The Red Wings released their prospect tournament roster ahead of tomorrow-through-Tuesday’s eight-team prospect tournament, and here are some thoughts regarding said roster:
- This roster and the set of players who participated in the summer development camp aren’t very different. Filip Zadina is healthy, which is excellent, but this team remains mostly similar to the skaters who took part in June’s development camp in Detroit;
- The team is BIG, literally speaking. 27 players will give the Red Wings more than enough bodies to survive the tournament;
- This team is OLD. There are 5 Grand Rapids Griffins invites who are 1995-to-1998 born players, Taro Hirose and Ryan Kuffner are technically 22-year-old rookies, and there’s a fair amount of experience on the team in general.
- How much experience? There are 8 NCAA alumni, most of them graduates, on the roster, and 16 of the 27 players are 20 years of age or older. That’s “experienced” by prospect tournament standards.
- Kaden Fulcher and Filip Larsson will probably split goaltending duties, which is to be expected, with Sean Romero and Andy Popovich serving as practice goaltenders.
- The fact that the Red Wings were able to get not only Moritz Seider, but also 6’7″ Elmer Soderblom and Gustav Berglund to take part (both from the Frolunda Indians) amazes me. The vast majority of the time, European teams won’t let their players go over to North America while the European pro seasons get underway, so we’re in for a treat. I was hoping that Albin Grewe and Antti Tuomisto would be showing up as well, but no dice there.
- Underrated player to watch? AHL signing Charlie-Edouard D’Astous. He posted 66 points in 55 QMJHL games, but was only able to land a Grand Rapids Griffins deal. He may be a steal (or not).
- Player with the most pressure to perform? Probably Moritz Seider.
- Player who I’m surprised they squeaked onto the roster? Several. Givani Smith and Filip Zadina are full-AHL-season veterans; Kaden Fulcher is an ECHL sophomore, and Hirose and Kuffner are no spring chickens at 22.
- What I see as the team’s strength? Offense up front. You can load your forward lines up with any of Zadina, Hirose, Kuffner and Veleno. That’s a huge plus.
- What I see as the team’s weakness? An unproven defense. Seider, Gustav Lindstrom and Gustav Berglund have the summer development camp’s worth of North American ice/pace/physicality experience, and D’Astous and Alec Regula (coming off a knee injury) are the only real point producers.
- The question mark? Goaltending. Kaden Fulcher had a solid ECHL season, but last year’s prospect tournament was a rough time for him, and Filip Larsson has been both spectacular and spectacularly inconsistent at times. Goaltending often tells the tale in the short tournament format, and Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon will have to lean heavily upon his charges in the net.
Why does Seider have pressure to perform? It’s the exact opposite. If he struggles…well guess what…he’s 18, playing on smaller ice, and this was merely to get acquainted with the organization. He’s not making the NHL roster anyway.
Pressure might be on Hirose. He has a job to lose so if stinks it up here then maybe the Wings bring in a guy like MPS on a PTO. Or a guy like Smith is hopefully smart enough to figure out that if he doesn’t start taking a big step forward this fall then his NHL dream is over.
Seider has nothing to lose. He’ll prove whether we made the right pick in the future, but not now.