I'll be the first to admit, I have not watched Rasmussen that much over the past few years except for highlights.
He does seem to possess excellent hand-eye coordination, making him ideal for net front presence. We have not had anything close since Holmstrom.
I keep imagining a Chara with hands in front of the net. Boston did have some success with Chara in front of the net on PP back when Chara was healthy.
With Larkin and Veleno, I would develop Rasmussen into a wing ( power forward type ) on the top two lines, rather than a third line center. In reality, we still need top notch center for the long term.
Winning the Jack Hughes sweepstakes would basically finish our work up front. I am less bullish on Cozens, Dach or Turcotte fixing that completely up front there is a chance they don't slot everyone down a role though I believe in a few of the centers and they have that potential. Dach and Cozens would give us a right-hander should we not be in the top 2 selections that would probably be the focus, they are also massive guys making our size up front even more loaded should it happen. I like Turcotte like Frk It but I lean towards bringing a right-hander into the group if they grade them similarly as scouts. However, Hughes would allow you to shift Rasmussen out to the wing. You run Hughes, Larkin and Veleno down the middle and that is a scary young core down the middle. Waves of speed and playmaking.
Not sure if you can trade a winger for one d-man I think we should be able to. But we are not going to be good this year. I would be surprised if we don't draft top 5. So we should get a quality piece, depending on the draft year developments I think this is likely our last center piece in the rebuild. We hopefully see some positive returns lifting us out of that top 5 range the next year, but likely still top 10 with a good shot at a D-man in the 2020 draft.
Now things could accelerate that, the right UFA signing. I also realize we are talking about at best a 20% chance of Hughes. But landing Hughes means we will be great again in my opinion. It finishes the rebuild up front, gives us trade options and fits a timeline towards building the next great period of Red Wings hockey. Either way, I think we might leave the 2019 draft pretty confident on the forwards. I know we need to fix the back-end but we need difference makers and this draft seems to have them at center. We might just lock that position in and unleash Rasmussen on the wing. He also would allow a Larkin or Hughes/Dach/Cozens to cheat a ton on draws. This is something the Wings did a lot during their great run and it was because they had all those natural centers out on the wing. It allowed us to cheat massively on draws and dominate possession. Rasmussen is a really good faceoff guy is a part of that center projection. But it would also allow us to bingo ball lines as well when the team isn't clicking and line matching playoff implications. I see no issue with him winding up a first line winger and big goal scorer with center flexibility. I like that he can play the middle, but there are ways this rebuild goes where all of a sudden we have Rasmussen/Mantha/Zadina and Bert/Svech/Athanasiou or maybe Berggren as our top 6 wingers, that is a tough group on opposition.
If Rasmussen is forced into being a winger, it means we have fixed the center position. I think he can still play there, but as I watch this rebuild take shape, I am not sure he isn't a dominate first line winger where he is freed up to create massive chaos in the offensive zone and I think he would be a very good 200 foot player still on the wing. Rasmussen at the heart of it is a weapon. He is a tough matchup with a lot to his game. A chalk talk guy that keeps coaches, goalies and opposition D up at night before the game. I really believe he can be that guy and we need those guys to be a really good hockey team again.
