Daily Faceoff’s Mike Gould hits the nail on the head when he lists underrated players for the Atlantic Division’s 8 teams, including the Red Wings:
Detroit Red Wings: Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen is a mountain of a man who appears to be finally finding his groove as a full-time NHLer. The 6’6″, 210-pound center scored at an impressive pace with the Red Wings last season and could slide up the lineup this year despite being pencilled in to start as the team’s No. 4 center.
Rasmussen managed a career-high 29 points with the Red Wings in 2022–23 before suffering a season-ending knee injury shortly before the trade deadline. The Red Wings were a 28–21–8 team when Rasmussen went down; after his injury (which was coupled with the team selling the likes of Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek, and Oskar Sundqvist at the deadline), Detroit went 7–16–2.
Correlation doesn’t equal causation, but there’s little doubt that Rasmussen made the Red Wings a significantly better team when he was in the lineup last year. Even in the midst of a poor 5-on-5 season, the Red Wings managed to play their opponents to a draw with Rasmussen on the ice. Although he may never live up to his billing as the No. 9 overall pick in 2017 (taken one pick after Mittelstadt), Rasmussen provided legitimate value at both ends of the ice with the 2022–23 Red Wings. All but one of his 29 points came at even-strength, and he scored at a 42-point pace over a full season.
The Red Wings were one of the NHL’s busiest teams over the summer, bringing in Alex DeBrincat, J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong, Klim Kostin and Christian Fischer to round out their forward group. With more mouths to feed, Rasmussen’s production might go down. But don’t be fooled — he’s a highly valuable (and underrated) player.
