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Another week, another European league round-up! The NHL and NHLPA have not met and do not have any plans to meet, so it looks like there will be many more weeks of our favorite New Jersey Devils playing in various European and American leagues that are not the NHL.
As of today, there are six Devils players abroad with one injured. Anton Volchenkov is still out for several weeks with a fractured ankle.
Stats
|
Player |
League |
Team |
GP |
G |
A |
P |
PIM |
+/- |
|
Ilya Kovalchuk |
KHL |
SKA St. Petersburg |
15 |
9 |
15 |
24 |
4 |
11 |
|
Vladimir Zharkov |
KHL |
CSKA Moscow |
20 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
-3 |
|
Marek Zidlicky |
Czech Extraliga |
HC Kladno |
15 |
1 |
9 |
10 |
20 |
9 |
|
Anton Volchenkov |
KHL |
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
-2 |
|
Artur Gavrus |
Belarus |
HC Neman |
7 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
|
David Clarkson |
Bundesliga |
EC Red Bull Salzburg |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
Player Updates
David Clarkson got his first taste of European action. Clarkson played three games for EC Red Bull Salzburg and notched two goals and an assist! It's fairly early, but it looks like Clarkson may still have that scoring touch we witnessed last season. The downside to this is that the Devils are losing one of Clarkson's prime years.
Vladimir Zharkov continues to disappoint in the KHL, he added one assist in three games. Artur Gavrus scored his first goal in the Belarus league and is looking pretty solid in his first handful of games.
Marek Zidlicky played two games and increase his plus/minus by 3 points to an impressive +9. If Zidlicky can stay injury free, he's proving to be a top defender in the Belarus league.
Easily the most impressive Devil in Europe has been Ilya Kovalchuk! Kovalchuk scored 2 goals and 2 assists in 3 games this week. Kovalchuk has the highest PPG of any player in the KHL and would lead the league in points if he would have been playing the entire season. Below is a highlight of another tic tac goal by Kovalchuk.
Brodeur will be mulling over his European options come mid November. However, he stressed that he does not want to take any goalie's job. Brodeur only wants to play if a team really needs him. I really hope Brodeur doesn't go abroad, I think he would benefit from training on his own and letting his body relax. However, if the lockout cancels the entire season (Knocks on wood) then I'd like to see Brodeur get some playing time in Europe.
There wasn't much action in the European leagues this week. However, for those who like the European round-up, what would you like to see included in this round-up? Power Rankings? Team updates? Leave your thoughts on the article and anything you'd like to see going forward. As always, thanks for reading!