The Red Wings franchise is in dire need of a savior.

“Rasmus Dahlin!” They yell.

“Steve Yzerman!” They shout.

Well, bask in the glory of Wings prospect David Pope, and all his splendor holiness. Now, merging away from all the fun I could have with his name, Pope should be a name for all to know come August. 

Pope, a Detroit 2013 4th rounder, has spent the last four years playing for the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks men’s ice Hockey Team in the NCAA. After a successful junior campaign, he’s taken his game a step forward and has been a top talent in his senior class. He’s 2nd in scoring among seniors (16 goals and 35 points in 26 games) and 7th overall. Unless he finds the Holy Grail, don’t expect him to become a legit top-6 forward, but he could develop into a solid depth player. To give you an idea, he currently has a better points-per-game (1.35), than Drake Caggiula (1.31) and Alexander Kerfoot (1.25) had in their senior years.

With his collegiate career set to end in a few months, The Wings will have only thirty days of exclusive rights to lock him up on an entry-level contract. If they are unable to do so, he can become an unrestricted free-agent, like Jimmy Vesey and Will Butcher have in recent years. Pope will most likely be a target of several teams if he becomes a UFA. The crown jewel of this year’s college free-agent class will be Jake Evans (a player the Wings should also go after, if he hits the market), but Pope will be in a tier similar to what Spencer Foo was in last season.

The hope is that it does not come to this and the two sides can come to a contract agreement. “Detroit has been my favorite team for about 10 years,” Pope said after being drafted by the Red Wings. “They’re a great organization, and they’ve always been known to be a great organization, and they’ve always won a lot”. Some childhood nostalgia is great and all, but the state of the team will most likely play the biggest role in Pope’s decision. Meaning, they need to see eye-to-eye on where he’ll get the opportunity to play (NHL or AHL) and their long-term plans for him. Oh, and of course the moola!

It should be a no-brainer for Detroit to try and sign him. He can be a youthful player, who will be pushing for a roster spot in the 2018-19 season. He could also bring some flexibility to move on from someone like Gustav Nyquist or Tomas Tatar, as well as be a stop gap for more high end prospects, like Evgeny Svechnikov or Givani Smith.

You never know who could be the next Adam Oates of college free-agents.

*remembers the Wings traded Oates for table scrapes*