The second skill-development session of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp was held on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.
Preceded by a little bit of skating by Robby Fabbri, Ben Chiarot and a player who was probably Mark Pysyk…
The Red Wings’ prospects and try-outs took to the ice to work with skating coaches Brodie and Tracy Tutton, and then engage in skill drills with skill development coach Dwayne Blais.
The sessions were much shorter than Sunday‘s two-hour-and-twenty-minute sessions, with the players only working for an hour and twenty minutes.
That afforded the prospects both the opportunity to speak with the Red Wings’ beat writers, as well as what’s likely some sort of out-of-the-rink activity involving attending a Detroit Tigers game today (assuming that the Tigers are playing?).
That being said, the Red Wings’ prospects were skating into their third day on the ice, Saturday’s fitness testing included, so the action-packed skating sessions and skill drills seemed to leave the players a bit tuckered out at times. They’ll get back to those 2:20 sessions tomorrow, so here’s hoping that they use their time off wisely.
This morning’s skating drills continued Sunday’s trend of a combination of iPad instruction, real-world teaching techniques and filming the players when possible, so that feedback was as instantaneous as possible.
Most of today’s skating drills involved “C cuts,” which are c-shaped pushes of the skate from underneath a player toward their shoulders/hips, and most instruction started without the puck, proceeded toward puck movement while skating using the edges of the players’ skates (there were very few drills where crossovers were emphasized), and, eventually, the skaters engaged in a significant amount of puck protection drills.
Today, there was also a strong emphasis on skating while attempting to stick-handle with the puck at the extent of the players’ reach, so that they could more efficiently make plays while protecting the puck from opponents.
I was a little surprised that the Red Wings’ two teams of forwards and one team of defensemen were given the same skating drills this morning; perhaps the edge-work was deemed to be useful for everyone involved, and puck protection via stick-handling, while working on one’s edges, is important for both forwards and defensemen.
After a quick Zamboni flood, skill development coach Dwayne Blais took over for a 40-minute session.
During Blais’ skill development sessions, Griffins coach Dan Watson, assistant coaches Brian Lashoff and Stephane Julien, the newly-introduced Griffins’ goaltending coach, Roope Koistinen, and Wings goalie development coach Phil Osaer all took part in the process.
I noticed that coach Blais was particularly emphatic (and sometimes downright loud) this morning, and his drills upped the intensity from Sunday’s session, focusing on 1-on-1 battles to protect the puck, interchanges at center ice, a lot of “battle drills” in which puck protection was emphasized against stick checks to the players’ hands, and, eventually, stick-handling and puck protection were layered into drills which involved the team’s goaltenders–with screen shots and rebounds in play.
There was a lot of layering in terms of screening the goaltender, utilizing point shots to generate rebound chances, and, ultimately, the players did seem to enjoy themselves despite having occasional hiccups when applying the skating drills in a skill development setting.
I get the feeling that the intensity will be ramped up that much more for tomorrow’s sessions, which will conclude the skill development portion of camp; on Wednesday, the teams will engage in 3-on-3 tournaments from 8:30 AM until about 11 AM, and then they’ll haul tail out of town after their exit meetings.
Given that the players are apparently learning about everything from nutrition, sleep, proper workout techniques and media training to finances and recovery techniques, they’ve been kept particularly busy away from the ice, so it’s hard to not see how the players will want to wrap up their full work week on a high note.
That’s what piques my curiosity, honestly, because there are so many players who are all of five or six days removed from being drafted by the Red Wings in Nashville, and they’re going through the whirlwind experience of going from draft to professional development, both on and off the ice, and that’s a heavy mental and physical workload in terms of processing, even for athletes.
I thought it was equally interesting that players like Axel Sandin Pellikka and Amadeus Lombardi did call the camp an “evaluation camp” as named by the management, and I think that’s an incredibly important point here.
There aren’t jobs on the line during the summer, but the Red Wings’ front office, player development arm and amateur and pro scouts are constantly watching and evaluating these players to see “where they’re at” in terms of their professional development, and the team then provides the players–whether they’re pro-bound or not–ample assets with which to improve their on-ice performance and off-ice skill sets.
