Now, the Red Wings’ brass insists that the team’s annual Summer Development Camp isn’t about evaluating players for jobs–because there are no jobs on the line–as much as it is about exposing players to the “Red Wings’ way,” both on and off the ice.
Over the course of five days, the Wings’ prospects and free agent invites alike work with power skating coaches, skill development coaches and goaltending coaches on the ice, and off the ice, they’re taught the proper ways to work out, approach nutrition, sleep, how to cook and even how to deal with the demands of both traditional and non-traditional media in this non-stop world.
You send me to the Red Wings’ annual Summer Development Camp to make some observations, however, so that’s what I’m going to try to do, bearing in mind that this camp is indeed about player development: it’s the fall Prospect Tournament and the Red Wings’ training camp and exhibition season which determine whether players earn spots on Detroit’s roster.
I do know that the development camp matters in terms of setting the players up with a strong foundation for their skill development (both on and off the ice) over the course of their amateur and minor pro careers, however. I know that because there were as many as fourteen members of the Red Wings’ front office and scouting staff watching on Sunday.
The idea here is to build a strong foundation for self-improvement and guided improvement under the eyes of the Wings’ player development department, and that means that people like assistant director of player development Dan Cleary, European development consultant Niklas Kronwall, and the rest of the Wings’ front office are made available to the players over the course of their seasons, should they wish to consult with Detroit’s best in order to self-improve.
Anyway, the Red Wings kicked off their 2023 Summer Development Camp on Saturday with a short set of skating tests. I was unable to attend due to my other commitments–namely covering the start of unrestricted free agency and caring for my aunt–but I did arrive in time to see the Wings’ prospects dig in on Sunday.
That’s because Sunday was a long day of player instruction, with a split set of sessions for Teams Yzerman, Lidstrom and Howe.
For approximately one hour, the prospects worked on power skating drills with skating coaches Brodie and Tracy Tutton;
And after a Zamboni break, the skaters worked for an hour-and-a-half with skill development coach Dwayne Blais, members of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ coaching staff (including coach Dan Watson and assistant coach Brian Lashoff), Toledo Walleye assistant coach Alden Hirschfeld, European skill development consultant Niklas Kronwall and assistant director of player development Dan Cleary.
It was a long day for the prospects (and the rest of us) as Team Lindsay hit the ice at 8 AM, and Team Howe didn’t exit the rink until Marco Kasper scored a shootout hat trick on Sebastian Cossa at 3:25 PM.
The players get right back to work on an abbreviated Monday schedule starting at 8 AM, so energy management will be crucial for the players, coaches and training staff (and media folks, too!).
Without boring you with endless details, I will tell you this: Brodie and Tracy Tutton are particularly thorough, and many of their skating drills involved both teaching from and then filming the players skating with iPads.
The players engaged in drills where they hopped from one foot to the other, skated without sticks or pucks, with sticks but without pucks, holding their sticks horizontally in front of them, and they engaged in sets of drills which focused on forward skating, lateral mobility, push-offs, stickhandling while performing complicated skating moves, and they even worked with their posture by “kicking” the benches to simulate proper push-offs.
The defensemen were separated from forwards today, and that was for good reason: the Tuttons’ skating drills for the defensemen mostly focused on backward skating, “C cuts” and shifting from forward to backward skating (and vice versa) as seamlessly as possible.
It was hard work, so the skaters were able to take a break while the Zambonis flooded the ice between their skating and skills sessions.
Goaltenders didn’t really work with the Tuttons, so they took to the ice in pairs when coach Blais and his accompanying staff began the hour-and-twenty-minute skill development sessions. As the players worked on puck retrievals, breakouts, pouncing on turnovers, keeping the puck in at the blueline in transition from forechecking to offense, and much more, the goaltenders slowly became part of the rotation, and all six of the Red Wings’ goaltenders got their work in.
Coach Blais was particularly emphatic, and as the hour-and-twenty-minute sessions began to drag, and players began to lose energy and focus, Blais and the rest of the half-dozen coaches on the ice got louder and more emphatic–but the players weren’t “yelled at” as much as they were encouraged to work as hard as possible.
The skill development sessions wrapped up with a “small space” game in which sets of 3-vs-3 and then 2-vs-2 players would battle for the puck and try to score goals on nets set up between the two bluelines. This made for fast, frenetic and sometimes physical action as the players jostled for the puck and positioning.
Blais emphasized taking the shortest route to the puck throughout his drills, and for the younger players, that wasn’t easy, but the levels of effort, intensity, and attention to detail were good, in no small part because some players did take the time to seek out the coaches and ask for clarification.
