February Prospects Report: 3 Successes and 3 Struggles

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6 years ago

With the trade deadline, February was an exciting month for the Red Wings, but there was also a lot going on with prospects. As we do every month, we took a look at three successes and three struggles for the month and there are some big names in both buckets for February. As always with prospects, they go through a lot of ups and downs, but one thing is becoming abundantly clear for Wings fans: there is a lot to look forward to.

SUCCESSES

Michael Rasmussen

The 2017 Detroit Red Wings first round pick has had a tough go at his season. After a stellar training camp with the Red Wings that left many fans salivating at the thought of him in the winged wheel, Rasmussen underwent wrist surgery in mid-December, an injury that had him out of the Tri-City Americans lineup for six weeks. Upon his return on January 27th, Rasmussen put up three points in back-to-back games.

It didn’t stop there, though. Rasmussen has gone on to score seven goals and eight assists for a total of 15 points in 15 games through February. With 1.26 points per game players, Rasmussen leads all of his Tri-City teammates and ranks 25th in the WHL. With his injury behind him, the young center will continue to progress, likely landing himself in the AHL next season.

Filip Hronek

Hronek’s name is one that we’ve been hearing a lot lately because of the role he’s taken on in Grand Rapids. Through the month of February, the 6’, 178 pound defenseman put up 10 points in 13 games. On the season, Hronek has 29 points (8, 21) in 50 games, leading all Griffins defensemen and ranked 10th in the AHL among defensemen. Four of his eight goals this season have been game winners, which is the most among all league defensemen.

The young Czech player’s game has developed well since last season and he is a serious candidate to take a spot on the Red Wings lineup next season. Don’t expect a call-up this year, as management would likely rather him finish the top notch job he’s done with the Griffins this year with a solid playoff run. No need to rush him to the NHL right now.

Libor Sulak

Ah, Libor Sulak. Our favourite hype boy here at WingsNation. As our own Thomas Williams wrote a couple of weeks ago, Sulak is the real deal and he’s making heads turn in Finland. I’m not going to go into too much detail on this one, because Thomas covered it really well in his article, but suffice it to say that Sulak is having a historical season in Finland’s Liiga. Will we see him with the Red Wings soon? Maybe, but I would think the team will want an adjustment period for him to the North American game.

STRUGGLES

Axel Holmstrom

Axel Holmstrom had a tough month as he only put up one point, an assist, through all of February. At a minus-2, the Griffins’ center barely made an impact on the ice this month. He’s got 21 points (5, 16) in 51 games this year for 0.41 points per game played, a number that is tied with another high-potential prospect, Evgeny Svechnikov.

Holmstrom, if he ever makes the big club, has bottom-6 potential, but he’s below Dominic Turgeon on the depth chart. He’ll have to grind it out better in the future if he wants a good look in Detroit in the future.

Keith Petruzzelli

After the Petr Mrazek trade, a lot of attention turned suddenly to the Red Wings’ goalie pipeline. They don’t have that much potential in the AHL (maybe Matej Machovsky has back-up potential?), we need to look deeper to see what’s really in store for this team’s goaltending department.

Petruzzelli, the Wings’ 2017 3rd round pick is currently having a lukewarm season with Quinnipiac University in the NCAA. His .900 save percentage is down from the .918 he enjoyed last season in the USHL. Petruzzelli played four games in February, going 2-2-0. He was yanked in the first period of a February 16th game when he allowed two goals on six shots. The young goaltender has a ton of potential and a high ceiling. He could be the Red Wings starting goalie one day. Hopefully February is just a blip on the radar.

Dylan Sadowy

Sadowy continued to struggle this season as he couldn’t hold a spot down on the Griffins roster. The second year pro was once again re-assigned to the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. Through nine games this season with the Griffins, Sadowy has put up zero points. He’ll have a better chance at holding down a roster spot next year, when some of the logjam has cleared up as other Griffins get permanent spots in Detroit.

NOTES:

Matej Machovsky finally got a look at the AHL level as Jared Coreau got the call-up to back up Jimmy Howard in Detroit. Machovsky has played in two games so far and put up a 0.930 save percentage and 1.85 goals against average.
After the Tomas Tatar trade, Jeff Blashill said that with the way Evgeny Svechnikov has been playing in Grand Rapids, he’ll likely get another look in Detroit at some point this season.
WingsNation.com sat down with Dominik Shine and had a chat about his non-traditional path to the pros and the impact he can make with the Griffins.
Jared Coreau was named the AHL goaltender of the month for February.
Dominic Turgeon scored a hat trick on February 17 against the Manitoba Moose. He is NHL-ready and could hold down a 4th line center role on most teams in the league.

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