THE WINGS NATION TOP 20 PROSPECTS: #13 DYLAN SADOWY

7 years ago

Dylan Sadowy (pronounced Sad-oh-way) came to the Red Wings on May 26th, 2016 via trade from the San Jose Sharks. Selected in the 3rd round (81st overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Sadowy and the Sharks failed to come to an agreement on an entry level contract. In order not to lose him for nothing and have him re-enter the draft in 2016, the Sharks traded his rights to the Red Wings for a 3rd round draft pick in 2017.

On May 31st, only five days after the trade, the Detroit Red Wings and Dylan Sadowy came to terms on a three-year entry-level contract.

BY THE NUMBERS

Considering he was projected as a late-1st round or early-2nd round pick if he were to re-enter the draft, this was a good deal for the Wings. Sadowy is a talented juniour player who’s amassed 188 points in 258 games with the Saginaw Spirit and the Barrie Colts of the OHL, most of which came in his latter two seasons.

Sadowy shone in the Red Wings annual development camp in Traverse City, scoring a hat trick in the first scrimmage and blocking shots at the other end of the ice. His two-way play isn’t something that is reflected in the above numbers, but it’s something that’s been praised by scouts and that he himself is very proud of, as told to Ansar Khan in an interview with Mlive.com:

“I’m a two-way player that can play both ends of the rink,” Sadowy said. “I can score goals, but I’ll sacrifice my body for the team. I’ll block shots and take hits to make a play and I’m a good PK guy that can be counted on in the last couple minutes of the game.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Sadowy scores most of his goals by being gritty and getting to the dirty areas around the net. While he still has some speed and strength to develop, Sadowy could very well be a Riley Sheahan-type of NHL player.

He is in no way a franchise-forward, but rather a solid top-9 option who will lead by example, hustling and fighting in the tough areas at both ends of the ice. Unfortunately for him, with the current logjam of forwards in Detroit and Grand Rapids, he will have to wait a long time to crack the Red Wings lineup or hope for a trade to ship some of the more NHL-ready forwards out. At #13, he’s got a long way to climb before donning the Winged Wheel.