As I stated earlier, the teams were set up differently today, so the player assessments will be set up a little differently as well, mostly because the media availability sessions cut into my on-ice viewing. I really wasn’t a fan thereof, but I want to hear what the players have to say about the development camp and their individual statuses, too, so you have to make some sacrifices in terms of prospect viewing.
TEAM HOWE:
Forwards:
#15 Dean Loukus*: The 20-year-old free agent try-out from the Saginaw Spirit isn’t particularly big at 5’10” and 175 pounds (we just got the updated weight numbers in from the Red Wings), but he’s a plucky little player. Loukus posted 56 points in 65 games this past season, backing up a 51-point rookie campaign, but he’s been passed over in the draft twice, so he’s likely heading back to Saginaw for an “overage” season. The left winger hasn’t made that much of an impression over the course of two days’ worth of viewing, though he is both plucky and skilled enough to continue bobbing along with the free agent try-outs, who all have a fairly high “floor.”
#43 Carter Mazur: The Red Wings have their 21-year-old winger listed at 175 pounds, up from his EliteProspects-listed 172 pounds, and Mazur said today that his two jobs are hockey and eating. There’s no doubt that the 6′ left winger needs to gain some muscle mass in order to keep up with professional hockey players in the AHL this upcoming season, but his tenacity and plain old mean streak are as impressive as is his work ethic. Mazur possesses excellent skating skills, he’s a gruff forechecker, and he’s proven himself to be a sneaky sniper whose excellent shot finds top corners and low holes in goaltenders. He’s arguably one of the Red Wings’ brighter offensive prospects, but it’s his work ethic and grit that have set him apart thus far, and set him up for what is hopefully a promising pro career for the Jackson, MI native.
#46 Riley Sawchuk**: Evident in a different kind of way, the 24-year-old Grand Rapids Griffins center stands at 5’11” and 181 pounds, and he posted 3 goals in 23 AHL games this past season. He’s coming off a point-and-a-half-per-game season in the Canadian USports league, but in Grand Rapids, he’s going to have to differentiate himself from other players via hard work and checking skills–and then he’ll work his way up in terms of trust from Dan Watson and the rest of the Griffins’ coaching staff.
#48 Liam McLinskey*: Another free agent try-out, McLinskey stands at 6’3″ and 165 pounds, and he posted a solid 25 points–23 of them goals–for Holy Cross as a 22-year-old sophomore. He’s not stood out very much, but the right-shooting forward has a couple more years’ worth of development at the NCAA level to fill out and continue sniping.
#56 Brennan Ali: Ali wrapped up his junior hockey career with a 43-points-in-57-games season for the USHL’s Lincoln Stars, and the 19-year-old center is headed to Notre Dame this fall. At 6′ and 200 pounds, Ali is no lightweight, and he plays with a real burr under his saddle. For a stocky player, he’s very fast, and he’s tenacious on and away from the puck, using his speed and solid skill set to shoot and pass with aplomb. He’s particularly competitive, however, and the edge he plays with might be his best asset. Still very young, he doesn’t need to fill out as much as he needs to play at a higher level of competition, and see where he ends up on a usually-stacked Notre Dame team’s lineup.
#61 Karsen Dorwart*: The Red Wings invited the Michigan State University center to Detroit’s campus after he posted a 27-points-in-38-games freshman season at State, and the 6’1,” 191-pound center has at least stood out from the pack of free agent try-outs in terms of his skill set and his skating (at least on the second day). He was a bit passive on Sunday, but Monday involved more battle drills, and battle he did.
#62 Liam Dower Nilsson: Still developing into his 6,’ 172-pound body at 20 years of age,e the 2021 draft pick is the more polished player in the Dower Nilsson family, providing strong-to-near-elite passing skills and excellent skating abilities. I’m not that thrilled that he’s going to go down from Frolunda HC of the SHL to IF Bjorkloven of the Allsvenskan this upcoming season, but he’s got to be somewhere where he can earn actual playing time, and if that’s the Swedish second division, so be it.
