Prospect Info: Detroit Red Wings Prospect Thread 2017-18 I

Mister Ed

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Dec 21, 2008
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Smith - Bertuzzi - Witkowski on a 4th line energy shift once in a while would be fun to see :popcorn:

Griffins play Game 5 tonight against the Moose, winner takes all. Can't wait to see how Hronek plays, he's going to be an effective player one DET.
 

saska sault

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Jun 5, 2010
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2 game suspension for Smith. Will miss game 7 of the Western Conference Final, and if Kitchener wins game 1 of the OHL final. If they lose, looks like the end of his OHL career in the press box.
 

ChadS

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Jun 30, 2009
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Glanced through the Kitchener subforum here at HF and it sounds like there's been some...questionable...decisions made by folks on both teams. This isn't to say Smith isn't being stupid here, he is, but it might not be as strange and out of the blue as it seems at first tweet.
Sure I get that, but it's still a suspension worthy stunt and even more stupid by a key player going into a game 7. I guess it's situations like this where a kid's temper/head is really tested.
 

Winger98

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Feb 27, 2002
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Sure I get that, but it's still a suspension worthy stunt and even more stupid by a key player going into a game 7. I guess it's situations like this where a kid's temper/head is really tested.

I didn't say it wasn't, but when the league doesn't step in as the teams escalate their stupidity they are just begging for someone to keep going a step further. Yeah, Smith's was probably the most egregious crossing of the line (though wasn't one of the coaches getting into it with a fan after one of the games?) but that level of stupidity should be expected when every level of stupidity before it has already been tolerated.
 

ChadS

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Jun 30, 2009
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I didn't say it wasn't, but when the league doesn't step in as the teams escalate their stupidity they are just begging for someone to keep going a step further. Yeah, Smith's was probably the most egregious crossing of the line (though wasn't one of the coaches getting into it with a fan after one of the games?) but that level of stupidity should be expected when every level of stupidity before it has already been tolerated.
Yeah this seems to have been a heated series for sure. All I'm saying is that getting suspended for an idiotic stunt at this point is probably the worst possible thing you could do. And it's all on GS, regardless of what others are doing or have done.
 

Winger98

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Yeah this seems to have been a heated series for sure. All I'm saying is that getting suspended for an idiotic stunt at this point is probably the worst possible thing you could do. And it's all on GS, regardless of what others are doing or have done.

It's definitely on Smith. Viewed by itself, though, and it looks like he's just some out of control nut job. Viewed in context of what's happened in the series it's still stupid but not nearly as surprising. I'm hoping that moving up the ladder to GR/Toledo will help him grow up a bit next year. Folks are down on him, but I think he has a game that can translate well and he could be a solid NHLer that helps make the Wings a nasty team to play against.
 
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The Zetterberg Era

Ball Hockey Sucks
Nov 8, 2011
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It's definitely on Smith. Viewed by itself, though, and it looks like he's just some out of control nut job. Viewed in context of what's happened in the series it's still stupid but not nearly as surprising. I'm hoping that moving up the ladder to GR/Toledo will help him grow up a bit next year. Folks are down on him, but I think he has a game that can translate well and he could be a solid NHLer that helps make the Wings a nasty team to play against.

He has a ton of good bottom six qualities. The reality with Smith is if he could find a bit more in his skating and a way to pk I would be a bunch more bullish on what he could become. As it is, he is a guy that at least gets a cup of coffee at some point because he does have a lot of translatable skills in terms of what they look for. He needs to make some gains in a few areas if he wants to stay though. He does project as a heavy forechecker at least. He could turn into a third line depth scorer that is super heavy, I just think if he learns to PK he could have a lot more impact in his pro career.
 

newfy

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Jul 28, 2010
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It's definitely on Smith. Viewed by itself, though, and it looks like he's just some out of control nut job. Viewed in context of what's happened in the series it's still stupid but not nearly as surprising. I'm hoping that moving up the ladder to GR/Toledo will help him grow up a bit next year. Folks are down on him, but I think he has a game that can translate well and he could be a solid NHLer that helps make the Wings a nasty team to play against.

I'm not sure if youre saying folks are down on him because of this incident or because of the season he has had but after he got traded to Kitchener I have some hope of him being an NHLer. Read the threads and what Kitchener fans say about him, hes been a beast these playoffs. He needs to learn to control his temper obviously and hes too much of ahot head, but hes playing really good hockey right now.

I could see him being a third/fourth liner that could get some net front PP duties down the rod if all goes well
 

Winger98

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Feb 27, 2002
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He has a ton of good bottom six qualities. The reality with Smith is if he could find a bit more in his skating and a way to pk I would be a bunch more bullish on what he could become. As it is, he is a guy that at least gets a cup of coffee at some point because he does have a lot of translatable skills in terms of what they look for. He needs to make some gains in a few areas if he wants to stay though. He does project as a heavy forechecker at least. He could turn into a third line depth scorer that is super heavy, I just think if he learns to PK he could have a lot more impact in his pro career.

