FROM THE CREASE with BRUCE BERLET 

By Bruce Berlet

The New York Rangers and Connecticut Whale have another goalie prospect to keep an eye on over the next few weeks.

Scott Stajcer, the Rangers’ fifth-round pick in 2009 and a possible Whale goalie next season, has led Owen Sound into the Ontario Hockey League championship series for the Robertson Cup starting Tuesday night at the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in Ontario.

Stajcer, who will turn 20 on June 14, was 8-1 with a 2.08 goals-against average and .931 save percentage as the Attack won their first OHL Western Conference championship title, earning the Wayne Gretzky Trophy with a 4-1 series victory over the Windsor Spitfires. It will be the first Owen Sound-based team to compete for the Robertson Cup. The Guelph Platers, who relocated to Owen Sound in 1989, last appeared in the OHL finals and captured the title in 1986.

Stajcer, of Cambridge, Ontario, has recovered from hip surgery in December that sidelined him for two months. He has become the backbone of a vastly improved defense built by former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Terry Virtue, who is in his first season as an assistant to former Hartford Whalers forward Mark Reeds. One of the team owners and its first alternate governor is former Whalers right wing Paul MacDermid.

Last season, Stajcer was 21-23-6 with a 3.67 goals-against average and .897 save percentage in 55 games, but much of that could be traced to playing behind a defense that finished next-to-last in the conference. This season, Stajcer was exceptional before being injured as he was named the OHL’s goaltender of the week in early October, when he led the league in GAA and save percentage. He appeared poised for a big season until the hip surgery shut him down and seemed to end the promising campaign.

But Stajcer has had a remarkable comeback, finished the regular season with a 10-3-0 record, 2.91 GAA, .901 save percentage and one shutout in 14 games and is now the major reason the Attack is in the OHL finals and headed to the Memorial Cup. The Rangers have until July 1 to decide if they’re going to sign him, and the recurring hip problems for New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, the No. 1 overall pick in 2000, has to weigh into their decision.

It’s also a difficult decision because Chad Johnson, who began this season as the Connecticut Whale’s No. 1 goalie, is a restricted free agent after a sub-par season in which he was 16-19-3 with a 2.72 GAA, .901 save percentage and two shutouts in 40 games. He was called up by the Rangers on March 2 to be Henrik Lundqvist’s caddie the final six weeks of the season after backup Martin Biron sustained a season-ending broken collarbone when hit by a shot in practice on Feb. 28. Johnson played only one period in relief of Lundqvist before the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs.

Dov Grumet-Morris is an unrestricted free agent after being voted the Whale’s MVP by his teammates while going 15-8-1 with a 2.32 GAA and .923 save percentage and one shutout in 22 games. And the Rangers signed 6-foot-8, 220-pound Jason Missiaen, who was 10-33-8 with a 3.33 GAA, .893 save percentage and one shutout in 53 games with Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League before signing a three-year entry-level contract on March 1 and practicing with the Whale the last six weeks of the season. Missiaen was a fourth-round pick of Montreal in 2008, but the Canadiens released his rights.

So barring injuries or trades, the Rangers have Lundqvist and Biron ticketed for New York next season, with Cam Talbot (11-9-2, 2.84 GAA, .902 save percentage with Whale this season) and Johnson, Grumet-Morris, Stajcer or Missiaen vying for jobs in Hartford or with the Greenville Road Warriors, their ECHL affiliate. Grumet-Morris started this season in Greenville before earning a promotion and an AHL contract with his stellar play.

Teams are allowed to have only 50 players under NHL contract, so signing Stajcer could prevent the addition of a forward such as Roman Horak, Ethan Werek, Jason Wilson or Chris Kreider, who has said he plans to return to Boston College for his junior season, though the Rangers feel he’s ready for the pros. So the Rangers will have to decide if they re-sign Johnson, who has one good season in the AHL and a few good games in the NHL but faltered this season; Stajcer, who has excelled in the OHL and is five years younger but has hip issues and is unproven at the professional level; or Grumet-Morris, who has been a journeyman most of his career but was the best goalie in Hartford this season.

Regardless of their decision, the Rangers have one of the most highly regarded goaltenders coaches in Benoit Allaire, who has received continual platitudes from goalies in New York and Hartford since he joined the Blueshirts on July 15, 2004. Stacjer has credited Allaire with helping him in the offseason and Virtue for his improved play. Virtue spoke highly of Stacjer when I talked to him during the season about being named to the Wolf Pack’s all-time team.

Meanwhile, the Majors also won their first Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference champions with a 4-1 series win over the Niagara IceDogs. They advanced to championship series for the first time since 1962 when they were the St. Michael’s College Majors.

The Majors host Games 1 and 3 on Tuesday and Friday, as well as Game 5 on May 10 and 7 on May 15, if necessary. The Attack will host Games 2 on Thursday and 4 on Sunday, plus Game 6 on May 12, if necessary.

Both teams advance to the Memorial Cup because Mississauga hosts Canada’s most prestigious junior hockey tournament May 20-29. The two other teams will be from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League.

SAMUELSSON HEADED TO SWEDEN

Former Whalers defenseman and Wolf Pack assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson has left the Phoenix Coyotes and become head coach of MODO in the Swedish Elite League.

Samuelsson, 46, a native of Fagersta, Sweden, joined the Coyotes as an assistant coach in 2006 after one season with the Wolf Pack that followed one season as an assistant at Avon Old Farms School.

“On behalf of the entire Phoenix Coyotes organization, we congratulate Ulf on becoming the head coach of MODO,” Coyotes general manager Don Maloney, a former Rangers assistant GM and Wolf Pack GM, said in a statement. “We thank Ulf for all his hard work and dedication to the Coyotes over the past five seasons and we wish him the best of luck with MODO.”

Samuelsson had 57 goals, 275 assists and 2,453 penalty minutes in 1,080 NHL games in 17 seasons with the Whalers, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philadelphia and the Rangers. He was the Whalers’ fourth-round pick in 1982 and won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 1991-92 after being traded on March 4, 1991 with Ron Francis and Grant Jennings.

MODO was the team that wing Mats Zuccarello played for before signing a two-year, free-agent contract with the Rangers last summer and playing with the NHL team and Whale this season. He was MVP of the Swedish Elite League before signing with the Rangers.