The Red Wings loaned Michael Rasmussen to the Elite ICE Hockey League’s Graz 99ers on Wednesday, and this morning, the 99ers’ team website posted a press release regarding Rasmussen’s addition to the team’s roster. What follows is translated from German:
Continue reading Roughly translated: Rasmussen joins the Graz 99ersA bit about University of Michigan forward Phillipe Lapointe
The Michigan Daily’s Josh Taubman reports that the University of Michigan Wolverines will have a familiar name on their roster this upcoming NCAA season.
Phillipe Lapointe, the son of former Red Wings player Martin Lapointe, will be skating for the Wolverines as the younger Lapointe (Phillipe is an older freshman at 20 years of age) attempts to carve out a name for himself:
“(Playing college hockey) is something he’s wanted to do since he was a kid,” Martin said. “Having a chance to play for University of Michigan, for him it was a dream come true.”
Phillipe is coming off a stellar year with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the British Columbia Hockey League, where he totaled 20 goals and 35 assists in 36 games.
Former Trail Smoke Eaters head coach Jeff Tambellini felt Phillipe was the perfect leader to build his team around. Phillipe’s greatest intangible trait is his leadership, which will be a valuable asset to Michigan’s highly touted freshman class.
“He was a player that I thought was so similar to the way his father played,” Tambellini said. “You look at the skillset that Marty had, Phil does the same things.”
Khan continues his prospect rankings this morning, and Svechnikov’s slotted a bit high
MLive’s Ansar Khan has filed the third installment of his “Top 20 Red Wings prospects” series, and I’m gonna be honest here: there’s no way I would have ranked this player as the Wings’ sixth-best prospect:
6. Evgeny Svechnikov, right wing
Height/weight: 6-3/212
Drafted: First round 2015 (No. 19)
2019-20 club: Grand Rapids (AHL), Detroit (NHL)
2019-20 stats: Grand Rapids 51 GP, 11 G, 14 A, 25 PT, 61 PM; Detroit 4 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PT, 0 PM
This is a make or break season for Svechnikov with the Red Wings. He has been slow to develop due to inconsistency and having missed the 2018-19 season following ACL surgery. He is healthy now and no longer waiver-exempt, so he will start the season on the NHL roster. He has the size, skating ability and skills to provide offense and must show he can be a consistent scoring threat.
Khan continues; I’m genuinely not sure what to make of Svechnikov’s NHL upside any more, because his ACL injury still hampered him last season.
Is the former first-round draft pick still a top prospect as a goal-scoring, heavy-bodied winger? He might turn out as a scoring winger in a couple of seasons, but between some middling AHL numbers and the fact that he’s in the middle of a career re-start at 23 going on 24 this Halloween, I see Svechnikov projecting as a 3rd-line forward with speed, grit and size that will hopefully generate some offense on the forecheck.
Evgeny is an affable guy who’s easy to root for, but I also believe that he’s not going to develop into the top-six forward that the Wings believed they drafted in 2015.
HSJ makes the case for the Wings to draft Jamie Drysdale
The Free Press’s Helene St. James suggests that the Red Wings should pick Jamie Drysdale with their 4th overall pick at the 2020 NHL draft, via answering a mailbag question:
Drysdale would shore up the Wings’ defense, headlining the depth chart next to Moritz Seider, Yzerman’s first-round pick from 2019. The Wings would have Drysdale, Seider and Filip Hronek to anchor the blue line for the next decade, complemented by prospects Antti Tuomisto, Jared McIsaac and Gustav Lindstrom.
Drysdale, 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, is an elite skater who is sound defensively and gifted offensively. Like [Quinn] Hughes, Drysdale isn’t a big guy, but he’s swift on his feet and capable with his stick.
If Drysdale isn’t available, Yzerman’s choices will include either Stutzle or Byfield. Yzerman could also surprise — like he did last year with Seider — and draft Marco Rossi, an elite playmaking center and the first European scoring leader in OHL history, or Cole Perfetti, a creative forward who amends for his less-than-stellar speed with goal-scoring ability
Continued; I’m on the Drysdale bandwagon, but I keep on hearing that the Wings are leaning toward drafting Perfetti instead. My hope is simply that the Wings pick the player they believe has the best “ceiling” in terms of his talent and possible development.
Stars assistant coach Todd Nelson talks about coaching in ‘the bubble’
Former Grand Rapids Griffins coach Todd Nelson is the “eye in the sky” for the Dallas stars, serving as the assistant coach watching from above. Nelson spoke with WZZM 13’s Jamal Spencer regarding his experiences in “the bubble” as Nelson attempts to help the Stars win their first Stanley Cup in 21 years:
“We’re working our tails off as coaches, making sure we don’t miss anything.” aid Nelson. “We don’t want any surprises from Tampa Bay. They’re thinking the same thing. Right now it’s a chess match, but at the end of the day it comes down to heart, hard work and character”.
Nelson became the third player ever to win the Calder Cup as a player, an assistant coach and as a head coach– In 1994 he won as a defenseman with the Portland Pirates, he won again in 2008 as an assistant coach with the Chicago Wolves and, finally, as the Griffins head coach in 2017. He also won the Colonial Cup twice in Muskegon as the Fury head coach as well. He says the chance to add his name to the greatest trophy in sports is special, but he’s not ready to reflect on his career achievements just yet.