Dower Nilsson’s already come a long way, baby, in terms of the fit and finish of his skill set, and he’s got a long way to go before being ready for the North American professional game. A bit of a long shot prospect, there is skill there, and the Wings have to hope that LDN will tap into that skill set.
#64 Maximilian Kilpinen: The 19-year-old Kilpinen is a little under-developed at 6’1″ and 179 pounds, and after posting 29 points in 49 games for Orebro’s J20 team, he’s going to play for MoDo’s under-20 squad this upcoming season. There are flashes of particularly speedy skills in his game, but he’s still quite raw in my opinion. We’ll see how he does in terms of his final under-20 season.
#67 Redmond Savage: As previously stated, Savage may be the meanest, nastiest forward skating in the Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp, and that’s a good thing. He’s not overly big at 5’11” and 185 pounds, but the 20-year-old center, who is transferring from Miami of Ohio to Michigan State as an incoming junior, is a tremendous checking forward with an impeccable work ethic, great skating skills, and a bit of a hack-and-whack edge to him.
Savage loves out-competing his opponents for hard-fought pucks along the wall and behind the net, he wins faceoffs, and he’s generally the kind of player whose “intangibles” are hard to spot in a summer camp–but I’ve seen him play competitively at the World Junior Summer Showcase, and I know that he’s got a motor on him, and that he’s going to be an excellent checking line forward in the future.
#83 Noah Dower Nilsson: The younger of the Dower Nilsson brothers, the Red Wings selected the 18-year-old last week in Nashville, and the 6,’ 185-pound left winger posted a very solid 54 points in 37 games for Frolunda’s J20 team. He’s arguably the better shooter of the two, and as the more physically developed of the two, he’s still raw given his age, but he’s shown flashes of a superb skill set over the course of two viewings. Ideally, he pushes for a spot on Frolunda’s men’s team this upcoming season.
#89 Kevin Bicker: The Red Wings took a flyer on the 6’1,” 176-pound left wing this past week in Nashville because he posted a superb 21 points in 20 games with the Jungadler Mannheim (i.e. Adler Mannheim’s under-20 team), and Bicker has displayed some pluck, jam, and even a bit of grit and grime to his game over the course of two viewings. He’s going to try to turn pro with the Frankfurt Lowen of the DEL this upcoming season, and he’s got the work ethic to make the jump at 18.
I can’t imagine that he’ll play the entire season in the DEL, but he’s one of those intriguing late-round picks (147th overall) that can tantalize on occasion.
#92 Marco Kasper: The impeccably-skilled 19-year-old center stands at 6’1″ and 183 pounds, and Kasper is just professional in his demeanor and professional in his approach to the game. The fact that his father, Peter, was a professional hockey player helps, but Kasper speaks three languages, he graduated high school while playing for Rogle BK’s men’s team at the same time, and he posted 23 points in 52 games despite battling a broken kneecap for part of his season.
Kasper is arguably the jewel in this crown of Red Wings prospects, possessing superior skating, an excellent shot, great playmaking and passing skills, and he’s got a real physical edge, enjoying tussling and tugging for the puck against opponents. He’s got a bit of a cocky edge to him, too, and that serves him well, because he tends to back it up.
Players like Kasper and Mazur know exactly who they are as both hockey players and human beings, and it’s more than a little impressive to watch them play and watch them excel.
#97 Michael Horth*: Another free agent invite, the Red Wings brought in the 19-year-old Charlottetown Islanders left winger because he posted a very solid 45 points in 66 QMJHL games. Horth was passed over in the 2023 NHL Draft, and, thus far, he’s been all right in terms of his overall skill level, but he has not stood out per se.
