Recalled/Assigned: Dylan McIlrath recalled/Sulak reassigned to GR

[GrGriffins]

Helene St. James‏Verified account @HeleneStJames 37m37 minutes ago
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Red Wings flip defensemen, call up Dylan McIlrath, reassign Libor Sulak to Grand Rapids Griffins. Bummer of a call-up for Sulak, he's been so sick he wasn't able to play either at St. Louis or Vegas.

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[PullHard]

I think Detroit is trying to pay their career AHLers at least a few games worth of their NHL rate as a show of thanks and respect for being AHL leaders/ helping the kids , they seem to really be going through a lot of those types this season (Megan, Puempel, Lashoff, McIlrath, etc.)

 

[Henkka]

This is also pure tanking, at same package as the "respect" for those AHL guys. Worse and worse players are called up, especially if the Wings have won the latest game.

 

[Sparkzuk]

If we really wanted to tank we'd sit Howard and call up some goalies.

 

[Nugget910]

Wonder what # he will wear. He wore 4 in T.C. but that has since been retired.

 

[Sparkzuk]

Wonder what # he will wear. He wore 4 in T.C. but that has since been retired.

I doubt 40 so probably 44?

 

[Leaf fan on LI]

I’m new but I have watched Dylan with
The Rangers not a good hockey by any
Means. Career AHLer but hey a tank
Is a tank

 

[NickH8]

McIlrath - Witkowski
Make it happen

 

[Nugget910]

Bash brothers haha Portman and Reed

 

[Bondurant]

I’m new but I have watched Dylan with
The Rangers not a good hockey by any
Means. Career AHLer but hey a tank
Is a tank

One still needs to be good at hockey to play in the AHL.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Bash brothers haha Portman and Reed

McIlrath also kind of skates like Fulton Reed, which is really the problem keeping him out of the league...

 

[Gniwder]

This is also pure tanking, at same package as the "respect" for those AHL guys. Worse and worse players are called up, especially if the Wings have won the latest game.

They're running out of d-men to call up with injuries and illnesses....

They called up the best forward, so I don't think it's a tank. McI probably won't get any ice time anyways, we don't play Montreal again until next year. I would totally dress him for that POS team.

 

[Nugget910]

Looks like he's gonna wear #20

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

How did Mcllrath go in the top ten if he is this terrible? I don't get it? The scouts were THAT bad?

 

[Hen Kolland]

How did Mcllrath go in the top ten if he is this terrible? I don't get it? The scouts were THAT bad?

I believe that this pick was made right at the tail end of the era of the Bruins/Ducks bully style. The roster building meta was hinged on stacking your line up with big, mean, physical players that would overwhelm the opposition. It was a slow style of play that teams were trying to copy, but quickly faded. McIlrath would have fit in fairly well had he been drafted like 5 years earlier.

 

[Flowah]

How did Mcllrath go in the top ten if he is this terrible? I don't get it? The scouts were THAT bad?

There are busts in the 4-10 range all the time.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

There are busts in the 4-10 range all the time.

Yes I know but I mean he is that bad that @ 26 we already assigned him to be a career ahler?

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

How did Nail Yakupov go #1OA?
How did Pavel Brendl go #4OA?
How did Patrik Stefan go #1OA?
etc.
etc.
etc.

Conversely, how did Johnny Gaudreau last till the 4th?
How did Henrik Lundqvist last till the 7th?
How did Shea Weber not get taken till the 2nd? PK Subban? Duncan Keith?

Guys bust or guys boom. It happens.

There is about one guy a draft who goes top 10-12 who has no earthly right going that high and another couple who go like 150-200 who have no earthly right going that low. Scouting is not perfect. It's actually pretty damn good now compared to what it used to be, but it's not perfect.

 

[ShelbyZ]

I believe that this pick was made right at the tail end of the era of the Bruins/Ducks bully style. The roster building meta was hinged on stacking your line up with big, mean, physical players that would overwhelm the opposition. It was a slow style of play that teams were trying to copy, but quickly faded. McIlrath would have fit in fairly well had he been drafted like 5 years earlier.

I think the Ducks were pretty much done as a goon squad at that point since guys like Pronger, May, O'Donnell, etc. were long gone. Otherwise, I agree.

As for the 5 years. You're probably right. McIlrath coming in at the 2005 draft would've had him coming into the West when teams were trying to battle off the Ducks circa 2008-2009, or in the East which remained pretty rough for a couple of seasons after McIlrath

IMO, you'd need to make that 10 years. Put McIlrath in the 2000 draft and teams probably hope they luck out on an eventual Pronger/Stevens type as the ceiling, but are certainly OK if by the lockout they end up with some Belak type part time enforcer/sheltered #6/7D.

