Wed 9 Jan 2008
Haliswho?
If you happened to tune into the Devils Saturday night loss to the Boston Bruins you may have noticed that Doc and Chico, our beloved commentators, didn’t spend much time talking about the game itself. This made Joe angry.
Much of their non-game coverage focused on Derian Hatcher’s decision to eat a piece of Travis Zajac, but once word trickled down that the NHL had decided not to take action against Hatcher, the conversation largely shifted to 19-year-old Matt Halischuk.
Who?
Well turns out this Toronto-born, Mississauga, ON raised sprite had recently become Canada’s hockey hero of the moment, scoring an overtime goal in the World Junior Championship Finals to propel Canada to their fourth consecutive gold medal.
It also turns out that Mr. Halischuk is a Devils draft pick, selected 117th overall in the 4th round of last year’s draft.
So who is this kid anyways? Well, as a little reporting work revealed, Halischuk has quietly been making a name for himself over the last year. Now in his second year playing for the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, the young forward got off to a blistering start in the 2007-08 season, notching 12 goals and 29 assists for 41 points in only 23 games and recording a team best +13.
His scoring has trailed off a bit since then as he collected six assists over the next eight games to bring him to 47 points over 31. Still nothing to scoff at. Especially not combined with a strong World Juniors performance that saw him collect three goals and three assists over his seven games.
So what’s this guy’s future? It’s tough to say at this point, especially considering he was virtually unknown until, oh, about five days ago. Scouts have criticized his size, and rightfully so considering he fills out his 5′11″ frame with a meager 173 lbs. By contrast, Halischuck been praised for his energy, speed and scoring sense which he’s been able to use to overshadow his small stature thus far.
It’s also worth mentioning that we’ve had a few small players, ahem Zach Parise, Brian Gionta, who have done just
Hockey’s Future speculates that with two solid OHL seasons behind him, Halischuk might turn pro as early as next year. Considering the Devils like to baby their prospects though, my bet is we won’t see him in a regular season game for a few more years. Nonetheless though, this kid’s got me excited for the future.
David Conte might have found us another draft steal.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Chico needs to STFU some times. Add little tid bits, but don’t take away from the game. He goes on and on about nada some times.
This kid’s not bad. We pride ourselves with our draft picks and the players we have in the minors. This guy is an extension of that.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
When you go from never representing Canada to being named to their WJC roster, you’re progressing pretty dang well.
He did very well, getting playing time with Steve Stamkos (2008 top prospect for now) and getting PK time, and all should be pleased with how he did - being the gold medal hero and all. I have a feeling he’ll make a visit to Lowell before jumping right to NJ in 2 years or so.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I hope they bring him up to the big club faster than 2 years. We leave our prospects to stagnate in Lowell and they are suffering for it. Why do prospects do better after we trade them away from our farms? Because other clubs develop them better than us.
We need to address that soon or we’ll have problems filling our rosters with our own picks.
Take Vrana for example. He should be playing for the big club. He is going to be an UFA this year and it is entirely possible we may lose him.