Goaltenders:
#33 Sebastian Cossa: The 20-year-old Cossa has come a long way from the lanky-but-sometimes-leaky goaltender that the Red Wings drafted because he displayed immense physical talents on a loaded Edmonton Oil Kings team two years ago. Cossa has slowly but surely found his game, and the 6’6,” 229-pound goaltender has worked very hard to grow into his body and grow into a professional’s game. He played 46 games for the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye over the course of their regular season, winning 26 games, and he went 5-and-2 in the playoffs, posting a 2.32 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Cossa still has room to grow into a more consistent and professional goaltender, don’t get me wrong. There are still rebounds and tips that get by him, and he’s got a big ego that can be bruised if a couple of bad goals go in. That being said, he’s worked very hard to build a tremendous glove hand, a good blocker, solid puck-handling skills, his pads and toes are quick and sometimes stellar, and he uses his big body to block shots and gobble up rebounds.
Cossa will try to earn regular starting time with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins this upcoming season under his ECHL coach, now-Griffins bench boss Dan Watson, and I fully believe that Cossa is in progress toward a successful professional career.
#68 Rudy Guimond: Guimond is at the other end of the developmental spectrum as a 2023 draft pick. The 6’2,” 166-pound goaltender posted a .940 save percentage for Taft School this past season, and he’s leaving prep school to play a “leap year” season for the USHL’s Cedar Rapids Roughriders as an 18-year-old before heading to Yale a year from now.
Guimond is kind of flappy and floppy as a very young goaltender, with his very broken-in and puck-scuffed pads, his wide butterfly, active blocker and baseball-style catching motion, but he’s an excellent stick-handler, and he’s just pretty damn consistent for an 18-year-old kid. We’ll see how he develops over the next couple of seasons.
TEAM LINDSAY:
Forwards:
#29 Nate Danielson: The Red Wings’ “safe” 9th overall pick, big, right-shooting center Nate Danielson is a lanky 6’2″ and 186 pounds, and the Brandon Wheat Kings’ captain posted 33 goals and 45 assists for 78 points in 68 WHL games this past season. He’ll turn 19 in late September, and he already displays a particularly high level of maturity in terms of his on-ice game and all-round skill set.
Danielson’s a very agile skater for a lanky 18-year-old; he’s got a very good shot and strong passing skills, he is competitive and he works very hard. To some extent, he’s going to have to battle “Big Man Syndrome” as he continues to grow into his body, because there are times that he looks like he isn’t trying that hard. That’s simply not true.
#34 Kienan Draper: At 21 years of age, coming off a freshman year in which he played 23 games, Draper needs to take a developmental step forward as a sophomore at the University of Michigan. He posted a very strong set of 51-point seasons in high school and then 50 points in 53 BCHL games in 21-22, but he only posted 3 goals while skating as a 4th line forward at U of M, and Draper seems to be talented enough to at least project as a hard-working, speedy-skating right winger with skill and grit. I’d like to see him develop into a Red Savage-style player, if not something more, but that’s up to Kienan.
#37 Alexandre Doucet: The Red Wings signed the 21-year-old Doucet, a 6,’ 187-pound left winger from the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL, to an entry-level contract as a free agent because he posted a combined 58 goals and 115 points over the course of 70 QMJHL games this past season.
Like so many players from the high-scoring “Q,” Doucet is very rough around the edges, but he really does possess an elite shot, he’s an excellent skater, and there’s a lot to work with in terms of rounding out his skill set as the Wings decide whether to offer him a start to his pro career in Grand Rapids or Toledo. Either way, Doucet’s raw skills are impressive, and if he applies himself, his future could be very bright as a pure sniper.
#42 Nick Granowicz*: At the other end of the developmental spectrum, the 25-year-old native of Macomb, MI is heading to UMass-Lowell for a 5th NCAA season this fall, and the 6’1,” 174-pound right wing has looked mature and poised among the youngsters…But he’s also bobbed along with the Red Wings’ free agent try-outs.
#58 Chase Bradley: At 21 years of age, the 5’11,” 180-pound Bradley is physically mature and strong and stout, and the University of Connecticut junior posted a solid 20 points in 35 games as a sophomore. He’s a hard-working sort who projects to be a blue-collar player, but he does have a solid skill set, and I enjoy watching him play because he always brings a “lunch pail” effort to the table.
