Projecting Detroit’s Roster For the 2018 Prospect Tournament In Traverse City
By Cameron Kuom
5 years agoThe annual prospects tournament in Traverse City is almost upon us!
Spanning from September 7th to September 11th, the prospects of the Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, and of course your Detroit Red Wings will play each other in this annual summit of prospect competition. As requested, we will be projecting what the Red Wings roster may look like.
Some things to consider: prospects playing in Europe or College generally do not participate in this tournament because of travel and scheduling. Some other top talent might be held out so they can prepare for training camp. Lastly, none of this is official, it is merely an educated guess as to what we could see in Traverse City.
Lets dive in!
Forwards
Evgeny Svechnikov – Michael Rasmussen – Filip Zadina
Trevor Yates – Christoffer Ehn – David Pope
Givani Smith – Joseph Veleno – Jordan Topping
Lane Zablocki – Zach Gallant – Pavel Gogolev
Maxim Golod – Brady Gilmour – (Free Agent Invitee)
Detroit almost always carries fifteen forwards, however, I’ve only put together fourteen. I find it unlikely that Axel Holmstrom will play because he now has a year of pro hockey under his belt and Dominic Turgeon‘s health is in question at the moment. So a free agent invitee will most likely occupy the fifteenth slot.
Pavel Gogolev and Maxim Golod were the loan invitees. Detroit has six players capable of playing center, so I felt Gogolev and Golod made the most sense as wingers who were invited to the Red Wings development camp.
Some other names that might standout in Trevor Yates and Jordan Topping were signed to AHL deals by the Grand Rapids Griffins. Yates’ has collegiate experience, which is why I opted to place him higher up in the lineup than true prospects.
As for the rest, well… inject that top-line into my veins.
Defense
Dennis Cholowski – Vili Saarijarvi
Jared McIsaac – Trevor Hamilton
Marcus Crawford – Alec Regula
Reilly Webb – Cole Fraser
The most noticeable omission of this defense is Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak. Both had excellent showings at the world championships, as well pro experience in their own respective leagues in 2017-18. There is enough depth here where those two can sit out and prepare for training camp – Hronek of which will have a shot to crack the Red Wings.
Trevor Hamilton and Marcus Crawford are both recent additions to the Griffins. Both are physically more mature which may give them more of an advantage in-terms of ice-time. However there is no doubt Dennis Cholowski will be the horse of this D-corps – he is a dark horse candidate to make the Red Wings.
Goalies
Patrik Rybar
Kaden Fulcher
(Free Agent Invitee)
Detroit has almost no choice to bring in a free agent invitee to play third string. Outside of Rybar and Fulcher, Detroit’s remaining goaltender prospects play in Europe or college. They also had no invitees to development camp.
As for Rybar and Fulcher, this looks to be the start of a heated competition for the Griffins back-up role. Harri Sateri will be the starter for Grand Rapids, but the back-up is still up for grabs. I would imagine the loser ends up as the starter in the ECHL. This should continue into training camp, but as of right now I feel Rybar is the favorite.
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