If Tyler Biggs were Russian, he’d be considered an enigma. Biggs has been taken off of Oshawa’s top powerplay unit (though he remains on their top line at even strength) and his production has been on and off ever since. Biggs picked up an assist tonight — and a number of scoring chances — but prior to tonight’s game he had been on a goals-or-nothing streak. Biggs’ last five games registered as follows: 2 goals, no points, 1 goal, no points, 2 goals. He still isn’t much of a passer, nor is he any more comfortable carrying the puck. This might be work that he needs to do with a fresh set of coaches next season.
Josh Leivo continues to impress in Kitchener and has now passed Connor Brown as the Leafs prospect with the most CHL-points this season. Leivo has 19 points in 15 games with Kitchener — a point-per-game total that no player on Kitchener has been able to match despite all the drafted talented on that team. Leivo has changed the way he puts up points since his transition to Kitchener, relying more on assists than goals, but the production has still been there despite the increased defensive focus that Spott employs in Kitchener. There aren’t a lot of holes in Leivo’s game which bodes well for his transition to the pro game (ECHL or AHL) coming next season.
From December 28th to January 22nd, the Moose Jaw Warriors went on an 11-game losing streak which corresponded fairly neatly with Morgan Rielly’s absence from the team. Since then, the Warriors are W4-L4 which may not be spectacular, but it is a pretty significant improvement. Rielly is tied for 6th in scoring among WHL defensemen despite playing on one of the worst offensive teams in the league and having missed a month’s worth of games with the WJC and NHL camp. In short, everything you’ve read on Rielly is true — he’s a dynamic offensive player and isn’t bad in his own zone either.
Until next time, you can catch me on Twitter @bcphockeyblog