If he could go out and routinely eat 1:30 in PK time, he'd be a pretty good piece to have in the lineup. I think it comes down to his skating. If he can't improve his skating, I don't think he moves well enough to PK or handle much above 8-10 minutes at ES. I really like his physical game, though. He seems like a real tone setter, where he's going to show up and play that ugly, nasty game every night and get guys involved. We start seeding our lineup with guys like Bertuzzi and Smith, and I think we'll see guys up and down the lineup stepping up more physically.

I'm not sure if youre saying folks are down on him because of this incident or because of the season he has had but after he got traded to Kitchener I have some hope of him being an NHLer. Read the threads and what Kitchener fans say about him, hes been a beast these playoffs. He needs to learn to control his temper obviously and hes too much of ahot head, but hes playing really good hockey right now.

I could see him being a third/fourth liner that could get some net front PP duties down the rod if all goes well

Wings fans seem to generally be down on him and write him off because he hasn't been a big producer. He plays a game, though, that fans love when they watch him every night. He plays a game that would have fit in on those mid-late 90s wings teams.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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I'm not sure if youre saying folks are down on him because of this incident or because of the season he has had but after he got traded to Kitchener I have some hope of him being an NHLer. Read the threads and what Kitchener fans say about him, hes been a beast these playoffs. He needs to learn to control his temper obviously and hes too much of ahot head, but hes playing really good hockey right now.

I could see him being a third/fourth liner that could get some net front PP duties down the rod if all goes well

That role actually looks pretty tough to gain access to for a little while right now in Detroit. Rasmussen, Bertuzzi, Mantha, even Abdelkader for the next little bit, tough place to hope you get to even get a look to make your impact. I think if he wants to be more he is going to have to initially figure out how to be a little better skater and pk. That is what I would challenge him to do in GR next year.

Round his game a little. Smith could really be a player down the road for us if he is developed properly. He has good hockey IQ and is a rugged dude. I like him, he flashes a lot of NHL ability. I think he is a consistent worker on the ice too. So we will see, I think he gets a look at some point, just saying if he can make some gains defensively somewhere down the line later in his career I think he could break out a little offensively when asked to step up because of injuries or something. But I think initially he is going to have to find a different way to make an impact.

He is a a heavy player though, absolutely no fun for the other team to play against. I like that, we seem to have a few more of those lately and we are going to need them. They are going to have to fight through some losing and learn on the job in my opinion. I like that we have several prospects and young players I think aren't likely to take losing real well. I think you can already see that with Larkin, it seems to hurt him personally that we are losing on a great level when you watch him get interviewed. Bert is going to play hard no matter what. Cholowski and Rasmussen are rink rats by pretty much every account. That is a good core of workers, maybe they get guys like Mantha to buy-in more than some groups could... It will be interesting to see how some of this plays out. But I don't mind a physical big hockey team and we have some guys in this system that will wear you out to play against.
 
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drwings40

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Dec 27, 2015
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Tri City eliminated despite leading 5-2 after 50 minutes of play in game 6. Rasmussen had a goal and an assist.
16g+17a=33p in 14 games overall.
 

ChadS

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Jun 30, 2009
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SSM with the game 7 win over Kitchener, Sambrook advances to the OHL finals against Fulcher (Hamilton).

Machovsky signed a 3-year deal with HC Sparta Praha in the Czech league.
 
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FireBird71

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Aug 6, 2015
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SSM with the game 7 win over Kitchener, Sambrook advances to the OHL finals against Fulcher (Hamilton).

Machovsky signed a 3-year deal with HC Sparta Praha in the Czech league.
Fulcher needs to be atleast the backup in GR next season...seen him enough in person...he's great
 

waltdetroit

Registered User
Jul 20, 2010
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With Fulcher, Larsson, & Pots, the goalie pipeline has some very good prospects. Mach probably knew it was a 1-2 year gig but gave it a try
 

Redder Winger

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May 4, 2017
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Smith seems like a kid that Cleary could actually have some real influence on.

People eat up these myths about Cleary, don't they?

All this talk about Cleary being a big influence on Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi's uncle was a STAR in the NHL. I don't care what the Red Wings PR hacks and their fluffers writes, Bertuzzi's family experience was 100x more important than Cleary helping the kid.

That's just some f***ing bullshit reporters write about on a slow news day because Cleary is always willing to get his name in the paper.
 

newfy

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Jul 28, 2010
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People eat up these myths about Cleary, don't they?

The guy was a head case whose career was in the drain and then just worked his bag off and got his head on straight to keep it alive (and became the first newfie to win the stanley cup). Hes the exact person you want mentoring young players.

He was awful at hockey for 2 or 3 years and still stuck with the team, then got into the front office. You think theres no reason for that happening?Or maybe he is actually a hard worker and great mentor for the young guys
 
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