#63 Sam Stange: Stange is already 22 years of age, but he hasn’t really established himself at the NCAA level. 6’1″ and 208 pounds, the right-shooting right-winger possesses the kind of goal-scoring skills that afforded him starring roles in high school and the USHL, but his overall game hasn’t translated to college hockey, and as an incoming senior at the University of Wisconsin, he’s a purely talented athlete who needs to impress the Badgers’ new coaching staff with a harder-charging effort in terms of detail work.
#70 Theodor Niederbach: Niederbach is 21 now, and the 2020 draft pick stands at 5’11” and 172 very lanky pounds. He put his game together for MoDo of the Allsvenskan this past season, building upon an 18-points-in-31-games regular season with a 12-points-in-17-playoff-games run, affording MoDo advancement to the SHL this upcoming season. He’s played in three SHL seasons already, so stepping back to the Allsvenskan was a bit of a disappointment, but he’s going to earn another chance to prove himself in Sweden’s best league…
And he’d better take it. I’ve always been impressed with Niederbach’s skill set, whether watching him at summer development camps or the World Junior Summer Showcase, but Niederbach’s excellent passing and strong shooting skills are inconsistent, as is his superb skating skill. Niederbach is pretty strong for a player of his size, and he can really deke and dangle, but it’s a matter of putting the disparate parts of his game together for Niederbach, and doing so on a consistent basis–among men–this upcoming season.
#72 Dylan James: The Red Wings surprised people a summer ago by picking James with the 40th overall pick in the 2022 draft. The 6,’ 180-pound left wing came off a point-per-game season in the USHL to join the University of North Dakota, where he posted 16 points in 36 games played.
James is a fast skater and possesses a solid overall set of passing, shooting and playmaking skills, and he’s building himself into a solid pro…But there’s more to show as well.
#78 Amadeus Lombardi: Sometimes good things come in small packages. He’s grown to 5’11” and 171 pounds over the past couple of months, but Lombardi is always going to be undersized. He’s not certain whether he’s going to turn pro with the Grand Rapids Griffins or head back to Flint as a 20-year-old, but it’s hard to believe that he has too much more to learn as he’s coming off a 45-goal, 102-point season with the OHL’s Flint Firebirds.
Lombardi impressed over the course of two games and a handful of late-season practices with the rebuilding Grand Rapids Griffins, more than holding his own as a slick-skating play-maker and plucky, plucky competitor. Lombardi isn’t a mean player by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s a tough cookie in terms of battling through his size disadvantage.
You sort of wonder whether he’s got the grit and jam to play as a more successful version of Taro Hirose, and the prospect tournament and training camp will help determine whether “Ammo” starts his pro career in earnest this fall.
#79 Owen Mehlenbacher: Mehlenbacher is still a bit raw as a 19-year-old incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin, but the 6’2,” 193-pound center is big, strong, and he’s coming off a USHL season split between Muskegon (where he was captain) and Fargo, posting 50 points in 57 games (and 4 points in 9 playoff games).
Mehlenbacher is simply quite steady all the way around, and on the second day of skill development drills, he looked like a stronger skater than I remember him, possessing a quite solid all-round skill set. He passes and shoots and checks and competes, but nothing stands out…yet.
#82 Israel Mianscum*: Mianscum played for Grand Rapids Griffins assistant coach Stephane Julien’s Sherbrooke Phoenix this past season, so the free agent earned an invite as a 20-year-old left winger who stands at 6’1″ and 198 pounds. He posted a very solid 61 points in 65 QMJHL games this past season, and he posted 10 points in 14 playoff games, and I’ve at least seen him play a half-a-cut above some of his free agent compatriots. He’s got poise and stick-handling smarts, and he may end up playing in the Red Wings’ prospect tournament as a try-out.
#88 Emmitt Finnie: The Red Wings took a flyer on Finnie because the 201st overall pick in this past week’s NHL Draft grew from about 5’3″ to 6′ and 163 pounds over the course of a year. He posted a solid 35 points in 64 WHL games with the Kamloops Blazers in the regular season, and he posted 7 points in 14 playoff games.