IIRC, the Rangers felt like they wanted to focus more on getting their next Beukeboom instead of Leetch. Guys like Redden and Poti had flamed out pretty terribly as high end offensive D types, but they also had guys like Staal, Gilroy and Girardi on the team with some perceived upside, and Del Zotto (#20OA in 2008) and McDonagh (#12OA in 2007, acquired a year earlier) in the system. I think the Rangers tried to make sense of it in that toughness was still needed in the East, especially in the Rangers division. They were coming off a season where tough guy duties were handled by a washed up Donald Brashear and not-so-NHL-worthy Aaron Voros... Remember a week after they made this pick, Sather went out and signed Boogaard to 4 years of term... That was when the Flyers were still the Flyers and had Pronger, the Pens iced Matt Cooke and guys like Adams, Rupp, Godard and Engelland, and the Islanders were a gong show with guys like Martin/Gillies/etc. who would go on to absolutely goon the hell out of you for giving a 3rd line winger some whiplash or laughing at Rick DiPietro's misfortune... Outside of the division, you had the Bruins climbing to the top of the league while playing tough with the biggest Dman to ever play the game a year removed from winning a Norris, and eventually the Sabres would go out and get John Scott to avenge a hit from Lucic on Miller.

The pick has a lot of similarities to when the Avs took Scott Parker in the 1st round. Both were physically already huge and absolutely murdering guys in junior and could at least quickly step in to provide that type of presence. However, by the time McIlrath had run out of waiver exemption and shown he wasn't a worthwhile defender in the AHL, there was no longer much need for his ability to beat people up...

If you want a good read, there's a thread from way back where some holier-than-thou fancy stat cherry picking Rangers fan declares McIlrath better than Fowler. The same fan also heralded Brendan Smith as "world class".

 

[PullHard]

Yes I know but I mean he is that bad that @ 26 we already assigned him to be a career ahler?

You're asking that as if the Wings drafted and developed him

He's only been with the organization for 2 and a bit seasons, his book was written before he got here

 

[ShelbyZ]

Yes I know but I mean he is that bad that @ 26 we already assigned him to be a career ahler?

IIRC, the Red Wings got McIlrath back in the Vanek trade as a way to increase the draft pick they also got, as it helped cut the actual $ Florida had to pay Vanek for the rest of the year.

McIlrath was buried in the AHL on a 1-way due to make around $200k for the rest of the season. After the Red Wings retained 50%, Vanek was due around $325k from the Panthers for the rest of the year. By including McIlrath in the deal, Vanek only cost Florida around $125k in real money paid out, while the Wings took on the other half of Vanek and all of McIlrath's deal.

McIlrath was already eligible to become a Group VI UFA when the Wings got him. I'm guessing the Red Wings were cool letting him walk, but he ended working out well for GR Calder Cup run. The two year two-way extension he got was basically for GR.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

You're asking that as if the Wings drafted and developed him

He's only been with the organization for 2 and a bit seasons, his book was written before he got here

I'm actually asking that in general for him as an nhler.

 

[Gniwder]

I'm actually asking that in general for him as an nhler.

To put that into perspective, Ouellet was drafted the year after McIlrath. At a certain point it becomes obvious that the guy isn't going to be able to skate any faster.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

McIlrath is a player that was born in the wrong era and drafted a couple years at the very end of a time where he still belonged. Honestly if somebody steps out of line tonight on the Sharks it isn't Witter you hope comes calling because McIlrath is one of the better fighters I have seen especially outside of the 70s and 80s era. But ultimately he was a project pick with frightening physical gifts and agenda on ice but with the one physical caveat of being a poor skater. In several eras, arguably all of them just before this current iteration, McIlrath's nuclear physical ability would have landed him in the league for a while. But he was simply born at the wrong time.

I will root for the guy, frankly he is easy too. He gives you the fan and really more importantly his teammates everything he has every night, but ultimately so does Lashoff and so does Hicketts. But some guys just don't have enough to stick and in my opinion in McIlrath's case he would have played for a while in any other era. Unfortunate for him, but I am happy to have him in the organization protecting our kids in GR, but I don't expect this to change his trajectory, though I am glad he will get paid better while he is up. Hopefully he stays in GR for a while, great vet to have.

 

[Gniwder]

He's in the lineup....