So, without further adieu, here are my observations regarding the players who took part in today’s split sessions.
I’m splitting the teams into two groups, for continuity’s sake, instead of double-posting the defensemen who constituted “Team Lidstrom”):
TEAM LINDSAY:
Forwards:
#29 Nate Danielson: Danielson was the Red Wings’ first-round pick, 9th overall, this past week in Nashville, and the 18-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings captain stands at 6’2″ and 187 pounds. Danielson posted 33 goals and 45 assists for 78 points in 68 games…
And I know that he was the “safe pick,” a two-way, right-handed centerman who theoretically does everything well, and has a “high floor” that seems to correspond to a “low ceiling” in terms of his potential.
I didn’t see that on Sunday, my first viewing of Danielson in the flesh. He’s very fast for a big, lanky man, he’s got a sniper’s shot, and yes, he possesses really strong all-round skills, whether we’re talking about his surprisingly speedy (and nimble!) skating, his passing ability, or really his all-round situational awareness, which is what impressed me most. Danielson knows where he is on the ice and where his teammates are, and that’s an underrated necessity if you’re looking for a top-two-line center.
I hope to get to know him better over the course of the next couple of days.
#34 Kienan Draper: I have very mixed feelings about the 21-year-old University of Michigan sophomore. Draper isn’t as speedy as his father once was, but the 6,’ 187-pound right wing possesses strong bursts of speed, he’s very maneuverable, he works his ass off and he forechecks and backchecks hard. I’m just not sure whether he’s got an offensive flair to his game, despite his point-per-game totals in the BCHL.
Draper played as a 4th-liner on a stacked University of Michigan team last season, and his offensive totals showed it–he played in 23 games and had exactly 1 goal and 24 penalty minutes.
Is he just a “depth guy,” or is there more potential in a player who’s got at least three more years of development ahead of him? It’s hard to say, because he’s inconsistent in terms of his shooting and passing skills.
#37 Alexandre Doucet: Doucet is also 21 years old, and the free agent signing from the Halifax Mooseheads stands at 6′ and 187 lanky pounds. I haven’t seen him play before, save highlights, and I’ll tell you this about the player who posted 115 points in the QMJHL last season–he certainly has a 58-goal-scoring shot.
Doucet really blazes up and down the ice, he’s very evidently a sniper, and he handled himself decently well amongst the Red Wings’ more-heralded prospects. But is he ever raw in terms of professional skills. He needs to learn how to check, he needs to learn how to develop better work habits, and, like any QMJHL superstar, he has to learn how to sustain his game as he most likely turns pro with either the Grand Rapids Griffins or Toledo Walleye this upcoming season.
Theoretically, he could go back to the “Q” for an overage season as he doesn’t turn 22 until next January, but I don’t believe that he has anything left to learn there.
And I will readily admit that, like so many of the Red Wings’ better prospects, he looked a little like he’d jumped into the cold waters of a much bigger, deeper pond after being one of the biggest fish in the QMJHL sea.
#42 Nick Granowicz*: Granowicz is a 25-year-old forward who has transferred from the University of Michigan to UMass-Lowell for his “fifth year,” and the 6’1,” 174-pound forward hasn’t really found his place yet as an NCAA player, but the Macomb, MI native got a nod to camp as a local try-out, and he looked okay bobbing along in the rapids with the other try-outs.
Granowicz probably projects to be a grinding forward that a team would use as an AHL or ECHL player, but those players are still quite useful.
#58 Chase Bradley: 21-year-old Chase Bradley had something of a “break-out” season as a sophomore at UConn, posting 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points in 35 games. At 5’11” and 181 pounds, Bradley isn’t a huge player, and the 2020 7th-round pick doesn’t project to be a fantastic scorer, but he’s definitely got a man’s body–he’s very stout and strong–and he skates very well. Mostly, he competes hard and works hard, and he’s got two more years to develop into a bottom-six asset.
#63 Sam Stange: Stange is a 22-year-old right winger who stands 6’1″ and 201 pounds, and the University of Wisconsin senior is incredibly frustrating to watch sometimes, because Stange is a natural goal-scorer with a hell of a shot…
But he hasn’t posted more than 6 goals over the course of an NCAA season yet, having posted 7, 11 and then 11 points over the past three years for the outgoing Tony Granato’s Badgers.
