Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses the extra weight and strength gained by Red Wings prospects Carter Mazur, Axel Sandin Pellikka and Nate Danielson:
[Amadeus] Lombardi said at the prospect series against the Dallas Stars that defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka (17th, 2023) “looks bigger for sure, and stronger.”
“Just giving the eye test,” Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson said of Sandin Pellikka, “it looks like he went home and had a really good summer, and he’s prepared to challenge for a spot in Detroit.”
Nate Danielson (drafted ninth, 2023), another candidate to make the Detroit roster, said he spent “a lot of time in the gym this summer.”
He’s added eight pounds of muscle to reach 198 pounds. Danielson learned last season, in his first full AHL campaign, that his body needed sculpting.
“Playing against older and stronger guys, you realize that you need that little bit extra, extra weight.,” Danielson said. “I feel great. Especially down low in the corners and just being stronger on my skates. That was the main thing. As the year goes on, tend to lose a little bit of weight. It’s nice to come into camp a little bit heavier.”
Danielson is only 20. Time is on his side when it comes to growing stronger.
“You have an opportunity to get in the gym, an opportunity to work on things that you need to,” [Red Wings assistant GM Kris] Draper said, “and just kind of let Mother Nature take over on some of these underdeveloped bodies.”
