Who Is Scott Wilson: What To Expect From The Newest Red Wing

Photo credit:Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

6 years ago

With today’s news that Scott Wilson, the Red Wings’ newest acquisition, landed in Detroit this afternoon and would be suiting up for the team tonight, I thought it would be good to take a look at what kind of player he is and what the Wings can expect of him.

HIS HISTORY

From Oakville, Ontario, Wilson was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the seventh round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft (209th overall). He spent three years playing for UMass-Lowell where he produced at a 0.87 point-per-game pace. Following that, Wilson had a 90 game stint in the AHL where he put up 41 goals and 77 points. All signs pointed towards him being a solid bottom-6 winger in the NHL and that’s just what he became.

In 2014-15, the Penguins lost to the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. Wilson was called up and drew into the final three games of the series, averaging about 6:30 of ice time. He didn’t put up any points, but he had the highest Corsi-For percentage on the team for two of the three games (per hockey-reference.com). Apparently it was too small of a sample size for him to draw into the 2015-16 opening night lineup, as he started the following season back in the AHL. However, it only took until December for him to get the call-up and become an NHL regular.

THE STATS

Through the rest of that season and all of 2016-17, Wilson played in 102 NHL regular season games, putting up 13 goals and 32 points for a point-per-game pace of 0.31. He did not play in the 2015-16 playoffs, but scored three goals and three assists through 20 games in the 2016-17 playoffs and added a Stanley Cup ring to his resume.

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From an advanced stats perspective, Wilson is a pretty even player with his career CF% clocking in at 50.63. That would have been the fifth best CF% on the Red Wings last year. His career primary points per sixty is 1.31 and his xGF% is 54.43. He’s under-performed the latter metric by 20 goals.

While these are by no means elite statistics, the Wings don’t need Wilson to be an elite player. Just a reliable one who can play the penalty kill and contribute a goal or two every once in a while.

HOW DOES HE COMPARE TO WHAT WE GAVE UP?

On paper, Detroit trading a first round pick for a seventh round pick doesn’t necessarily look good, but swapping the fifth and third round picks helps. Going deeper than that, though, Wilson is not really either an upgrade or a downgrade to Riley Sheahan.

Keep in mind, when looking at Don Galamini’s Hero chart, that Sheahan’s 2016-17 season was an anomaly from an offensive output perspective. That being said, Wilson has better shot generation and isn’t that far from Sheahan’s shot suppression.

When you line him up against Dom’s 3rd line winger archetype, Wilson pretty much checks all of the boxes (except for ice time), and then some. He’s got a playmaking toolkit that Sheahan doesn’t have and it will help generate shots and (hopefully) offense for the Red Wings bottom-6 this year.

ARE WE BETTER OFF?

Here’s what it comes down: Sheahan was snake bitten in Detroit. He just hasn’t been able to shake his disappointment from last season and the Wings weren’t getting anything more out of him. It was time for the two parties to part ways and likely would have happened after this season anyways, with Sheahan’s contract expiring. With a fresh start in Pittsburgh, he’ll probably breakout as he’ll be playing with much better players.

And the same goes for Scott Wilson with the Penguins. He’s only played in three games this year as Mike Sullivan had resorted to making him the healthy scratch. He’s got a greater opportunity in Detroit anyways, as he’s already surpassed guys like Luke Witkowski and David Booth on the depth chart.

So yes – absolutely I think the Wings are better off. They brought in a player of similar skill, while also upgrading their draft position. Wilson is hungry and can thrive in a new environment. Sheahan had gotten stale and wasn’t getting anything done in a Red Wings jersey.

SO WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM HIM?

Watching some highlights on YouTube, it’s clear that Wilson reads the play really well and knows where to go to find open ice. Often, he’ll clear some space in front of the net, keeping his stick on the ice, and bang home a rebound or one timer. They’re not always clean goals, but dirty goals count just as much. I would expect 12 goals and 30 points from him this season.

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(That’s right – his first NHL goal was against the Detroit Red Wings).

Wilson is also a gritty player who isn’t afraid to drop the gloves. He’s gotten himself into (and out of) four NHL fights in his 106 game career. It’s no secret that Detroit loves this kind of passion, emotion, and grit.

CONCLUSION

To top it all off, Wilson is cheap. In order to sign Andreas Athanasiou to a contract, Ken Holland needed to dump a salary. This isn’t always easy, but he did so masterfully here by taking on Wilson’s $625,000 cap hit. It’s also to Detroit’s benefit that Wilson is in a contract year and, while he is eligible for arbitration after the season, will have to prove himself if he wants a raise for next season.

For this reason, as well as a fresh environment for him to start over in, I’m excited about what Wilson can bring to the table. I think he can only help the Red Wings this season. Look for him on the fourth line playing with Luke Glendening and Witkowski against the Vancouver Canucks tonight.

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