Prospect Info: At 9th Overall the Detroit Red Wings Select Michael Rasmussen

[Heaton]

Uhm tons of people hate/hated the pick. Their words.

You said 'outright hate towards him', that's your words. But I agree many people hate the pick.

Bjugstad seems like a lazy comparison, but even a slightly better Bjugstad is a very good player.

Lazy, why? Both players are big forwards who were originally projected to play center and were taken in the 1st round, granted Bjugstad was taken 19th overall. Rasmussen was taken much earlier than many predicted. Bjugstad right now is a very good player and a player slightly better than him would be great. But like I said, how he's playing right now (his regular season + playoffs) isn't super exciting. Nothing wrong with that, we have many more seasons of high draft picks to come.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

I thought we were analyzing hockey players among their peers in terms of P/PG. That was the point you were trying to make.

Why do you think Auston Matthews is Michael Rasmussen's peer? Is this what the kids these days call 'trolling'?

 

[Frk It]

As for ”6 games” people are perfectly fine taking 5-7 games at the WJC as all evidence needed that Necas is a superstar or a summer showcase as evidence Vilardi is a star. Gotta love how sample sizes only matter sometimes.

You’re not wrong. People definitely love small sample sizes on here. But 2 wrongs don’t make a right.

Rasmussen was taken much earlier than many predicted. Bjugstad right now is a very good player and a player slightly better than him would be great. But like I said, how he's playing right now (his regular season + playoffs) isn't super exciting. Nothing wrong with that, we have many more seasons of high draft picks to come.

Rasmussen was picked pretty much the same as where he was ranked.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

As for ”6 games” people are perfectly fine taking 5-7 games at the WJC as all evidence needed that Necas is a superstar or a summer showcase as evidence Vilardi is a star. Gotta love how sample sizes only matter sometimes.

Right, but the WJC is a much higher standard of play. That matters. 7 games in junior or college hockey is called a good start. 7 games in the NHL is called earning a spot.

Besides, look at Tri-City's games. They're squashes, almost all of them. They've outscored their opposition 35 to 14 through 6 games. 5.8 GF/g vs 2.3 against. Using this to judge Rasmussen would be like using games against relegation-level teams to judge Necas.

You probably don't remember my analysis of WHL vs QMJHL, but one of the things I found was that the WHL has some pretty crazy disparities this season. The top teams are miles away from the bottom ones. That's what we see here.

 

[lomekian]

No one 'hates' the kid, stop being so dramatic. People just don't think he was worth the selection at that spot since he looks more like a Bjugstad than a guy who you can really build around. Plenty of time for him to develop, but he's not an exciting prospect right now.

Calling the best junior prospect bar perhaps Larkin and Mantha that we've had since Z 'not an exciting prospect' is incredibly harsh.

In another draft year where 2 or 3 of the guys picked below him were off the table, the negativity about our man wouldn't be half as great.

Will he turn out to be worth a #9 pick in the draft he was taken? Hard to say at this point. Maybe, maybe not. But he is still an exciting prospect, as evidenced by his pick number being in line with most pre-draft projections.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Calling the best junior prospect bar perhaps Larkin and Mantha that we've had since Z 'not an exciting prospect' is incredibly harsh.

Nobody brought up Hronek.

 

[lomekian]

Right, but the WJC is a much higher standard of play. That matters. 7 games in junior or college hockey is called a good start. 7 games in the NHL is called earning a spot.

Besides, look at Tri-City's games. They're squashes, almost all of them. They've outscored their opposition 35 to 14 through 6 games. 5.8 GF/g vs 2.3 against. Using this to judge Rasmussen would be like using games against relegation-level teams to judge Necas.

You probably don't remember my analysis of WHL vs QMJHL, but one of the things I found was that the WHL has some pretty crazy disparities this season. The top teams are miles away from the bottom ones. That's what we see here.

You do realise that Tri City were 4th in their Division of 5 and are a lower seed in their conference. Only three playoff teams had worse goal differential records and all are in the other conference. More teams than not outscored them this year.

