The Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy penned a “prospect need to know” article highlighting the best prospects of the teams that participated in the Red Wings’ prospect tournament:
Filip Zadina: High-end puck touches and off-the-charts creativity/offensive IQ. The sixth overall pick in 2018 showed off a lot of elite skill and played the point on the power play. Showed off nice chemistry with Michael Rasmussen. He’ll get a chance to jump straight to the NHL this fall.
Vili Saarijarvi: The Finnish defenseman can really turn on the jets when he’s rushing the puck up the ice. Has an active stick on ‘D’, but still loses battles due to his size. Spent some time in the ECHL last year, but look for him to play a bigger role in AHL Grand Rapids this season.
Joe Veleno: Does everything at a high pace and will take a hit in order to make a play. The 2018 first-rounder was promoted to the top line for Game 2, joining Zadina and Michael Rasmussen and pushing the pace. He’ll go back to a strong Drummondville squad in the QMJHL.
Michael Rasmussen: Has a quick shot and looked faster than before. Played on the top line with Zadina and was very effective. The Red Wings also experimented with putting Rasmussen on the wing in Game 2 and there’s the possibility that the big two-way center starts his NHL career there, just like Dylan Larkin did in Detroit.