I like watching Stange play. He’s got a good shot, he skates very well, and he’s a strong dude, but he applies a tremendous shot and obvious natural scoring ability only intermittently, and that’s particularly aggravating. He’s got more to give in my opinion.
#70 Theodor Niederbach: Speaking of “more to give,” Theodor Niederbach gave at the office, and it helped this past season. The center stands at 5’11” and 172 pounds, so he’s very, very lanky, and he posted 18 points (7 goals and 11 assists) in 31 Allsvenskan games for MoDo this past regular season…And in the playoffs, he posted 4 goals and 8 assists for 12 points in 17 games as MoDo earned advancement to the SHL, Sweden’s top league, where Niederbach once played for Frolunda.
Niederbach can really play as an elite passer and set-up man at times, but he’s also an inconsistent player who needs to “fill out” his frame…
And there’s just a confidence issue there, in my opinion, because he also inconsistently applies what are really fantastic passing skills and a moderately good shot. He’s got good hockey sense and skates well, but he’s dazzling you one moment, and fumbling a pass off his blade the next. There’s a lot of potential and promise in him, though, so I’m not willing to give up on him by any means–and I’ve seen him play a lot over the past four years.
#72 Dylan James: James was a surprise(!) second-round pick by the Red Wings in the 2022 draft, picked 40th overall, and the 6,’ 185-pound forward is now 19 years old. After helping the USHL’S Sioux City Musketeers win their league championship via a point-per-game season (61 points in 62 games are nothing to sneeze at), he posted OK numbers in the NCAA with North Dakota, posting 8 goals and 8 assists for 16 points in 36 games played.
The left wing is just a strong all-around player, who skates very well, shoots strongly, passes well enough and possesses a lot of physical strength and maturity. He’s poised and comfortable in his body, confident in his skills, and while he’s an outlier right now in terms of his pro potential, he’s developing quickly into a big, strong player.
#78 Amadeus Lombardi: An affable young lad, “Ammo” is 20 years old now, and the 5’10,” 165-pound Lombardi sure is small, but he possesses a massive, power forward-sized heart and “motor.”
He could head right back to the OHL’s Flint Firebirds after posting 45 goals and 102 points in 67 games last season (and 7 points in 7 playoff games), but even with his size as a major concern, the smooth-skating, strong-shooting center was great in the OHL, he impressed folks during his two-game stint with the Grand Rapids Griffins, he was arguably one of the Wings’ best players during last year’s prospect tournament…
And he’s just got very little left to learn at the OHL level. He’s an elite skater, he’s a strong shooter and playmaker, and he’s got a bit of a nasty streak to his tenacious game, so he’s a very exciting prospect who will have to overcome his size to succeed at the pro level–probably starting this season.
#79 Owen Mehlenbacher: The 19-year-old incoming University of Wisconsin freshman punctuated his final USHL season with a 50-point campaign split between Muskegon and Fargo, and the 6’2,” 190-pound center is big, strong, and he skates very well.
There’s certainly a rawness to his game still, but as a point-per-game player heading into an organization that’s looking to reset itself under a new coaching staff in the Badgers, he’s going to be given some room to succeed as a strongly-talented freshman recruit. I’ve only seen a little bit of him over the last two years, mostly because NCAA prospects can only participate in the summer development camps, but thus far, he’s got potential.
#82 Israel Mianscum*: A 20-year-old free agent invite from the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Phoenix, the 6’2,” 198-pound Mianscum posted 61 points in 65 games this past season, scoring 30 goals in the high-scoring “Q,” but he was passed over in his second year of draft eligibility.
The Grand Rapids Griffins’ new assistant coach, Stephane Julien, was Sherbrooke’s coach and GM, so it’s highly likely that Mianscum got a nod due to his connections.
That’s not to say that he isn’t talented, however. In my first viewing, I was quite impressed with his solid skating, and his overall strength is quite good. He does things at a high pace, and his overall skill level is pretty good. I want to see more of him as this week progresses.
#88 Emmitt Finnie: At the other end of the developmental spectrum, the 6,’ 170-pound Finnie was picked by the Red Wings 201st overall last week in Nashville, and the Kamloops Blazers forward posted 35 points in 64 WHL games this past year.
Finnie reportedly went through a growth spurt of something like 7 inches over the past two years, so the Wings took a flyer on him hoping that his speedy skating and surprising ease in his growing body might translate into something good. I thought he was quite solid in his overall skill set over the course of my first day of viewing.
