A pair of Rangers prospects are dealing with injuries at present. Following an exceptional start to his season goalie Scott Stajcer has seen his season somewhat derailed by injury. The Owen Sound goalie has missed 10 games with an undisclosed injury and there doesn’t seem to be much information available as to his return. Stajcer dominated to begin the year but saw his form – and stats – dip before injury struck. Hopefully the young netminder gets back soon enough to have a strong season and keep himself in the thoughts of the Rangers brass. Another prospect struggling with injury is Kingston center Ethan Werek who has missed two games due to an upper body injury. Werek had 30 points in 27 games prior to injury, enjoying an excellent season despite not being invited to Canada’s WJC camp. When Werek returns we’ll keep an eye on his progress.

Happier news comes in the form of the play of several other prospects. Quebec Remparts forward Ryan Bourque is on an absolute tear and is on a four game goal scoring streak and has an impressive 39 points in just 20 games. In his most recent game Bourque scored 2 goals as his side won for the fifth straight game, beating Moncton 4-2. Bourque is often overlooked when discussing Rangers prospects but the way he is playing he is becoming more and more a legitimate future option for the Rangers. Bourque is also set to try and defend gold for Team USA in January’s WJC.

Also set to return for Team USA is Rangers top prospect Chris Kreider. Following his slow start Kreider has begun to pick it up offensively and now has 11 points in 16 games on the season. Kreider also began last year slowly and picked it up, specifically during and after the WJC, to have an outstanding year by season’s end. Staying in the NCAA and another player who has been excellent recently has been Carl Hagelin. The Swede recently played in the world record breaking game between Michigan and Michigan State which saw an attendance of over 113,000(!) attend the outdoor hockey game. Hagelin showed he wasn’t afraid of the big stage by scoring two goals to take his points total to 19 in 19 for the season. Hagelin looks to be a great prospect for the Rangers and could be a training camp dark horse next summer.

Back in major junior, another player deserving of a mention is 2010 pick, Christian Thomas. The winger scored his 23rd goal of the year despite his Oshawa side losing to Brampton 3-2 in OT. Thomas has enjoyed a great year thus far and looks like he could beat his 40 goals from last year.

Key prospect stats:

Ryan Bourque 27GP 20g 19a 39pts +10

Roman Horak 29GP 15g 22a 37pts –5

Dylan Mcilrath 25GP 2g 7a 9pts +2

Christian Thomas 28GP 23g 16a 39pts +15

Ethan Werek 27GP 15g 15a 30pts –5

Carl Hagelin 19GP 9g 10a 19pts +6

Chris Kreider 16GP 5g 6a 11pts –4

Jesper Fasth 26GP 4g 6a 10pts +4

Scott Stajcer 14GP 10wins 2.91gaa .901s%

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