No, hasn't played bad but is snake bit on the goals. Needs to find his scoring form in AHL and get some confidence back
So I don’t think this happens but I do wonder if we might look to move Mike Green before the opener. Most teams probably can’t make the cap work there and he has trade protection IIRC but it would solve a lot of issues we have in regards to depth. One of the biggest issues is if Cholowski makes the team, and I suspect he will, he likely becomes the D on the top PP unit so he can feed Mantha at the top of the circle. That puts you in a situation where your second PP unit has Hronek and Green together, or just one of them out there. Not sure what works best but it gets complicated.
100% on board with moving green for a pick and taking one more year for this rebuild. Let the kids play, struggle, develop.
I am torn. I agree someone like Cholowski should be in the NHL. The way Ras is playing in preseason, I think I start him in NHL. But some of the young guys I think could benefit from some time in GR. I think I would start Zadina and Veleno there, and probably Seider and Svech too. Maybe let those guys start in GR and get some confidence and trade/demote some of the vets throughout the season as the younger guys are ready to be called up.
I'm getting pretty excited with what they've got building but I can't be totally there while fuck boy Abby and Helm/Nielsen still have multiple years. The cap table makes me irrationally upset every time I see it.
We are down to 28 guys as a slew of vets and kids were sent to GR. Of note remaining are Seider, Cholowski and Rasmussen.
Gotta think he makes it. 9 D left on roster and one is McIsaac, who I think is hurt and I don't think realistically has a chance to make roster. They were saying all preseason they may keep 8 defensemen. Think Ericsson is also currently injured
Larkin took a spill at practice today and subsequently left the ice. Nothing to report yet by it sounds somewhat concerning. Athanasiou also has a tweak he’s working through that might keep him out on Saturday.
Pronman had a bit about him and some other Wings prospects in his write up today or yesterday. Says he's getting no power play time, which makes the stats more impressive in context.
The SHL is a really weird league because as big as the Swedes are on developing players, they don’t like to put kids in the lineup. Considering that Berggren was hurt just about all of last year, his start is fantastic.
Yep it’s not a developmental league with few exceptions. Not to mention it’s a low scoring league. And like you said, he played hurt last year.
In the last 48 hours both Pronman and Wheeler have had pretty glowing things to say about Tuimisto. Good to hear.
Pronman nuggets... Jonatan Berggren (LW, Detroit) hasn’t been getting much ice time to start the season with Skelleftea and no power play time. With that said, he’s a highly skilled player so he is interesting and tough to figure out. He makes a lot of plays like these that make you think he’s going to be a player. But I also have seen him get eliminated off pucks too easily too often versus men, and while he skates well, he doesn’t have elite quickness for his size. Antti Tuomisto (D, Detroit) is dominating Finland’s junior league, as someone would expect for a player of his draft slot playing his third season at the level. I watched one game of his and thought he was impressive. He killed a lot of plays defensively with his reach and physicality. He won’t win a ton of races in the NHL, but his skating looked better with a cleaner stride than from what I remembered so I’ve bumped him up to a legit NHL prospect. Taro Hirose (LW, Detroit) has been impressive whenever I’ve watched him during his camp. He looks a lot quicker, which along with his great skill and hockey sense has gone a long way. Scouts who have been watching him have also been quite complimentary of the player and his projection. Joe Veleno (C, Detroit) has had an impressive camp. Apparently I agitated some folks by not pointing that out earlier. Grand Rapids, Detroit’ AHL affiliate will have three top-10 picks playing games together in Michael Rasmussen, Moritz Seider and Filip Zadina, who are still on entry level deals (technically Dylan McIlrath would count too, but he isn’t a prospect anymore). I can’t remember the last time that’s happened outside a lockout season. They are one of the most interesting teams prospect-wise now in hockey.
Also, the 2020 draft at the top is absolutely loaded. I hope we lose a lot of games this year (we certainly will).
When do we think Zadina comes up? Seems like Veleno probably gets the same treatment Zadina got last year, but there's not any contractual benefit for Zadina to be in the minors all year anymore, right? Hope he gets at least half a season in Detroit.
My guess on call ups is if we need a top six forward, it’ll be Rasmussen, Svechnikov, Veleno and then Zadina. That depends on if we need a center or a wing of course. The key for Zadina is scoring. I think he needs to have a .5-.6 PPG pace to rise in the pecking order. It’s totally doable though. So to answer your question, he may see a few games before the new year but it’s more likely he’s up longer term post TDL.