Defensemen:
#17 Finn Harding*: A free agent invite, the 6’1,” 183-pound defenseman from Mississauga of the OHL was brought in after being passed over in his first year of draft eligibility. He posted an OK 10 points in 63 games while making the jump to the Ontario Hockey League this past season, and the right-shooting defenseman sort of bobbed along with the other try-outs on the first day.
#20 Anton Johansson: Johansson was drafted by the Red Wings a season ago, and the very lanky defenseman (he’s 6’4″ and 196 pounds) posted 13 points in 32 Under-20 league games and 1 point in 21 SHL games for Leksands IF.
He’s a very large man, and a right-shooting defenseman at that, and he skates superbly well forward, laterally and backwards, but he remains somewhat raw despite a strong skill set. In my opinion, he looks like he’s still growing into that very large body, and there’s a lack of coordination that’s still somewhat awkward, despite the fact that he managed to push his way into the professional ranks last season.
#22 Shai Buium: Buium and Carter Mazur were both drafted by the Red Wings in 2021, and, like Mazur, the 20-year-old Buium possesses a ton of potential.
Big and strong at 6’3″ and 220 pounds, with room to grow into an even bigger player, he’s got a really impressive set of skating abilities, skating fast forward, strong laterally and excellently backwards as well. He transitions seamlessly between skating modes, he gaps up well, and he’s got a very heavy slap shot and slick passing skills.
As an NCAA player, it’s hard to tell how well he plays physically due to the fact that he’s participating in summer development camps, which just aren’t conducive to hitting, but he looks like a player who can handle himself well, absent a mean streak.
Overall, the junior defenseman looks like a real keeper.
#32 Cooper Moore: At 22 years of age, Cooper Moore is trying a re-set. The 6’2,” 187-pound defenseman is transferring from the University of North Dakota to Quinnipiac, and he needs the reset.
Moore is a big, strong-skating defenseman who possessed strong offensive skills in high school and the USHL, but, over the course of three seasons with North Dakota, he wasn’t able to find his game, and that’s evident in his inconsistencies. It’s not that he’s not confident in himself, but his work ethic and intensity tend to wax and wane, and, as a result, his play is somewhat inconsistent. He skates well enough, he’s got a good shot, he’s a good passer, and he can be physical, but the flashes of aplomb come and go. Hopefully his transfer helps him find his form.
#55 Sam Duerr*: A free agent invite, Duerr is 21 years old, and the University of Maine defenseman stands at 6’1″ and 201 pounds. He hasn’t posted many points at Maine–7 over the course of 32 games–but the junior defender is big, stout and strong. He didn’t dazzle on the first day, but he looked solid.
#73 Brady Cleveland: The Red Wings spent their 47th overall selection on 18-year-old defenseman Brady Cleveland last week in Nashville, and that surprised more than a few people. Massive at 6’5″ and 209 skinny pounds, the Wisconsin native and incoming University of Wisconsin freshman isn’t a point producer, but a first day’s worth of viewing were surprising!
Cleveland looked incredibly comfortable in a still-growing body, he skated very well, and there was just poise and steadiness that I did not expect to see from an 18-year-old who’s been a Red Wing for less than a week. I really liked what I saw from him. He’s not going to be a point producer, but he’s got some slickness to him.
Given that he posted 106 penalty minutes with the NTDP last season, I’d imagine that he’s as physical as he looks.
#84 Axel Sandin Pellikka: The Red Wings’ second first-round pick, snagged 17th overall last week in Nashville, there’s no doubt that he’s not that big at 5’11” and 181 pounds. Sandin Pellikka is probably always going to be 5’11” and 181 pounds, so he’s going to have to battle being “undersized” in one form or another for his entire career…
But “A.S.P.” might be Swedish for “F.U.N. to watch.” ASP posted 36 points in 31 J20 games with Skelleftea’s junior team, and then he played in 22 regular season games with the “men’s team,” posting 2 points. That’s fine when you’re only 18 years of age, and, again, F.U.N.
Why? He skates like the wind, and probably skates better backward than he does forward. He’s got great gap control, he passes and shoots superbly, and there’s a sort of professional savvy to his playmaking abilities and overall confidence in himself. He’s very self-assured and confident, and that enthusiasm spreads because he’s a highly-skilled player having a good time working and learning.
I’ll take that in a first-round draft pick.
#86 Larry Keenan: The Red Wings drafted the 6’3,” 185-pound Keenan out of the Culver Military Preparatory School, a.k.a. high school, where he posted 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points in 49 games played. Keenan is going to keep his college eligibility by heading to Penticton, BC to play in the BCHL this upcoming season, and then he’ll be off to UMass for up to four developmental seasons.