Finnie isn’t that big and he definitely isn’t strong yet, but he’s got speed and some pluck.
Goaltenders:
#31 Carter Gylander: The 22-year-old Gylander wrested the starter’s job as a junior at Colgate this past season, posting a 19-15-and-5 record over the course of 39 NCAA games, with a 2.49 GAA and a .914 save percentage on a middling Colgate Raiders team.
There are definitely still holes in his game, but Gylander has slowly but surely become a massive blocking goalie, using his 6’5,” 190-pound frame to athletically block pucks with his pads, knock high shots into the corners with his blocker, make snags with his catch glove, and generally provide a big target for the puck most of the time.
If he can build upon his junior year and play strongly as a senior, he’s got real pro potential.
#80 Trey Augustine: At the other end of the developmental spectrum is Augustine, a “small” goalie at 6’1″ and 190 pounds. The South Lyon, Michigan native had a fantastic season with the NTDP in Plymouth, going 29-1-and-2 with a 2.13 goals-against average and .926 save percentage; he went 6-and-0 at the Under-18’s and 4-and-1 at the World Junior Championship.
Augustine looked a little shaky today, giving up some “softies” from time to time, but he really possesses impeccable form and technique, and that’s how he’s able to play at a very modest height-and-weight by today’s standards. He’s got a great set of legs in terms of quickness and the ability to boot rebounds out of trouble, his glove hand is great, his blocker is very good, his stance is solid and his positioning in the crease is very poised and calm.
Again, there were some holes and fatigue today, but less than a week after being drafted, the incoming Michigan State University freshman is earning the benefit of the doubt.
TEAM LIDSTROM:
Defensemen:
#3 Connor Punnett*: Punnett is one of those summer development campers who seems destined to take part in the fall prospect tournament. The free agent invite is a 20-year-old defenseman who stands at 6’2″ and 198 pounds, and the Barrie Colts defenseman posted 48 points in 66 games this past season–with a particularly pugnacious 109 penalty minutes.
Punnett could head back to Barrie for one more “overage” season as he just turned 20 in June, but he’s looking for a pro contract, like any of the Wings’ free agent invites. As someone who can’t really showcase his physicality in a skill development setting, he’s more likely to showcase his talents at the fall prospect tournament, where somebody who can keep the flies off is an advantage in a tournament very loosely refereed by the ECHL officials who work it.
That being said, Punnett has bobbed along with the other free agent try-outs, looking solid, if unspectacular.
#17 Finn Harding*: Harding is a bit of a different kind of free agent invite. The 6’1,” 182-pound defenseman from Toronto had an OK first year of draft eligibility playing for Mississauga, posting 10 points in 63 games, so he was passed over last week in Nashville. As such, the Red Wings brought in the right-shooter to see what he might display. Thus far, he’s stayed within the pack of free agent try-outs, but he’s got a couple of years left to develop–and get drafted–if he doesn’t impress Detroit.
#20 Anton Johansson: The 19-year-old Johansson was picked by the Red Wings a year ago, and at 6’4″ and 196 pounds, the still-lanky Leksands IF defenseman is an intriguing prospect. He posted 13 points in 32 J20 games, along with 94 penalty minutes (that’s a lot in Sweden), and Johansson sort of forced his way onto Leksand’s SHL team, posting a point in 21 games.
From what I understand, his point production didn’t reflect his overall performance, and while he’s still quite raw and unpolished, he skates well, he stick-handles particularly well, and he just looks like a classic right-shooting Swedish defenseman with promise, if not poise.
What he doesn’t seem to have is a “toolbox” to put all his solid tools in, and that’s a problem for many young, under-developed defenders. That doesn’t hinder some players; for others, it’s a fatal flaw.
#22 Shai Buium: Buium is my “Under the Radar Special” in terms of prospects participating in this Summer Development Camp. The 20-year-old University of Denver junior has posted solid NCAA numbers, averaging about a point every other game, but the 6’3,” 220-pound Buium is particularly fleet of foot, he’s got great passing and shooting skills, he’s physical, he’s poised…
And the defenseman who once looked like a lost gazelle at the World Junior Summer Showcase suddenly looks incredibly comfortable in his own body, which is fantastic given how big and strong he both is and could become.
