Author: George Malik

During the prospect tournament, I’ve looked up to the executives watching the Red Wings’ prospect tournament from the “owners’ suite,” where Shawn Horcoff, Dan Cleary, GM Steve Yzerman, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Niklas Kronwall and other Wings personnel take in prospect tournament games.

I kept having a feeling that the slightly-built, now slightly-balding Swedish guy with a tan was one Nicklas Lidstrom, and this evening, Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom confirms as much, while discussing Elmer Soderblom’s performance thus far with the Red Wings great.

What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Lidas pays tribute to Soderblom’s effort last night

LOS ANGELES. The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects had a three-goal lead in last night’s rookie tournament game against the Dallas Stars in Traverse City, Michigan.

But they lost in the end, 5-4.

Elmer Soderblom, 21, was one of the bright spots with his 1-0 goal and impressive play.

“Elmer was good tonight. He created a lot on his own and showed how good he is at protecting the puck and using his size,” says Nicklas Lidstrom to SportExpressen.

Earlier today, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills filed an article regarding one Elmer Soderblom’s figurative growth into a turning-North-American-pro player, and this evening, MLive’s Ansar Khan also filed an article which discusses the 6’8,” 249-pound winger from his coach’s perspective:

“His skating has gotten so much better [since his last prospect tournament two years ago],” Simon said. “Just growing into his body he’s become a lot stronger. You don’t teach size. So, when you’ve got that body and that strength on your skates, and he protects the puck so well, if he can play below the tops of the circles and take pucks to the net and make a living at the net front, he’s going to be exciting for Wings fans to watch.

“It’ll be curious to see how that projection happens and how that development continues and what kind of path he goes down. I’m sure Detroit’s extremely happy with where he’s at right now.”

Soderblom made a couple of nice plays in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to Dallas. He scored a goal by driving to the net and converting a pass from 2022 fourth-round pick Amadeus Lombardi. Soderblom also made a terrific stretch pass to spring Cross Hanas free for a breakaway goal.

Simon said Soderblom is one of the players who “really stands out,” not only due to his size, but also his skills.

“He’s moving his feet extremely well,” Simon said. “He’s going to have an interesting time in the pro game in terms of moving the puck quicker. You’ve got a little less time, less space to move around. That could be beneficial to him, but I also think it’s going to be a little bit of an acclimation period where he has to learn to use that to his benefit.”

Continued; Soderblom will definitely need some time in the AHL to acclimate to the North American pro game, but he’s not going to need a ton of time to be NHL-ready.

Soderblom spoke with DetroitRedWings.com’s Carley Johnson as well…

9-and-a-half minutes of Elmer Soderblom speaking with DetroitRedWings.com’s Carley Johnston.

The Detroit Red Wings prospects’ coaching staff chose to eschew the “rest over rust” theory on Sunday, putting their teams through a spirited 45-minute practice ahead of Monday’s 2022 Prospect Tournament finale vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs (11 AM EDT on the Red Wings’ social media channels).

Toronto plays today vs. Columbus at 2 PM, so the Wings will likely hope to pounce upon one of the few teams who’ve chosen to play 4 games over the course of 5 days and nights.

The Wings need a bounce-back game very badly after dropping to 1-and-1 via a 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday night, so the Wings have little wiggle room, and can’t take things for granted here.

I guess the “big question” to be answered on Monday is whether three prospect tournament games (instead of four) are a representative sample of, “Where the prospects are at,” or just a moment in time that needs to continually be reevaluated over the course of training camp and the exhibition season.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a notebook article in which he discussed the impressive prospect tournament performance by one Elmer Soderblom, a 6’8,” 249-pound forward who’s finding his way at the tournament:

Soderblom, who was Detroit’s 159th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, knows his large frame gives him an edge.

“I think I’m pretty much the tallest guy on the ice often,” Soderblom said. “I’m gonna use that to my advantage and do the best I can.”

Soderblom had a breakout 2021-22 season with Frolunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League, tallying 21 goals and 12 assists in 52 games.

“Everything went well,” said Soderblom, who was named the European Hockey Club’s Young Player of the Year at the 2022 Fenix Outdoor Hockey Awards Gala in June. “I had a high confidence, played my game and was just focusing on the things I did well.”

The 21-year-old said he’s made strides since being drafted by the Red Wings.

“Three years ago, I was not that smooth or comfortable with my body and big size,” Soderblom said. “I’m still working on it, but I’m getting used to my size and it’s getting better.”

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of Red Wings prospect and Rogle BK defenseman William Wallinder’s opening-of-the-SHL-season performance on Saturday:

Defenseman Moritz Seider is the talk of the NHL. Blueliner Simon Edvinsson could end up following that pattern. Defenseman William Wallinder undoubtedly wants to make sure he gets his fair share of attention from the Detroit Red Wings.