The WHL is a bit crazy this year, but citing disparities in order to undermine Rasmussen's current form bites you in the rear, because Tri City are not better than the teams they have played of late.

 

[lomekian]

Nobody brought up Hronek.

Touche! I have big hopes for Hronek, but I think Rasmussen has a higher ceiling.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

Its because he had a lackluster 50 game regular season, then suddenly he has a great 6 game playoff run and suddenly everyones all like SEE I TOLD YOU SO RASMUSSEN WAS SUCH AN AWESOME PICK I LOVE HOLLAND I TOLD U SO!!!!!. No **** people arent sold on him.

What’s it like to have to completely rely on misrepresentation? Are you seriously MOD when it comes to stating your views?

Yes, his playoffs so far have been an abberation, but anyway you cut it 19 points in 6 games in one of the few times he’s been consistently healthy is a good sign. He kept missing patches of game in the RS, but if you recall he had a patch of 15 points in 5 games after coming back from his initial injury. Couple that with him passing the eye test in the preseason, and there is reason to like this pick, especially given most of our initial reaction. No reason to represent people who like the pick as caricatures, it just makes you look stupid and desperate.

Yes, the 19 points in 6 games helps adjusthis numbers, but you don’t get to just arbitrarily throw them out because of your feelings. What if people just through out all his games when he was playing injured.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

Interesting point. He's hovering around 24th in points-per-game. Which puts him at about where Austin Matthews, John Tavaras and Aleksander Barkov are in the NHL among their peers.

A lot less of his peers are going to be NHL players though.

Almost every player who makes the NHL was a good point producer, even guys like Maltby and Helm.

RAS was drafted exactly where he was predicted by Bob McKenzie.

I remembe McKeen even said there were whispers of him being a sleeper number one pick early on that year when he started out at a near gpg pace for the first 20

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Malkin? Size may not be his primary attribute but he's bigger than any center we've had since Primeau

In all seriousness though, and ideal roster should have some big guys who can skate along with with a few absolute burners. With Larks, AA & for the mo Helm, we're doing Ok with speed up front. What we REALLY need is competent D, playmakers and one more real goalscoring winger.

Rasmussen is bigger than Primeau already.... So yeah, like I said earlier people thinking his size and seriously eventual strength since the kid is an off-ice monster and rink rat are going to get worse, I seriously doubt it. He is our most imposing prospect probably since Fischer or all the way back to Primeau in terms of actual high level talent to go with all that size.

We do a lot of referencing based on his size which makes sense. I like Bjugstad a lot, but to me Rasmussen is probably the upgraded version of Martin Hanzal. Face-off monster that can play in all situations because of a 200 foot game, wants to go to the dirty areas and the upgrade is he has better natural finish. Kind of like when people called Larkin Darren Helm with hands. Think about what an upgraded version of Hanzal means. Heck or a Primeau that was engaged all the time. Rasmussen has a humongous ceiling. Am I sure that he will reach it? No, but I am a little tired of hearing about how a pure goal scoring 6'6" 221 lbs isn't a huge asset to this organization. I preferred Necas at the time, but that isn't because Rasmussen is a bad player. I wanted the right hander with more playmaking.

To me Rasmussen was actually a swing for the fences pick, his upside if he puts it all together is massive. The big guys that have put it together in this league are weapons that are very tough to deal with and he has that upside and the compete level to get there.

 

[Frk It]

What’s it like to have to completely rely on misrepresentation? Are you seriously MOD when it comes to stating your views?

Yes, his playoffs so far have been an abberation, but anyway you cut it 19 points in 6 games in one of the few times he’s been consistently healthy is a good sign. He kept missing patches of game in the RS, but if you recall he had a patch of 15 points in 5 games after coming back from his initial injury. Couple that with him passing the eye test in the preseason, and there is reason to like this pick, especially given most of our initial reaction. No reason to represent people who like the pick as caricatures, it just makes you look stupid and desperate.

Yes, the 19 points in 6 games helps adjusthis numbers, but you don’t get to just arbitrarily throw them out because of your feelings. What if people just through out all his games when he was playing injured.