There was a bit of an, “Oh, shit, I’m playing for the Detroit Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp team” sense to Keenan’s game today, but he also looked strong, solid and steady on the blueline despite his age and relative inexperience. That’s a good thing!
Goaltenders:
#33 Sebastian Cossa: At 20 years of age, the 6’6,” 209-pound Cossa is one of those goalies that absolutely hates being scored upon. Cossa, who went 26-16-and-1 with Toledo in the regular season, and 5-2-and-0 with a 2.32 GAA and a .917 save percentage in the playoffs, is getting ready to make the jump to the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins this upcoming season, and his competitive fires sure showed on Sunday afternoon.
He’s a massive goaltender who’s made a lot of progress–to the point that, while he’s still got some weaknesses, Cossa mostly stopped everything he saw, minus a couple of tip shots, until Marco Kasper scored a shootout hat trick on him on shots 3, 4 and 5 of their 5-round shootout duel. And Cossa was pissed that Kasper schooled him.
It’s interesting to watch a goaltender who is both very patient and poised, and very evidently has an ego and an edge to him. He’s going to make another big step playing AHL hockey this upcoming season, and there are going to be peaks and valleys to his performance, but Cossa looks like a different and much better, more professional goaltender than he did a year ago, and that’s great.
#36 Jan Bednar: Bednar turns 21 in August, and the 6’4,” 201-pound goaltender hopes to mirror Cossa’s performance as he turns pro with the Toledo Walleye this upcoming season.
Bednar was beset by injuries of an undisclosed nature this year, so he only played in 10 games in the QMJHL, following up a 28-win season with a 4-5-and-1 record, an ugly 4.46 GAA and a .874 save percentage…
But Bednar is a lot calmer and more poised than he used to be. Bednar used to be known for making the flashy, fabulous save, and then letting in four or five weak goals. Now he looks a lot more settled in his stance, much calmer, and more ready to face the puck with patience. He’s a very big, if lanky goaltender, and he’s got skill–he just has to let himself find consistency.
#68 Rudy Guimond: The Red Wings chose the Quebec native with the 169th overall pick in last week’s draft, and the 18-year-old stands at 6’4″ and only 179 pounds. He played for Taft Junior Preparatory academy this past season, and he’s headed to the USHL to play for Cedar Rapids this year before heading to Yale in 2024-2025.
What I saw from Guimond was encouraging, if a whole lot raw: Guimond plays a wide, wide butterfly style, flopping down and using his massive size to boot out rebounds into the corners, and he employs a good blocker and slightly wacky glove hand (he catches and then tosses the puck away as if he were a baseball player) to make strong saves. He and Cossa were paired together, and they both puckhandled quite well–Guimond perhaps better than Cossa in that department–and he just looked like a very solid prospect for an 18-year-old.
TEAM HOWE:
Forwards:
#15 Dean Loukus*: A free agent try-out, the native of Calumet, Michigan is all of 5’10” and 181 pounds, and he played for the Saginaw Spirit this past season.
A right-shooting left wing, the 20-year-old was passed over in the draft despite posting 56 points (39 of them assists) in 65 points this past regular season, and 11 points in 11 playoff games. Loukus looked solid enough as a right-shooting left winger, but very little stood out, good or bad, about him on his first day as a prospect.
#43 Carter Mazur: 21-year-old Carter Mazur, on the other hand, looks like he’s poised for a breakout season with the Grand Rapids. Still skinny at 6′ and 172 pounds, Mazur skates excellently well, possessing tons of speed and maneuverability, and he’s got a hard, accurate shot, he passes and makes plays with aplomb, and he’s gritty, physical and downright nasty at times.
After posting a 37-point sophomore season in 40 games with the University of Denver this past season, he added 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 pro-ready points in 6 try-out games with Grand Rapids, and he had a good showing at the World Championship for Team USA, too.
The Jackson, MI native is both something of a Kirk Maltby-style instigator, and he is also a sniper, sneaking into dead, quiet zones on the ice to pursue rebounds and net-front muck. He looks very confident and very self-assured, too.
#46 Riley Sawchuk**: 24 years of age, the Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted center stands at 5’11” and 180 pounds, and he posted 3 goals in 23 games with Grand Rapids this past season, after posting 49 points in 27 Canadian USports games the year before.
Sawchuk is likely at the summer development camp to bring some leadership skills and some poise to the mix as someone who’s played 3 years of University hockey and another quarter-season’s worth of pro hockey, and he looked solid and steady out there. Nothing flashy, nothing fancy, just solid.
