More Help Is On The Way

The Detroit Red Wings have assigned Tomas Jurco back to the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Wings announced last night that they had cut Jurco from their training camp roster, leaving 55 players remaining at their camp.

The Slovakian forward skated in Thursday’s pre-season game against the Philadelphia Flyers which the Red Wings won 4-3 in a shootout. Jurco was held pointless and also missed in his shootout attempt.

Jurco will give the Sea Dogs an offensive boost. He recorded 31 goals and 25 assists in 60 regular season games last year. He had 18 points in 19 playoff games and registered an impressive four goals and an assist in four matches at the Memorial Cup.

Along with Jurco, more offensive help is on the way.

The Minnesota Wild have assigned Zack Phillips back to junior. The Fredericton native was a first round pick of the Wild in June’s NHL Entry Draft.

Phillips played in two pre-season games with the Wild. He had an assist and two shots on goal in Minnesota’s 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.

This will be Phillips’ third season with the Sea Dogs. He had a breakout year last season, scoring 38 goals and adding 57 assists in 67 games. He scored the game winner in the Memorial Cup final.

Stephen MacAulay is on his way back to Saint John as well. He tweeted this last night:

MacAulay had an assist in the St. Louis Blues 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche last night.

With MacAulay coming back, it’s probably safe to assume to Ryan Tesink will be returning shortly as well. Both have been taking part in Blues rookie and training camp.

Jonathan Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu are still at training camps with their NHL clubs. Both are doing quite, so who knows when they'll be back.

Willy Palov of the Chronicle Herald had a solid column on Huberdeau and the Floriad Panthers yesterday.