“You know what, I’ll have plenty of time after we get out of ‘Shawshank’ here to reflect on this. I’m hoping it works out the right way, I’m not going to say it but we all know what that means. This is something that every player since you were five years old dreamt of being a part of.”
Red Wings send Rasmussen on an Austrian vacation, loan big center to Graz 99ers
This is a little late, but I was waiting to get my Pacifica fixed at the repair shop:
Update: The #RedWings have loaned center Michael Rasmussen to the Graz 99ers (Austria). pic.twitter.com/tCJqaYqf22
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 23, 2020
Update: Here’s more from Sportsnet…
The Detroit Red Wings have loaned forward prospect Michael Rasmussen to the Graz 99ers of the ICE Hockey League, Austria’s top pro league, the team announced Wednesday.
The ninth-overall selection in the 2017 NHL Draft put up 22 points across 35 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2019-20, the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate.
Rasmussen — six-foot-six, 221-pound pivot — also spent 62 games with Detroit in 2018-19, racking up eight goals and 10 assists.
The decision to loan Rasmussen, a 21-year-old native of Surrey, B.C., to the Austrian club likely comes in light of the AHL’s revised start date, which is now slated for Dec. 4, 2020, after the league was forced cancel its 2019-20 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ICE Hockey League’s 2020-21 season kicks off Friday.
More Mantha contract talk from The Fourth Period
Yesterday, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta Tweeted out news that the Red Wings and restricted free agent Anthony Mantha have begun contract negotiations, and The Fourth Period adds a little more context to the story today:
It should be noted that while a deal is not yet imminent, contract talks are well underway, and the lines of communications are open between the Red Wings and Mantha’s agent Pat Brisson.
…
It’s unclear what type of contract Mantha is looking for, how high of an AAV, but the Wings appear to be interested in a longer-term deal as the 20th overall selection in the 2013 NHL Draft is one-year away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency.
In 43 games with Red Wings this season, Mantha registered 16 goals and 22 assists for 38 points.
Kulfan has the Wings picking Drysdale in his mock draft
The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has filed his first “mock draft” ahead of the 2020 NHL draft, and he has the Red Wings picking a familiar name:
4. Detroit Red Wings: Jamie Drysdale, D, Erie (OHL). The Wings need help everywhere — literally every position. With a puck-moving defenseman so important these days, Drysdale can’t be passed on.
Bultman wonders whether Lucas Raymond’s scintillating SHL start may complicate the Wings’ draft decision-making
The Athletic’s Max Bultman engages in a thought experiment this morning, pondering whether Swedish phenom Lucas Raymond’s strong start with the SHL’s Frolunda Indians may tip the scales in his favor come draft day:
Raymond breezed through the preseason with four goals and two assists in five exhibitions, including three goals and an assist in his final two friendlies. That’s an impressive showing after he posted four goals and six assists in 33 games at the SHL level last season. While still strong historically for a then-17-year-old, it did leave a bit to be desired relative to his fellow top 2020 prospect Alexander Holtz.
Some of that production was inevitable once Raymond increased his strength and got more playing time. But the fact it’s already begun, at the very beginning of the season and just weeks before the draft, is particularly good timing for the young Swede.
“I think (he) was a little bit too much on the outside last year and the years before that, he was leaning to his strength as a passer — and he is skilled with the puck, and he can really put his linemates in prime positionings too,” [Frolunda coach Roger] Rönnberg said. “But I want him to attack more and be more greedy, to find scoring opportunities by himself. So I think that’s the big improvement this year, that he’s more focused on attacking the net when he’s over the puck.”
Bultman continues (paywall); I’m an unabashed Lucas Raymond fan, but “new data” from a strong preseason and SHL debut don’t make picking Raymond a slam dunk for me.
In my opinion, the sum of a player’s work over the course of his entire development curve matters a whole lot more than the new data confirming that Raymond is on the right track, and whether the Wings choose Raymond or a North American, I think that it’s a little dangerous to become bedazzled by preseason and early regular season work.
Khan’s prospect rankings continue
MLive’s Ansar Khan continues to rank the Red Wings’ top prospects today, continuing a list which he began on Tuesday.
Today’s rankings, of prospects 11 through 15, include one of my favorite Wings prospects:
14. Gustav Lindstrom, defenseman
Height/weight: 6-2/187
Drafted: Second round 2017 (No. 38)
2019-20 club: Grand Rapids (AHL)/Detroit (NHL)
2019-20 stats: Grand Rapids 45 GP, 0 G, 5 A, 5 PT, 26 PM; Detroit 16 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 PT, 14 PM
A stay-at-home defender who plays a simple game, he defends, moves the puck out of his zone efficiently and competes. He will provide little offense, focusing more on keeping the puck out of his team’s net. Injuries afforded him an opportunity at the end of 2019-20 but he must earn a roster spot in training camp. He has been loaned to Almtuna, his former Swedish club, until camps open.
Continued; to me, there’s no shame in being a “complementary part,” and Gustav Lindstrom is exactly that kind of player. He’s a 2nd pair defenseman, and he may never light it up offensively, but he’s useful at even strength and on the penalty-kill, he’s getting stronger, he’s improving his skating, and he could be a useful 2nd pair guy for another decade.
You don’t win with stars alone; if you don’t have a good supporting cast of players who are comfortable taking on secondary and tertiary roles, like Gustav Lindstrom and Givani Smith, you can’t build a competitive team.