The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari examines the Red Wings’ prospect pool today, and he prefaces his deep dive into the Wings’ developmental pipeline with the following:
The Detroit Red Wings took a step toward playoff contention last season, being eliminated in the final minutes. But their young NHL players played an important role in nearly making it.
Lucas Raymond put the team on his back in the final month of the season, picking up the slack with captain Dylan Larkin out. Their goaltending waned, some of their depth scorers weren’t producing as much, and the blueline was being exposed left and right, but Raymond was there to score a game-tying goal or an overtime-winner to keep Detroit in the thick of the race. His ascension to stardom truly began.
Moritz Seider faced arguably the toughest competition in the NHL as the team’s top defenseman, and his numbers took a hit because of it. While he did a solid job, the Wings will need some help going forward.
Thankfully, the Wings have a number of blueliners coming with Simon Edvinsson being the next in line for NHL work. He saw some action at the end of the season and immediately looked like the team’s second-best defender. He uses his 6-foot-6 frame well, and his skating is impressive. He has all of the tools you want from a do-it-all blueliner, but he just needs to refine some of his decision-making. There is no reason he shouldn’t be in the lineup on Day 1 of the season because outside of Seider, the Red Wings don’t have a defenseman who can affect the game in as many ways.
Albert Johansson will be an interesting player to watch, as the Swedish defender is no longer waiver-exempt. Having played for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins last season, Johansson was consistently praised for his mature approach to the game. He is good at many things but doesn’t have an elite standout trait. He should beat out some of the vets on the NHL roster based purely on talent, but if not, he could be a player the Wings regret losing on waivers.
Overseas, the development of Axel Sandin-Pellikka has been going just as the Wings had hoped. The uber-talent offensive blueliner won a Swedish League championship with Skelleftea, collecting the Salming Trophy for the best Swedish defenseman in the league. He was also named the best defenseman of the world juniors while winning silver.
Continued (it’s a good read!)