The 32nd overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft opened his SHL season by scoring a goal in Rogle’s 5-4 overtime win against Brynas. Marco Kasper also picked up an assist for Rogle in that contest.  Wallinder took a major step in his development last season when he registered four goals and 19 points in 47 games for Rogle.

The hope for this season: he takes his game to another level and is ready to play in North America next season. Like 6-foot-4 Seider and 6-foot-6 Edvinsson, Wallinder is a huge defenseman. He is somewhere between 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-4. He showed some flair on his goal in Rogle’s first game of the season.

Continued; I wouldn’t put Wallinder in the same class as Edvinsson or Seider skill-wise, but he does project as a minute-munching, two-way defenseman on the second defensive pairing.

Red Wings goaltending prospect Sebastian Cossa spoke with myself, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills and The Athletic’s Max Bultman today. Cossa discussed an array of topics, from his status as having practiced in Detroit with the Red Wings’ NHL players for most of the summer to winning the World Junior Championship and WHL title over the course of a couple of months, as well as his status as wearing red pads and a cat-eye cage despite not being quite certain where he’ll play this upcoming season. He also said that he’s moderated his chirping game a bit:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen penned an article regarding Kirill Tyutyayev, the Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted 22-year-old with exceptional skill but not much to show for it–mostly because he missed almost all of last season with a shoulder injury:

When coach Ben Simon was talking about Red Wings draft pick Kirill Tyutyayev last night he sounded like he was giving the Robin Williams “Carpe Diem” speech from “Dead Poets Society.”

He didn’t tell Tyutyayev to “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” But in Simon’s own way, he told Tyutyayev he needed to seize the day.

“I think it’s important for him to make the most of whatever opportunity is afforded to him,” said Simon, coach of the Detroit rookies in the NHL Prospect Camp. “Whether that’s whatever role is in Grand Rapids — however that plays out — but make the most of whatever opportunity is given to him and don’t look back. He’s got to grab a job and grab a spot.”

Tyutyayev is doing that at the NHL Prospect Tournament. After Simon tweaked the line combinations, Tyutyayev delivered a goal and two assists in the 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars.

Russian Tyutyayev, 22, is a Red Wings curiosity. It’s been that way since he was drafted in the seventh round (190th overall) in 2019. He’s a smallish player (listed as 5-foot-9) with an extra-large dose of hockey sense. He earned his first opportunity last season when he was signed for Grand Rapids. Injury ruined his chance. He only played nine games for the Griffins.

Allen continues, and yes, this is “the year” for Tyutyayev to “grab a spot.”

Per Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, in the Swedish J20 league, two Red Wings 2022 draft picks are already done with some Sunday Matinee work:

Defenseman Anton Johansson scored a goal, finishing even with 4 shots, in Leksands IF’s 7-3 win over Lulea:

Anton Johansson scores his first goal of the J20 season, jumping out of the penalty box and getting a breakaway #LGRW pic.twitter.com/m9Rue0m0W8— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 18, 2022

And center Maximilian Kilpinen finished even with 1 shot in Orebro Hockey’s 5-4 win over Oskarshamn.

The Red Wings’ prospects dropped a 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars at the 2022 Prospect Tournament on Saturday evening, and the game was something of a complicated story.

The Red Wings took 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 leads over Dallas, despite being out-shot 14-3 in the 1st period, 25-13 after 2 periods and 35-24 overall…But Dallas kept answering Detroit’s goals with game-tying markers, and, in the 3rd period, Dallas scored a pair of goals 3:10 apart to break a 4-4 tie and win a game in which the Red Wings’ power play went 1-for-5.

Despite a 3-point game (1 goal + 2 assists) from Kirill Tyutyayev, a goal and an assist from Elmer Soderblom, a 2-assist game from Albert Johansson and goals from Cross Hanas and Trenton Bliss–as well as a half-game, 18-save shutout from Jan Bednar…

The Wings couldn’t overcome their tendency to shoot themselves in the skates defensively, and they couldn’t or wouldn’t seem to attack the Stars as directly and purposefully as Dallas pestered and peppered Andrew Oke and his defensemen.

So the Red Wings’ prospects, who are 1-and-1 after 2 games (they won 5-2 over Columbus on Friday afternoon), will practice at 11 AM on Sunday, choosing to eschew an “off day” for team continuity’s sake, and they’ll wrap up the round robin portion of their annual prospect tournament on Monday at 11 AM as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospects (to be streamed on the Wings’ social media channels).

If you missed it, the Red Wings archived their stream of the game…