#48 Liam McLinskey*: At 22 years of age, McLinskey is heading into his junior year of NCAA hockey, having split time between Qunnipiac and Holy Cross, where he posted 21 goals and 25 points in 41 games last season. He’s a bit under-developed physically at 6’3″ and 165 pounds, but it’s hard to pass up somebody who possesses that kind of goal-scoring skills.
It will be interesting to see if those skills present themselves over the course of the next three days, because, on Sunday, at least, McLinskey looked to be bobbing along with the other try-outs.
#56 Brennan Ali: Ali puzzles me a bit, because the 19-year-old’s skill comes in fits and spurts. He was drafted a year ago with the 212th overall pick, and the 6,’ 194-pound center skates incredibly well in terms of his speed and poise, he posted 30 assists and 43 points in 57 games with Lincoln this past season, and he’s headed to the University of Notre Dame in the fall.
Ali’s excellent skating and tenacity are quite evident when he plays; it’s a little more difficult to see whether those flashes of elite goal-scoring and passing are there on a consistent basis, because, well, they come and go. He’s still only 19, so we’ll see what develops.
#61 Karsen Dorwart*: A 21-year-old free agent invite, Dorwart is 6’1″ and 192 pounds, and he posted a very solid 27 points in 38 freshman-year games at Michigan State University this past season. That qualifies him as a late-bloomer, and the Oregon native skated well and possessed solid-enough skill on Sunday, but again, he bobbed along in the middle of the pack.
#62 Liam Dower Nilsson: Dower Nilsson is 20 now, and the 2021 draft pick stands at 6′ and 172 pounds. He’s going to play for IF Bjorklkoven of the Allsvenskan this upcoming season, which is a bit of a step back from having him play for the mighty Frolunda HC of the SHL, but he posted a solid-enough 15 points in 32 Allsvenskan games for Vasteras this past season…
And while there’s miles to go before he’s ready for an NHL contract, Liam Dower Nilsson has made miles of progress in terms of his overall game. He was so very raw and uncontrolled when the Red Wings drafted him, and, over the course of two seasons, he’s refined his body, gained strength, gained poise, and plowed his way toward becoming a real professional player and playmaker.
I’m quite impressed with his compete level and the ways in which he’s developed into a stronger, faster, better all-round player, and I hope that the Wings’ decision to draft his brother spurns Liam to further growth.
#64 Maximilian Kilpinen: Kilpinen, a 2022 draft pick, is something of a mystery to me. He didn’t participate in last year’s summer development camp, so today was the first day I’ve seen the 19-year-old skate.
At 6’1″ and 179 pounds, he’s not going to blow anybody over, but he posted a solid-enough 29 points in 48 J20 games, and he’s moving from Orebro HC to MoDo’s J20 team this upcoming season. He looks steady and solid, a bit edgy at times, and fast, but that’s about all I got out of a first day’s worth of viewing.
#67 Redmond Savage: At 20 years of age, Redmond “Red” Savage is transferring from Miami of Ohio, where he played with his older brother, to Michigan State University. The 5’11,” 181-pound center posted 14 points in 32 games with Miami of Ohio last season, and he’s looking to make an offensive “jump” as a junior…
But that’s not where he really makes his money, or where he’ll earn his paycheck, anyway. Savage is an incredibly competitive player, a checking center who out-works, out-hustles and out-competes his teammates and opponents alike. He’s already got something of a running rivalry with Carter Mazur, and the two hack and whack at each other like old pals.
That being said, there’s nothing nice about Savage’s tenacity, even in a summer development camp, and he’s a hard, hard player to play against. Something of an old-school, Kris Draper-type fast checking center, he wins faceoffs, earns pucks in one-on-one battles along the boards, behind the net, et. al., and he works his tail off 100% of the time. He’s fun to watch and easy to root for.
#83 Noah Dower Nilsson: “NDN” is a bit bigger than his older brother at 6′ and 185 pounds, and the center from Frolunda HC posted a superb 54 points (26 goals and 28 assists) in 37 J20 games this past season.
That being said, he’s a goal scorer to his brother’s passer-in-waiting, and “NDN” plays a very raw but very skilled game. His legs are all over the place when he skates, he’s right on the edge of control when he’s battling for the puck, and there’s a youthful enthusiasm to his skill set that allows him to transcend those errors and hiccups. But he’s 18, and we’ll see how he does as he tries to push for a spot on Frolunda’s men’s team.
