Alex Galchenyuk will suit up for Team USA at the WJHC.

As we expected Alex Galchenyuk got selected earlier today to USA’s World Junior selection camp. Galchenyuk holds a dual citizenship, Russia and USA, he was born and raised in the states while his parents hail from Russia. We expected Alex to make the US roster after racking up 83 points in his phenomenal first OHL season and being drafted 3rd overall by the Montreal Canadiens last June. Galchenyuk got off to a rather slow start this year in the OHL but since then has been absolutely destroying the CHL recording 49 points in 28 games thus far and is basically on pace for 100+ points. Galchenyuk is the current Captain of the Sarina Sting and could be one of the team leaders for this years world junior US squad. You can bet to see Galchenyuk to be centering on of the top two lines for the Americans playing along guys like JT Miller, Stefan Matteau and Mario Lucia.

Brady Vail drafted in the 4th round (94th overall) has been having a good season with the Windsor Spitfires and has put up 27 points in 29 games. Despite showing great qualities of a good two-way forward with good offense Vail did not get a invite to the USA camp today. Vail has slowed down lately in the point producing area and that may one of the factors why he wasn’t invited. All we know is that Vail will be a much improved player next year and will have a great chance at cracking the world junior roster.

Here’s some Galchenyuk Highlights from this season if you haven’t already seen them.

• Oct 25/12 (Penalty Shot)

• Nov 3/12

• Nov 4/12

• Nov 22/12

All World Junior Hockey info and news about your Habs prospects will be posted here and check TSN for broadcast schedule and full rosters.

June 22, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Alex Galchenyuk puts on a jersey after being selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2012 NHL Draft at CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

The heavily scrutinized Alex Galchenyuk gave his supporters something to crow about tonight. The 3rd overall pick managed to get 2 goals and 3 points in a 5-2 victory by Sarnia over Windsor. As seems to be universially the case for number 94, a fair number of people that see him play think he’d get significantly more points if his line-mates could regularly convert his slick feeds into the slot to goals. Galchenyuk’s own accuracy problems in turning his own self generated scoring chances into numbers on a scoreboard are also seen as a factor.

Tonight brings Galchenyuk to 18 points in 13 games. As many were quick to point out, this leaves him only 3 points behind the OHL scoring leader, Winnipeg Jets prospect Mark Scheifele and at a respectable 1.4 points per game.

94 was facing fellow 2012 Habs draft pick Brady Vail, who had a rare scoreless night and a similarly rare failure to shutdown his opponent as Galchenyuk’s line scored against him twice leading to a -2 for the two-way pivot. Vail can consol himself with being almost equal to the 1st rounder in the OHL scoring race with 16 points in 14 games (1.14 ppg).

In the QMJHL, Charles Hudon remains in the scoring race with 16 points in 11 games (1.45 ppg) despite missing time due to a minor concussion. The LW is expected to return to the ice fairly soon. 19 year old Archambault remains mired beneath a point per game with 13 in 14 games, not exactly an encouraging sign for a scoring winger prospect that has historically failed to live up to his billing.

In WHL action, Philip Bozon’s line continues to rain unholy terror upon a league helpless to stop them. The combined strength of Bozon-Lipon-Smith has resulted in 33 goals in 13 games (2.54 goals per game). This is a better rate than the entire Kootenay Ice hockey club that has only mustered 29 reddened lamps in 12 contests. Bozon leads Habs prospects with a 1.61 points per game average, with the caveat that none of his competitors have such dominant linemates.

Finally comes the two defensemen patroling the blueline of the collapsing Saskatoon Blades (so sorry Bruce, maybe they’ll fire that coach). Thanks two some outrageous single games including a 4 point night, Darren Dietz finds himself with nine points in fourteen games, 13th in the WHL (3rd in goals) and tops amoung Saskatoon defensemen. Dalton Thrower is having a far more miserable season, 3 points in 10 games and benchings due to reported clashes with the head coach. It might be a sign of leadership from the young man if he’s standing against a coach that appears to have his club in disarray under the specter of a Memorial Cup hosting date at the end of this season. Thrower does have the distinction of being at +/- 0 on a team in the minus (Dietz is -8 after being present for some disastrous blowouts earlier in the season.) Star prospects Lukas Sutter (3 points, -10) and Duncan Siemens (2 points, -9) are having similar difficulties.

Feb 17, 2012; Buffalo, NY, USA; Montreal Canadiens defenseman Raphael Diaz (61) during play in the game against the Buffalo Sabres at the First Niagara Center. The Canadiens beat the Sabres 4-3 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-US PRESSWIRE

We’re heading into the real lockout now, with the NHL announcing that they have cancelled the first two weeks of the regular season.

Andrei Markov has become part of the exodus of NHL talent, joining “The Charleston Chiefs” of the KHL in Vityaz Chekov. For anyone concerned about Markov’s knee, its nice to hear that goons like Trevor Gillies are on his team rather than targeting him.

With our great sorrow that these guys can’t be suiting up for the Habs right now, here’s the update on what they’ve been doing.

Tomas Plekanec showed he’s human, getting shut out of the scoring for the first time in Kladno for game 8. He’s still cruising at a goal and an assist per game in a continuing display of dominance on Jaromir Jagr‘s team. His scoring of ~60 NHLE points seems right within his established talent.

On the same squad, Tomas Kaberle is having a similar go of it with his 4 NHL team mates, although not so dominant.

Max Pacioretty has been snake bit on a team that has struggled. Ambri’s imported top line of Williams-Park-Pacioretty has failed to score in the last 2 games and the team has only 5 goals in the last 3. They sure could use Pacioretty finding the back of the net more frequently, with only one of his 12 shots going in.

Both Yannick Weber and Raphael Diaz seem to be finding life congenial in their native lands, both are producing at a strong clip, on much better teams that Pacioretty’s.

Andreas Engqvist seems to find KHL life preferable to the NHL, he’s gone a respectable .67 PPG but has only 1 goal in 20 shots. Maxim Trunev continues to look like he isn’t worth the time to check up on.

In the Eliteserin, Magnus Nygren is continuing to have a strong campaign, with regular top 4 duty and good offensive numbers. Collberg continues to not get ice time and has a lonely assist to his name. Pribyl would envy him, he can’t get in the lineup at all.

Using available statistics I have been able to cobble together some basic advanced stats for the players in the NLA, SEL and KHL.

Engqvist looks like he’s playing very well as a top six forward in the KHL although is not much of a potential goal scorer with that shot rate. Both Trunev and Collberg look like they are making the most of limited minutes. Nygren seems to be an offensive force at the SEL level, his shot and points rate is big for a prospect defenseman.

Pacioretty has almost the same shot rate in the NLA as the NHL, expect that and his goal scoring to rise dramatically as he adjusts. Weber seems to be putting on a tour de force in shots and Diaz is quite respectable.

Both Hudon and Vail had great starts to their campaigns and are among the top of their league’s scoring races. Bozon is largely meeting expectations. Galchenyuk has shown some definate talent