I think you misunderstood what he/she was saying.

And can we at least try and be civil?

 

[Shaman464]

I wasn't very impressed with Ras's regular season, he should have been better than ~25th in ppg, but his playoffs have been pretty great, and I hope that he is able to continue the pace.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I think you misunderstood what he/she was saying.

And can we at least try and be civil?

I wasn't a particularly huge fan of what Mule was representing there either. For a lot of us that support Rasmussen this 6 playoff games isn't why we are excited. It is nice to see since people constantly try to factor in why his scoring doesn't count for some reason. Tough to explain this away though I guess some are trying.

 

[Frk It]

I wasn't a particularly huge fan of what Mule was representing there either. For a lot of us that support Rasmussen this 6 playoff games isn't why we are excited. It is nice to see since people constantly try to factor in why his scoring doesn't count for some reason. Tough to explain this away though I guess some are trying.

Fair. I simply took it more as, you always go with a bigger sample size over a smaller size. Which is generally true with any kind of statistics.

But I guess I could see how you could take it a few different ways now.

Either way, I get this is a topic we are all divided on, so it would probably help if everyone just takes a breath first. Looking forward to this ‘18 draft where I think we take someone we can get behind more as a group.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

You do realise that Tri City were 4th in their Division of 5 and are a lower seed in their conference. Only three playoff teams had worse goal differential records and all are in the other conference. More teams than not outscored them this year.

The WHL is a bit crazy this year, but citing disparities in order to undermine Rasmussen's current form bites you in the rear, because Tri City are not better than the teams they have played of late.

Ah, I should have provided more context. I wasn't talking about standing points. I was talking about goals scored. The WHL has really big gaps between the teams that can score and the teams that can't.

Also, I suspect Jake Bean is helping a little bit. Obviously he didn't affect their regular season standings very much.

 

[Dotter]

Why do you think Auston Matthews is Michael Rasmussen's peer? Is this what the kids these days call 'trolling'?

In their respective league, RAS is ranked 24th in P/PG. IN the NHL, the players are ranked 24th in P/PG among their peers incudes; Austin Mathews, Tavaras, Barkov

Your point was the big picture, RAS P/PG was "good" / "not great" for his league. Similarly, Mathews, Tavaras and Barkov are in teh same posisition among their peers in their respective league.

 

[TheMule93]

Fair. I simply took it more as, you always go with a bigger sample size over a smaller size. Which is generally true with any kind of statistics.

But I guess I could see how you could take it a few different ways now.

Either way, I get this is a topic we are all divided on, so it would probably help if everyone just takes a breath first. Looking forward to this ‘18 draft where I think we take someone we can get behind more as a group.

i absolutely LOVE what Rasmussen is doing (and im sure everyone else does too) but it doesnt change what he has been for the majority of the season yet in my mind. Im not jumping on the "hes the next auston Matthews" bandwagon because of six games (ok its not really a bandwagon, its one guy). I want nothing more than for Rasmussen to continue producing the way he has been. I want him to destroy Vilardi. I still didnt and dont like the pick.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Right, but the WJC is a much higher standard of play. That matters. 7 games in junior or college hockey is called a good start. 7 games in the NHL is called earning a spot.

Besides, look at Tri-City's games. They're squashes, almost all of them. They've outscored their opposition 35 to 14 through 6 games. 5.8 GF/g vs 2.3 against. Using this to judge Rasmussen would be like using games against relegation-level teams to judge Necas.

You probably don't remember my analysis of WHL vs QMJHL, but one of the things I found was that the WHL has some pretty crazy disparities this season. The top teams are miles away from the bottom ones. That's what we see here.

He is the reason those are squashes, he has accounted for 54% of his team's offense. Rasmussen is outscoring the entire other teams output? How is that unimpressive? Kelowna had Canada's #1 defensive D-man from the WJC and their captain, they were a loaded team with several first round picks. That isn't crap competition, they were among the bigger favorites for both the WHL and Memorial Cup when we entered the playoffs. The last time he was invited to one of those he was one of Canada's best players during the Hlinka, their bad for not bringing them, lucky for them it didn't cost them gold but it could have.