#89 Kevin Bicker: The Red Wings took a late-round flyer on Kevin Bicker because the 6’1,” 176-pound Frankfurt Lowen forward posted 21 points in 20 games with Adler Mannheim’s J20 team last year, followed up by a 16-points-in-10-playoff-games performance, with 37 penalty minutes added for spice.
He’s a pesky bugger who skates fast and competes hard, that’s for sure. I liked my initial viewings of him as he was particularly competitive, but he’s also very raw and unpolished, so we’ll see where the German League takes him.
#92 Marco Kasper: In a year where there’s a significant amount of grit, jam and determination on the Wings’ Development Camp roster, Marco Kasper might have the most grit and jam and determination, and that’s a good thing, given that it surrounds what is truly star potential.
At all of 19, the 6’1,” 192-pound Kasper is coming off a season in which he posted 8 goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 52 games for Rogle–half of them while playing through a broken kneecap–and he registered a very un-Swedish 72 penalty minutes, which is appropriate, given that he’s Austrian.
Kasper is a tenacious, sometimes slightly pugnacious player with a bit of a mean streak, but his competitiveness insulates him from harm as he charges up the ice with choppy-but-efficient strides, dekeing and dangling and dazzling in an understated fashion before depositing pucks in the net at close range, sniping shots, or making excellent saucer passes to teammates in scoring positions.
I’m not certain what his ceiling is at the NHL level, but Kasper will play for the Grand Rapids Griffins this upcoming season, he’ll probably get a call-up or two, and as he adjusts to a punishing 70+ game North American schedule, I believe that he’s got all the mental as well as physical tools necessary to succeed. If not a little swagger and snarl on top of it all.
#97 Michael Horth*: A free agent invite, Horth is a 19-year-old left wing from the Charlottetown Islanders of the QMJHL. He stands at 6’1″ and 185 pounds, and he posted 45 points (28 goals and 17 assists) in 66 games this past season. P
assed over in the draft, the Red Wings are giving Horth the chance to make an impression. Thus far, Horth was not particularly evident among the prospects, but he kept up well enough to bob along with the try-outs and work well in the skating and skill development drills.
Defensemen:
#3 Connor Punnett*: A free agent invite, Punnett is 20 years old, and the 6’2,” 198-pound defenseman from Barrie of the OHL posted a very solid 48 points in 66 games–as well as 109 penalty minutes.
Punnett actually got up and down the ice quite well in the skating drills, but physical players are at something of a disadvantage at development camps, because they can’t fight and they can’t hit to hurt. I would imagine that if he impresses over the course of Development Camp, he’ll be invited to the fall prospect tournament.
#26 Andrew Gibson: The Red Wings drafted Andrew Gibson, a native of LaSalle, Ontario, with the 42nd overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, and the 6’3,” 203-pound right-shooting defenseman posted 21 points in 45 games this past season.
He’s a very big and lanky defenseman, and while the Wings drafted him quite early, his first-day-of-camp impression upon me was simple: he’s still a bit raw, and has room to grow. Gibson didn’t look nearly as polished or poised as Brady Cleveland, though he was steady on his skates and very strong. He’s got a very good stick check and, like so many of his compatriots, a cannon of a shot, but I’m not sure that there’s a high offensive ceiling here.
Time will tell, and I’ve only seen him for one day.
#38 Antti Tuomisto: Antti Tuomisto is a heavy dude. The 22-year-old native of Pori, Finland stands at 6’5″ and 205 pounds, and he posted 20 points in 60 games with TPS Turku of the Finnish Liiga this past season.
Tuomisto plays heavy, he is a heavy fellow (who could use another half-step of mobility, honestly) who is fully-developed into a stout and steady, physical defensive defenseman, and he’s got rough edges all over him. He skates well in all three directions, he gaps up well with his opponents, he uses his size to his advantage and he’s got a good stick for defending (and unleashing an absolute bomb of a shot). He passes well, too, but, a lot like Red Savage, he’s going to earn his money being a meat-and-potatoes, strongly reliable defensive defender.
And he’s a heavy one at that.
#52 Jackson DeSouza*: I liked what I saw of the free agent invite from the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. He’s 20, and 6’4″ and 187 lanky pounds, and he went toe-to-toe with the Red Wings’ defensemen, snapping shots at the net and snapping his stick at one point as he leaned into a clapper. He’s a good skater who is quite mobile, he’s got tremendous reach, and he posted 20 points in 66 games this past season, with 74 penalty minutes to his credit.
