As we near the Christmas holiday it’s time to take our first look at how some current and former Worcester pro players are doing in the 2019-2020 season. For the North American pro leagues, any player in their league’s top-20 gets a mention, and for the European leagues, it’s just those in the top-five for the league. Goaltenders are listed only if they meet their league’s qualifying minimums. All of the stats and rankings are as of December 17th.
For the NHL skaters, it’s San Jose’s Logan Couture leading the way, with his 21 assists tying him for 20th in the league. His Sharks teammate Tomas Hertl has two shorthanded goals, tying him for third. Tampa Bay’s Yanni Gourde has three game-winning goals, tying him for 18th. Two former WorSharks hit the penalty minute list, with the Sharks’ Barclay Goodrow‘s 48 earning him the sixth spot while the New York Rangers’ Micheal Haley is tied for 16th with 40.
New York Islanders netminder Thomas Greiss is the first of two NHL goalies in the post, with his 11 wins tying him for 17th. His 2.16 goals against average is good for fourth, and his .935 save percentage also lands him in the four spot. Buffalo’s Carter Hutton has two shutouts, tying him for third.
Two former Worcester pro skaters make the listing in the AHL and both play for the Utica Comets. Nikolay Goldobin is tied for 16th in the league with four power play goals and his 24 points ties for twelfth. Vincent Arseneau‘s 47 penalty minutes ties for 13th.
Milwaukee’s Troy Grosenick is the only goaltender making this part of the post, with his ten wins tying him for sixth, his 2.21 goals against average being seventh-best in the AHL and his .925 save percentage good enough for sixth.
Four Worcester Railers have ECHL top-20 stats, lead by Nic Pierog tying for the league lead with three shorthanded goals. Jordan Samuels-Thomas‘ two shorties tallies tie him for fourth. Two Railers make the penalty minutes rankings, with Yanick Turcotte in the fifth spot with 69 and Kyle Thomas in 16th with 54.
For the former Worcester pros in the ECHL, Reading’s Frank DiChiara leads the way, with his 20 assists tying for sixth and 30 points ties him for ninth in the ECHL. Norfolk’s Josh Holmstrom and Wichita’s Chris Crane each have four power play goals, tying for tenth.
For the ECHL goaltenders it’s just Wichita’s Mitch Gillam, with his nine wins tying him for sixth in the league.
As we head overseas to take a look at the European leagues, Chad Costello leads the DEL in goals with 15 and in points with 34. His 19 assists ties him for third with Mike Connolly. Andrew Desjardins‘s 13 goals in the league ties him for third.
In Slovakia, Chris Langkow‘s 16 goals ties him for fourth, and Matt Lane‘s 18 goals in the AlpsHL ties for third. Over in Switzerland Tommy Wingels‘ 18 assists ties him for fifth and his 29 points are good enough for fourth in the NLA. In the NLB, Riley Brace‘s 36 points are good enough for fifth.
And in a sad note, this is the first of these postings to not include any former Worcester IceCats players. The only player that could qualify is goaltender Jason Bacashihua, but he doesn’t have good enough stats in the AlpsHL for an official mention.
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