Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen describes defenseman Shai Buium, center Ondrej Becher and left wing John Leonard as “on the clock” to make the Red Wings’ NHL roster.
Buium, 23, needs to get back into the conversation about the Red Wings’ depth defenders with NHL potential, and Becher, 22, could very well impress as a center in an organization with not-so-much depth at the position…Leonard is the oldest of the three, but the stakes may be highest for the 28-year-old:
Left Wing John Leonard, signed as free agent
At 28, Leonard isn’t truly a prospect. He’s a journeyman who has played 81 NHL games. But the former UMass-Amherst player is also a late bloomer.
Counting playoff games, Leonard has netted 78 goals and registered 134 points in his last 145 AHL games.
This could be both his best and last time to show an NHL team he can score at the NHL level. The Red Wings are among the NHL’s weakest scoring teams and there will be a new director of hockey operations in charge. This will be a man looking for solutions. If he watches Leonard light up the AHL, he may give Leonard the real shot that GM Steve Yzerman did not.
Leonard did not look out of place in the first nine-game call-up he had to Detroit last season. He had two goals and two assists. Leonard can get open around the net.
Allen continues, and I’m very curious what happens to the 5’11,” 190-pound winger. He possesses a scoring punch that the Red Wings lack from their “bottom six,” and while he doesn’t have James van Riemsdyk’s size or Patrick Kane’s hands, he could be utilized as a stop-gap solution for the Wings’ third and fourth lines.
