Both the Free Press’s Helene St. James and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan wrote practice notebooks which discuss Elmer Soderblom’s emergence as an NHL-ready player on the Wings’ roster.
“He’s played really well,” coach Todd McLellan said. “That’s probably the simplest way of putting it.”
Söderblom, 23, used his second goal of the season in Tuesday’s Seattle Kraken outing to extend the Wings’ winning streak to seven consecutive games, catching a pass from Joe Veleno in the low slot area and flicking a backhand bar down.
“I was talking to him after the game,” Compher said. “It’s a really hard pickup on your backhand and it’s kind of right in his triangle, and he did a good job settling it and getting it under the bar.”
Against the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 27, Söderblom, 6-foot-8 in bare feet and 7 feet on skates, used his big reach to snap a rebound into the net.
“Both of his goals have basically been the same thing — big man with good hands around the net,” McLellan said. “When you think about Elmer, you think about, ‘Well, can he use his size?’ He’s a big man. There’s different ways of using his size. When you talk like that, you think of these big hits and all that type of stuff, and he does do that. But he uses his size so effectively when he hunts pucks down. Players might be skating away from him, they may be a step or two faster, but out comes this long hook and they can’t skate through that. It’s off your tape and he’s got it again.”
It’s easy to forget Soderblom started the 2022-23 season with the Wings out of training camp and had eight points (five goals) in 21 games before getting sent back to Grand Rapids. The message at that point was to work on his skating and speed, and gain a better understanding of how to use his size and physicality. Soderblom appears to have figured it out.
“Every single game I’m learning more, and the confidence gets better,” Soderblom said. “It’s always fun to produce and just trying to play my game and contribute as much as I can with my size and game. It’s feeling good.”
Soderblom understood the reasoning behind returning to Grand Rapids two seasons ago. There was disappointment, but was intent on “keep working.
“Have patience and work hard every day to get back here. It’s good to be back.”
Being a 6-foot-8, 246-pound forward can be just as helpful for a hockey player as a basketball player. But it truly does take an understanding for a hockey player of use to best utilize that gift.
“He’s a big man, and there’s different ways of using his size,” McLellan said. “When you talk like that you think about these big hits and does do that, but he uses his size so effectively. When he hunts pucks down, a player might be skating away from him (Soderlbom) and might be a step or two faster, but out comes this long hook and he can’t skate through that, and it’s off your tape and he (Soderblom) has it again. He’s been a sponge and been willing to learn. He’s confident.”
St. James also posted a video in which J.T. Compher, coach McLellan and Soderblom himself discuss big #85’s emergence:
