Stirring the pot a little bit: Where does big Michael Rasmussen fit in?

The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman penned an article examining Tyler Wright’s draft record as the former Red Wings director of amateur scouting assumes the same role for the Edmonton Oilers…

And, for the sake of stirring the pot a little bit, I found his take on Michael Rasmussen’s development thus far to be intriguing:

Michael Rasmussen, ninth, 2017

It’s unfair to criticize a player who appeared in 62 NHL games as a 19-year-old. He’s one of only 28 players in his draft class to skate in a regular season or playoff contest. But the knock on Rasmussen is his skating and there are concerns about his ceiling. There are also questions if he can develop as a centreman or if he’s better suited for the wing. It’s too early to tell how it’ll all shake out, but there were some pretty good prospects selected after him like Martin Necas, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom, Robert Thomas and Filip Chytil.

Where do you think Rasmussen fits into the Wings’ lineup as he develops?

Nugent-Bowman continues (paywall)

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

14 thoughts on “Stirring the pot a little bit: Where does big Michael Rasmussen fit in?”

  1. Ooh, stirring the pot. Scary stuff. Rasmussen was an awful pick. We didn’t need another middle 6 winger. We needed a top 4 d-man. Brannstrom was the guy I wanted. Valimaki was my plan B. But we take the monster who can’t skate but scored a bunch of PP goals against skinny teenage d-men. And then people were shocked that he couldn’t physically dominate against NHL d-men. Totally predictable. We basically have Abby 2.0. Waste of a top 10 pick.

  2. Agree with Brannstrom, easily!!

    Did any Wing personnel watch him play. He doesn’t fit in the top 6 and he doesn’t fit in the bottom 6. Dead from the A$$hole up (maybe ankles up). This might be a prospect that could fool a rival GM, trade time.

    I really hope I am wrong and I only saw him in person in the WHL. I will say I was shocked when I did see him.

    Maybe being stuck on the low min bench, couldn’t be sent down or up got to him. I think that would be tough but I bet Bertuzi, Larkin and most of the other Wings could do it. Only Blasshil knows if he wasn’t ready or didn’t work hard enough.

    Training camp this year NHL or off to GR, will see!

    1. So many fans (and media) looked at Rasmussen’s incredible pile of goals at the end of his WHL season…and naively concluded he had nothing else to learn.
      But I watched him over a dozen times. His goal explosion happened when he was moved to a WINGER. Many were on the PP.
      Smart move was to send him back to the WHL with the understanding that he would play as a 1C. Go win a scoring title. Get better on faceoffs. Learn to skate. Go compete in the World Juniors.
      But Holland screwed up.

      1. Possibly both of the above assessments are correct [or should we call them ‘diatribes’ filled with perfect hindsight! :-)].
        However, I think we need a bit more ‘age’ on these assessments and on Ras before going into a full ‘bash-Ras’ mode.
        However, I certainly concede it doesn’t look very good right now, but defer to SY to sort it out.

        1. How is it hindsight when this was said on draft day. We needed d-men, not a guy who played center and converted to the wing and simply piled up points because he was the biggest teenager on the ice. The best d-men available was Brannstrom and Valimaki. The rest of the 2017 draft was an absolute joke. Holland even admitted that they emphasized “character” and would focus on skill later. Then came the usual prospect camps where we read about how Gallant and Zablocki looked like elite Selke candidates. Two years later Yzerman cut bait with these “character” duds. So when I made the statement then I’m told to be more patient. When I repeat it now I’m accused of hindsight. Here is another one…Zadina over Quinn Hughes will haunt us. Or is it still too early?

          1. The ‘doom & gloom’ projections are based on a not-so-stellar first NHL Year at a very young age.
            Regardless, we need another year to validate your projections. And, BTW, I’m not so high on him either. I believe the likelihood of being a top six is quite low, but we need another year, even if AHL, for better indicators toward that judgement.
            It’s simply my opinion, and you’re entitled to yours.

  3. Yeah I guess I just get frustrated with the constant lectures on:
    1) how dare you call this kid a bust. Be more patient.
    2) oh now you are using hindsight

    Can’t have it both ways. On draft day I said Rasmussen was an awful pick and we should have picked Brannstrom or Valimaki. On draft day I said Zadina was foolish with Quinn Hughes sitting there. Please don’t accuse me of hindsight.

    1. My personal opinion is he’ll most likely have an adequate AHL year (not sterling) and end up providing value in a trade package next off-season. Maybe KH will provide SY a ‘sweetheart’ package since he drafted Ras. 🙂
      But all of that remains guesswork/opinion based on this past somewhat disappointing season.

  4. “He’s one of only 28 players in his draft class to skate in a regular season or playoff contest.”

    I think he was stuck with the Wings and couldn’t go to GR.

    I was really disappointed Ras wasn’t selected for Canada in the World Juniors, not even as a backup. In the Russia Canada WHL games, Ras played very low minutes. Veleno , for example, was picked Canada at the World Juniors. So far I think Veleno might might be a Wing eventually.
    Some pretty good people assessed Ras for the World Juniors and his peers in the WHL weren’t very high on him.
    Hope he has a Dynamite summer and camp brings out the best in him. He still has to learn to play the Wing like most prospects having played Center before Pro.
    I will put my faith with Stevie Y and see were he puts some these players.
    I remember Zadina seemed like a good pick until he told teams that that passed on him, he would fill their nets when he played them. A bit immature and he didn’t fill too many nets,if any, in GR.
    It will be a few years before Stevie Y has the stuff to be a good GM with the Wings. Does Stevie Y ever smile? LOL

    He still has knowledge of the Tampa future prospects better than the .

  5. Who cares that he played more games than others? It was simply because the organization screwed up by playing him in the NHL.
    So Rasmussen played 62 games and Brannstrom only played 2. Does that make Ras the better pick. Valimaki only played 24. So is Ras better? I can name dozens of guys drafted after Ras, who have played fewer games, but are much better prospects!! No exaggeration.

  6. I have to say that except for 1 or 2 prospects taken after #9 pick I am not impressed enough to say That Mr. Rasmussen is not Mr. Wright. He was noted for his maturity and serious determination to succeed when drafted..Let our Captain G.M. examine his will and heart and give him experience suited to inspire his personality in particular.
    I dont think playing against boys is it…

    1. I would trade Rasmussen, 1-for-1, for any of the following:
      Brannstrom
      Valimaki
      Necas
      Thomas
      Chytil
      Frost
      Poehling
      Jokiharju
      Tolvanen

      And that’ just round 1. Not even looking at guys like Hague, Heponiemi…

      1. Wow thats a rounds worth…I will start watching for these young men. Hope Mr. Draper sees this and gets it too.

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