After Axel Sandin Pellikka scored that “ankle-breaking” goal yesterday in Skelleftea AIK’s win, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reminded us why ASP remains in Sweden this season:
“And you might ask why, and I don’t really have a good answer for that, but we just, the plan was to leave him there,” Yzerman said. “He’s in a good spot. He knows our expectations of him and what our plan for him is. And so, no, it wasn’t. We wanted to bring Michael over here to spend a little bit of time with, again with our staff, you know, the Red Wings staff, but also our skills and skating people and our development people. Take a little bit of time here and play a couple of preseason games. You know, he’s a little bit different, he’s a little bigger, stronger. Axe, being a defenseman just felt like…he’s in a good spot there.”
As a general rule, it takes longer for young defensemen to develop. Also, the Grand Rapids defense has Shai Buium, Antti Tuomisto, William Wallinder and Eemil Viro all vying for playing. Youngsters Albert Johansson and Simon Edvinsson are moving to the Red Wings this season.
Adding Sandin Pellikka to the mix would have made it more crowded.
Continued; my sense is that the Red Wings want to determine whether Tuomisto or Wallinder have NHL futures before bringing ASP into that crowded blueline, which is also going to include William Lagesson and Josiah Didier.
