EURO/ASIAN CURVE

Euro Curve takes a look at the latest international hockey headlines.

- Meet Alexander Nikulin. According to The Sports Network, the 22-year-old Moscow native was recalled from Binghamton of the AHL on Thursday and will dress tonight versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, possibly in replacement of Randy Robitaille, who is listed as day-to-day with a bruised left hand. Nikulin has 10 points in 14 games with the Baby Sens this season. Nikulin, drafted by Ottawa in 2004 (4/122), had 5 goals and 11 assists in 33 games last season for CSKA Moscow of the Russian Super League.

- Apparently former Phoenix Coyotes tough guy Tyson Nash has joined Goalie Jamie McLennan in signing with the Nippon Paper Cranes of the Asian League. Nash had been previously under contract with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Nash and McLennan are good buddies from their days with the St.Louis Blues.

Here are the scoring leaders in the Swedish ElitSerien (courtesy of http://stats.swehockey.se/)

Rk Name Team Pos GP G A TP
1 Mårtensson, Tony LHC RW 21 6 21 27
2 Voutilainen, Jukka HV71 CE 21 14 9 23
3 Thörnberg, Martin HV71 LW 21 9 13 22
4 Kallio, Tomi FHC RW 21 12 9 21
5 Weinhandl, Mattias LHC CE 20 13 7 20
6 Hrdina, Jan HV71 CE 20 11 8 19
7 Davidsson, Johan HV71 CE 18 7 12 19
8 Hahl, Riku TIK CE 18 6 13 19
9 Lind, Mikael BIF CE 20 10 8 18
10 Söderberg, Anders SAIK LW 21 10 8 18



For Illegal Curve, I'm Ezra Ginsburg.

EURO CURVE

Euro Curve takes a daily look at the latest international hockey news.

- Russianprospects.com gives us a detailed scouting analysis of 5 young prospects currently playing in the Russian Super League. Dmitri Pestunov, a center with Spartak Moscow, and a 2003 Phoenix Coyotes draft pick (3/80), gets a grade of B+. Pestunov had 5 goals and 18 assists in 53 games last season with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The talented playmaker may find it hard to get a crack with the Coyotes this season as other players, including Alexei Kaigorodov and Enver Lisin, are ahead of him on the depth chart.

- George Richard of the Miami Herald reports that Jamie McLennan is back from Russia (Metallurg Magnitogorsk) and wants a back-up job in the National Hockey League, possibly with his old team, the Calgary Flames.

- The 2013 IIHF World Men's Hockey Championships will be held in the Swedish cities of Malmö and Stockholm. The 2008 World Championship will be held in Canada for the first time ever, with Halifax and Quebec City as the host cities. This season marks the 100th anniversary of the World Championships. Team Canada are current World Champions.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Ezra Ginsburg.