Could he be another player that’s invited to the prospect tournament? If he has a good outing, sure.
#54 William Wallinder: Wallinder didn’t play on Sunday, and I don’t know why he did not play. At 20 years of age, the 6’4,” 190-pound defenseman is “making the jump” to North American hockey, and after a 26-points-in-50-games season with Rogle BK of the SHL, he shouldn’t have too much trouble adjusting to the grind of North American hockey. He’s a superb skater and just a solid, strong all-round defenseman who can head-man the rush as easily as he can find pinpoint passes that find teammates in flight. He’s not an elite offensive defenseman, but he’ll be a top-four, Jack-of-all-trades-type guy.
#87 Jack Phelan: The Red Wings drafted the 6’2,” 185-pound right-shooting defenseman with the 137th overall pick in last week’s draft. He’s 19, and he posted 5 points in 59 games last season. He’s slated to eventually join the University of Wisconsin Badgers, but he’s most likely headed back to Sioux Falls of the USHL.
Phelan looked a little shocked to be where he was on Sunday, and there’s always a prospect who’s sort of gob-smacked at where he is in an actual NHL facility some five or six days after being drafted (if that). I liked his mobility and his overall frame, but otherwise, he didn’t stand out.
#95 Tnias Mathurin: Last year, I thought that the Red Wings wasted a pick on a bottom-pair, 6/7 defenseman. It turns out that there’s a reason why: Mathurin was battling shoulder issues, and he ultimately had to have surgery for his issue, and he ultimately played only 1 regular season game for the North Bay Battalion.
The 19-year-old did play in 11 playoff games, posting 4 assists, and he’s very large at 6’3″ and 201 pounds, but he’s far more mobile and agile than I remember, and now that he’s all fixed from his shoulder and an assortment of other injuries, he looks like a very steady, very useful 5/6 defenseman who’s got a real physical edge to him.
It’s always good to be proven wrong, even by a Summer Development Camp participant, and it’s always good to see them play better than you thought they could. Even if that’s from a 5/6 defender in-the-making.
Goaltenders:
#31 Carter Gylander: While I was dealing with my aunt’s health issues, Gylander may have made the biggest jump of any Red Wings prospect over the course of the 22-23 season. The 22-year-old netminder is huge at 6’5″ and a lanky 185 pounds, and he improved upon splitting time at Colgate University to playing 39 games this past season, going 19-15-and-5 with a 2.46 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
Those numbers are all career bests for a netminder who’s likely salvaged his hopes of turning pro after his senior year, and the massive, old-style shot-blocking goaltender uses his size to his advantage, possessing excellent pads and toes, a good blocker, good glove and a big frame that seems to gobble up pucks–or boot them out with rebounds that are controlled in their nature.
Long story short, I have seen him play for a while now, and he’s in a process of redeeming some pro prospects, which is always great.
#60 Luke Pavicich*: A free agent invite, the 21-year-old goaltender stands at 6’3″ and 190 pounds, and the UMass junior played 23 games this past season, going 8-10-and-4 on a rebuilding team, with a 2.75 GAA, but he did sport a .920 save percentage, which is excellent given his other stats.
He didn’t look overly big in the net despite being 6’3.” Instead, Pavicich played a steady, somewhat sporty butterfly style, blockering away pucks and kicking out good rebounds that were generally placed in areas that opponents couldn’t corral. There were times that he kicked out some really juicy pucks into the slot, but his overall play was good.
#80 Trey Augustine: At “only” 6’1″ and 190 pounds, Augustine is almost small by today’s netminding standards, but the Red Wings selected the South Lyon, Michigan native 41st overall because Augustine maximizes his size. He posted a stellar 29-1-and-2 record with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth this past season, posting a 2.13 goals-against average and .926 save percentage, and he went 6-and-0 at the Under-18’s and 4-and-1 at the World Juniors.
Augustine is definitely the runt of the litter as compared to the Red Wings’ other prospect goaltenders, but he really has absolutely impeccable technique. I was incredibly impressed as to how controlled his saves were, where he placed his rebounds, and how he used his sharp, quick feet, his smart glove and savvy blocker hands to send pucks out of danger–if he didn’t absorb shots thanks to good anticipation and excellent positioning.
Augustine is headed to Michigan State University in the fall, and he’s going to compete for the starter’s job right out of the chute. If he can keep playing as big as he does for a “small goalie,” he’ll be just fine.
*= Free agent invite
**=Grand Rapids Griffins contract
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