Buium projects to be a 3/4, Swiss Army Knife defenseman with some offensive flair, and I just really enjoy watching him play.
#26 Andrew Gibson: A 2023 draft pick, the 6’3,” 202-pound Gibson is from the Windsor suburb of LaSalle, Ontario, and he grew up as a Red Wings fan. He played for the Sault Greyhounds this past season, and the right-shooting defenseman posted a solid-enough 21 points in 45 games.
Gibson was drafted high–42nd overall in Nashville–and I don’t quite see the coordination yet in his game that Brady Cleveland, a fellow 2023 draft pick, displays, but Gibson is big, lanky and useful, and I’ve only watched him twice.
#32 Cooper Moore: Moore is somewhat frustrating for me. At 22, after three seasons at the University of North Dakota, he’s transferring to Quinnipiac, and he needs a “hard re-start” in his senior year. At 6’2″ and 188 pounds, Moore has all the skating and stick tools to be a point-per-game defenseman at the NCAA level, but he hasn’t posted more than 13 points in 31 games this past season.
Moore, like Sam Stange, is a very naturally talented athlete who skates superbly well, but there’s something that just doesn’t seem to click, and that’s a concern.
#38 Antti Tuomisto: Tuomisto is turning North American pro this upcoming season, and the 22-year-old defenseman defines the term “heavy.” At 6’5″ and 205 pounds, the Pori, Finland native played in 60 games for the ever-competitive TPS Turku team in the Finnish Liiga this past season, posting 20 points, and he’s just effing massive.
He’s overcome a bit of a heavy-footed skating stride to become a gigantic right-shooting defender who skates well, has strong passing and shooting skills, and is very positionally sound, equally willing to use his stick, his gap control or his body to break up plays. As he transitions back to North American hockey (he played for the University of Denver for two seasons), big Tuomisto should do well as he battles for a spot on a crowded Grand Rapids Griffins blueline.
#52 Jackson DeSouza*: A free agent try-out, DeSouza stands at 6’4″ and 187 pounds, and the Kelowna Rockets defenseman has impressed me as a 20-year-old invite. He’s not a big point producer in the WHL, having posted 20 points in 66 games this past season, but he’s got a boomer shot, he keeps up well in skating drills, and there’s a bit of an edge to him. So far, so good in terms of his self-assured play.
#54 William Wallinder: I’m just disappointed that Wallinder hasn’t been able to participate in this Summer Development Camp due to what I’m assuming is some sort of lingering injury. At 20 years of age, the 6’4,” 190-pound defenseman is coming over to North America after a very solid season with Rogle BK of the SHL.
As Marco Kasper’s teammate, Wallinder posted 26 points in 50 games, and the big left-shooting defender is just incredibly all-round solid, possessing excellent skating skills, a playmaker’s panache, a good shot and some subtle physicality.
Hopefully he’ll wiggle his way into the fall prospect tournament despite having played pro hockey for the past two seasons.
#55 Sam Duerr*: A 21-year-old University of Maine defenseman, the Red Wings brought in the 6’1,” 192-pound defender as a free agent try-out. Duerr hasn’t posted a ton of points over the course of two NCAA seasons, but he’s got two more years of development to go in college hockey, and the Wings may have looked back at his great seasons with Shattuck St. Mary’s Prep and hoped that he’s a late-bloomer.
Thus far, Duerr has blended in with the other free agent try-outs.
#73 Brady Cleveland: The Wings drafted Cleveland with the 47th overall pick last week in Nashville, and while the 6’5,” 210-pound defenseman is only 18, the U.S. National Team Development Program alumnus looks absolutely comfortable in his massive frame. Cleveland can’t show off the physicality that accrued him a staggering 106 penalty minutes in 55 USHL games (that’s a ton of penalties for the USHL), but the incoming University of Wisconsin freshman has already established himself as one to watch, because he does a lot of things effortlessly.