Portland and Everett are two of the best defensive teams in Major Junior this year in my opinion. So if they take care of Victoria the next challenge is massive.

 

[Shaman464]

In their respective league, RAS is ranked 24th in P/PG. IN the NHL, the players are ranked 24th in P/PG among their peers incudes; Austin Mathews, Tavaras, Barkov

Your point was the big picture, RAS P/PG was "good" / "not great" for his league. Similarly, Mathews, Tavaras and Barkov are in teh same posisition among their peers in their respective league.

Ah, no. The NHL is in no way like the CHL. The CHL has literal boys playing with literal men. Players who are 6'6'' and over 200 pounds playing against 140 pound 16 year old's are expected to dominate. The NHL also has a ton more players, remember the WHL is only 22 teams. So not counting injury call ups, players that bounce between leagues, etc the NHL has 34% more players, so 25th in ppg in the NHL is much better than 25th in ppg in the WHL.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

He is the reason those are squashes, he has accounted for 54% of his team's offense. Rasmussen is outscoring the entire other teams output? How is that unimpressive? Kelowna had Canada's #1 defensive D-man from the WJC and their captain, they were a loaded team with several first round picks. That isn't crap competition, they were among the bigger favorites for both the WHL and Memorial Cup when we entered the playoffs.

I'm just so underwhelmed by the actual goals scored. Like, is it just that nobody in junior hockey knows how to handle a guy who can tip shots well? Because they're doing it over and over. Rasmussen has like 7 tip-in goals already. Apparently tying up sticks isn't a thing until the pro level?

 

[Ezekial]

Maybe he's just really good at tipping the puck in due to imposing presence and amazing hand-eye coordination.

 

[Shaman464]

I'm just so underwhelmed by the actual goals scored. Like, is it just that nobody in junior hockey knows how to handle a guy who can tip shots well? Because they're doing it over and over. Rasmussen has like 7 tip-in goals already. Apparently tying up sticks isn't a thing until the pro level?

Ever try to stop a guy who is nearly twice your size from doing something? It's not always a winning battle.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I'm just so underwhelmed by the actual goals scored. Like, is it just that nobody in junior hockey knows how to handle a guy who can tip shots well? Because they're doing it over and over. Rasmussen has like 7 tip-in goals already. Apparently tying up sticks isn't a thing until the pro level?

They are better at it with the pro level. But a part of it is he is one of the most dominant net front prospects I can remember. He has a great stick and incredible hand eye coordination. And no NHL defenders are not going to dissuade a 6'6" probably 230 lbs guy from doing that in the near future. That was Callan Foote he was abusing in the first series.

He also has a heavy shot, but I don't care if he wants to score garbage goals, we don't have any guys doing that. But those men sized guys had trouble keeping him out of the center of the ice in pre-season and they will have trouble keeping him out of there when he is a pro.

Also there is a reason the TSN draft guys dropped Dale Andreychuk, his ability to do this is very rare at his age. It is generally a skill traditionally honed in the actual NHL, that he is showing up with it is huge, few guys have transitioned that polished at that skill set with the natural frame to begin doing it from day 1 in the league.

 

[Frk It]

He is the reason those are squashes, he has accounted for 54% of his team's offense. Rasmussen is outscoring the entire other teams output? How is that unimpressive? Kelowna had Canada's #1 defensive D-man from the WJC and their captain, they were a loaded team with several first round picks. That isn't crap competition, they were among the bigger favorites for both the WHL and Memorial Cup when we entered the playoffs. The last time he was invited to one of those he was one of Canada's best players during the Hlinka, there bad for not bringing them, lucky for them it didn't cost them gold but it could have.

Portland and Everett are two of the best defensive teams in Major Junior this year in my opinion. So if they take care of Victoria the next challenge is massive.

Really good points here, although not sure about that last bit there with Team Canada.