachev and Namestnikov in the picture, this could become a tight year long battle.

Top Forward

Matt Puempel (42)

Brandon Saad (31)

Lucas Lessio (13)

Boone Jenner (8)

Daniel Catenacci (7)

Garrett Meurs (5)

Again no surprise here, but i thought the race would be a little tighter with rookie of the year Matt Puempel still holding down top spot. Similar to my rankings, but again, Saad and Lessio were not on my list having not played in the OHL last season. I must admit though, it would have been an interesting race between Puempel and Landeskog had i not included a top import category.

Top Defenseman

Scott Harrington (38)

Dougie Hamilton (30)

Ryan Murphy (28)

Stuart Percy (6)

I must admit the result here is very surprising to me with super d-man Ryan Murphy coming in third. I like Scott Harrington a lot, but was shocked that he came in first. It's also the tightest race of any of the categories, with only 4 defensemen league wide receiving any votes. Also surprising was the fact that neither Murphy or Hamilton received at least 1 vote from every GM. Also, in my opinion, there was a homer vote here (no comment on who) which, otherwise, would have made this a virtual 3 way tie. This will be the race to watch all season, and may not be decided until the draft floor in Minnesota in June 2011.

Nicklas Jensen

Nicklas Jensen - Oshawa Generals
6'2" - 187 LBS

The right shooting LW will quite possibly, and in some peoples opinions will be, the best Danish born player ever. The strong talented skater has a wealth of experience and success internationally.

Known more for his goal scoring abilities than his playmaking, he has great vision. Part of his lack of playmaking can be attributed with the talent (or lack of) that surrounds him in Denmark.  He's able to make his own opportunities offensively and has been pegged as a very dependable two-way forward.

From Danish hockey guru  Peter Krabbe. "Jensen is a great skater; fast and with a good balance and acceleration for a player his size. He has a fantastic drive, and likes to go directly to the net. He is big and strong and plays with a physical edge. He has soft hands and is very good with the puck. He also had a really good shot.

Some consider Jensen to be a top 20 pick in the 2011 NHL entry draft. I don't have him in my top 20 as my list was prepared prior to the OHL Import Draft and therefore, was not on an OHL roster. Jensen can certainly crack that list as the season goes on.