As noted earlier this afternoon, Red Wings coach Todd McLellan issued some effusive praise about Detroit prospect defenseman Anton Johansson, while cautioning that forward Carter Mazur and defenseman William Wallinder, who have to be waived to be sent down to Grand Rapids, have to earn their spots in the lineup.
According to the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan, coach McLellan had this to say about Wallinder’s pluses, contrasting the 24-year-old Wallinder’s status from both Anton and Axel Sandin Pellikka, who don’t need waivers to be sent down to the AHL:
Wallinder, 24, is in a different spot from the other two defensemen. Wallinder is out of minor-league options and has to be exposed on waivers if he were to be sent back to Grand Rapids. There’s a good chance some other team would grab the 6-foot-5, 210-pound steady defenseman.
“I’m in a good spot,” Wallinder said of his mindset. “I’ve been taking this serious, working hard this summer. Hopefully, I get a shot at it this year.”
Wallinder is rangy like Johansson, and is stronger defensively. McLellan likes the two-way attributes Wallinder can bring to the table.
“We’re relying a lot on the minor-league staff and some of our scouts (but) he’s mobile, a big man with lots of good range to break plays up and he moves a puck efficiently,” McLellan said. “First passes are on the tape and then he can play. With his range and mobility, he should be a real good penalty killer, so, we’ll see.
“He’s put his time in. The organization has developed him, and we expect him to play on our club, but he’s going to dictate whether that happens or not. There still is a business element to running a team and the commitments to players in terms of term and dollars and everything else. Some of that comes into play. But that’s why this season runs a long time, and we’ve got to get everything sorted out.”
Continued (paywall) with equal praise for Anton Johansson:
“He’s tall, long, so he can shoot the puck from a lot of different angles,” coach Todd McLellan said. “He can shoot it far away from his body, pull it in tight and shoot it, so he gets less blocked up top.”
McLellan coached Brent Burns, a burly, hard-shooting defenseman, in San Jose and isn’t necessarily comparing Johansson to the long-time star. But McLellan sees a similarity.
“This might be an unfair comparison, but Brent Burns used to be like that,” McLellan said. “Burns could shoot the puck from out far, and he could pull it in tight, and as a result, he got a lot of pucks through. I sometimes equate the shot at the top like a quarterback throwing the football. There’s no sense throwing the football into the end zone if there’s no receivers there. So the net presence combined with his willingness to shoot the puck is a good combination.”