Put simply, Cleveland already has a “toolbox” for his game, displaying strong skating, passing, shooting, and checking skills, and the ease with which he plays in that big body is encouraging.
#84 Axel Sandin Pellikka: I said yesterday that ASP is plain old fun to watch, and that stood true on Monday as well. He’s not that big at 5’11” and 180 pounds, but the Skelleftea AIK defenseman skates excellently well forward, backward and laterally, he’s got a wicked little shot in both snap and slap form, he passes and makes plays with the same aplomb that he uses to head-man the rush, and he holds his own in the physical department.
ASP posted 36 points in 31 J20 games (along with 64 penalty minutes), and he played in 22 more men’s league games with Skelleftea’s SHL team (posting 5 points), and the Wings essentially earned a “bonus draft pick” in using their 17th overall pick on a player who may end up with a higher upside than Filip Hronek.
It’s very early yet, but Sandin Pellikka has been really impressive in limited viewing.
#86 Larry Keenan: The Red Wings drafted the 6’3,” 186-pound Keenan out of the Culver Military Academy, where he posted 37 points in 49 high school prep games.
He’s headed to the BCHL’s Penticton Vees before going to UMass in 2024-2025, and the 2023 pick hasn’t impressed in the same way that Cleveland has, but Keenan has a lot of the same tendencies in terms of his skating, shooting, passing and checking skills. We’ll see what the future holds.
#87 Jack Phelan: The Red Wings drafted the 6’2,” 171-pound Phelan last week in Nashville, and he’s likely to return to the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede for one more year before heading to the University of Wisconsin in 2024-2025. A lanky fellow, the 137th overall pick in 2023 looks to be solid enough, but he’s not stood out over the course of two days’ worth of viewing.
#95 Tnias Mathurin: Mathurin was able to recover from a shoulder surgery that hampered him for the first couple of months of the 2022-2023 season, as well as a couple other “undisclosed” issues which prevented him from playing all but one regular season game for the OHL’s North Bay Battalion.
The 19-year-old defenseman still projects as a 5/6 guy in my eyes, but the 6’3,” 205-pound defenseman is almost Antti Tuomisto “heavy” in terms of his overall game. I’m excited to see the big, physical defenseman strut his assets in the fall prospect tournament.
Goaltenders:
#36 Jan Bednar: Bednar essentially “took a chill pill,” for lack of a better term. A lanky 6’4″ and 196 pounds, Bednar used to be the incredibly inconsistent goaltender who made spectacular stops and then let in squeaker after squeaker, but an injury-marred 2022-2023 season with Acadie-Bathurst (with forgettable statistics) didn’t deter his upward trajectory as he’s shored up his game in terms of consistency and form.
Bednar is probably headed to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye this upcoming season, and at 20 years of age, he possesses a narrow stance, but a wide butterfly, very calm glove and blocker hands, agile toes, a good stick, and his form has really squared up and become a patient goaltender’s body, poised to make stops more simply and efficiently than he used to be able to make. That’s incredibly encouraging given that he’s going to be given some runway with which to succeed in the ECHL this upcoming season.
#60 Luke Pavicich*: Pavicich is a 21-year-old goaltender from the Buffalo area, and the 6’3,” 190-pound netminder plays a litte smaller than his size, but the UMass junior seems to have poise and good technical aspects to his game. He’s just been steady and square for the most part over two viewings, and while I’m not certain that the Wings are going to take a flyer on him this summer, he’s got two more years (maybe three, due to the pandemic) of NCAA eligibility with which to develop into a late-blooming pro.
*= free agent invite
**= Grand Rapids Griffins contract
I am doing this in no small part to do more than “break even” financially, because I’m returning to the blog after a 9-month lay-off to take care of my aunt.
We’re re-establishing The Malik Report as whatever it’s going to be, and that takes some money to pay for the server and to pay for the trips downtown and back in my 17-year-old Chrysler. So:
If you are willing to lend a hand in exchange for the content I’m providing, here are the fiscal “deets”:
We have a GoFundMe that goes right to Aunt Annie’s bank account; you can also use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums” (an old nickname).
