News Article: Wings release roster for Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup (Prospect Tournament)
- Thread starter Frk It
- Start date
According to the Red Wings roster for this tournament, Hicketts is listed at 186lbs. That's very interesting, albeit I don't know how true that is or not. He was only listed at 175 when he was playing in Victoria if I recall correctly.
Henkka
Registered User
The Red Wings win 1-0.
Goal scored by Nosek (assisted by Athanasiou and Svechnikov)
Paterson had 22 saves for the SO.
Goal scored by Nosek (assisted by Athanasiou and Svechnikov)
Paterson had 22 saves for the SO.
The Zetterberg Era
Ball Hockey Sucks
I actually think he will start in the ECHL. Guess we have to wait for camp to get underway, but without injuries that is where I expect him to start.
The Zetterberg Era
Ball Hockey Sucks
Nice shutout win (1-0) to start the tournament. Expect more offense moving forward.
Chicago somehow gave up three goals in the final minute of their game to blow a 2-1 lead. Would have liked to see that, former Hawk Johns scored a goal with the goalie pulled, they then scored right after that and added an empty netter.
19:18 - 19:34 - 19:58
Chicago somehow gave up three goals in the final minute of their game to blow a 2-1 lead. Would have liked to see that, former Hawk Johns scored a goal with the goalie pulled, they then scored right after that and added an empty netter.
19:18 - 19:34 - 19:58
I really doubt he would have signed here if he thought was gonna play in the ECHL at all, when he could easily make most AHL teams, he wasn't some 24-25 year old mediocre NCAA defender, he's 22 and was second in the NCAA D scoring by one point.
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And the defender that outscored him was Mike Reilly who will probably make Minnesota's blueline for the upcoming year. Reilly is definitely not some defensive savant, he's pretty mediocre defensively actually. Minnesota has a better blueline than us as well. Reilly and Russo are pretty similar in my eyes. It'd be a real shame if Russo starts off in the ECHL. He's 22 and should be playing prime minutes in GR.
Nice shutout win (1-0) to start the tournament. Expect more offense moving forward.
Chicago somehow gave up three goals in the final minute of their game to blow a 2-1 lead. Would have liked to see that, former Hawk Johns scored a goal with the goalie pulled, they then scored right after that and added an empty netter.
19:18 - 19:34 - 19:58
I hope that trend continues. It would be nice if the future Hawks could not be so damn clutch.
Unfriendly Ghost
Kasper
Coach Nelson on Larkin tonight: "I thought he was the best player on the ice."
http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comment...udio-from-the-red-wings-1-0-win-over-carolina
http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comment...udio-from-the-red-wings-1-0-win-over-carolina
GoAwayDanCleary
DRWCC
- Aug 6, 2012
- 10,752
- 5
The Zetterberg Era
Ball Hockey Sucks
You should watch Reilly skate before you call them similar. He is a better passer, skater, defender and better virtually at all things hockey. Slight edge to Russo in terms of willing physicality and a little harder shot though not as smart with it as Reilly.
These guys are not similar and Reilly was a big gun for almost all of his collegiate career and good enough to garner a World Championship roster spot and ample ice time already.
Do you think the Wings are sending Sproul down in his decision year to the ECHL?
Well
Marchenko
Jensen
Sproul
Where exactly do you think Russo is going to play? They won't want him in a pressbox rotation so they will get his feet wet playing him big minutes in the ECHL unless he can decisively beat out one of those players. How he would do that is a little hard to see, Sproul is the most likely victim, but Russo knocking either Marchenko or Jensen out of a Top 4 D role would be extremely surprising.
I may have misspoke when calling them similar prospects. When stating that, I meant similar as in they both have very good offensive games, and are lacking defensively. I do know that Reilly is the overall better prospect than Russo, but I do believe that Russo has a better overall shot than Reilly does. Russo did have a higher goals per game average in the NCAA. Russo was poised to have a really good Junior year before he was suspended. Russo was also very good in the U18's a while back. He was voted as a Top 3 player on a team that won gold that year and deservedly so. If you go back even further, Russo put up solid numbers in the USDP for a defenseman. Russo is a longshot like most prospects are but he has done very well at multiple levels leading up to the Pros. With a fair shot and proper development he could potentially be something down the line.
One of Ouellet, or Marchenko should being playing in Detroit, which would technically open up a spot for Russo in my opinion.
I know GR needs veterans but I wish Detroit would've gotten rid of Paetsch. I'd rather have Russo on this roster than him. GR needs a mix of youth and veterans but with Ouellet, Marchenko, Jensen, and Lashoff Detroit would be fine without Paetsch on the backend. Hell, I'd like for Detroit to be able to give Nedomlel a look in GR as well. That's not going to happen I figure.
I know your a huge fan of Jensen, but I am not on the other hand. At 25 if he doesn't crack the NHL in a year or so he will not have a future at that level IMO. He's an elite skater, and solid defensively but I'd rather give Russo the work in GR's Top 4. Since Detroit needs to start producing NHL caliber dmen, I'm all in favor giving the younger guys the most responsibility. Our dmen in GR aren't going to progress without valuable minutes. Playing Paetsch or Jensen over Russo will probably help GR in the short term, but it hurts Detroit in the long run especially if guys like Russo, Nedomel, and even Sproul aren't getting the opportunities they need (Admittedly Sproul has been pretty terrible defensively. His potential is still to great to give up on IMO).
My ideal D for GR this season, assuming none of the youngsters play in Detroit is:
Ouellet-Marchenko
Lashoff-Russo
Paetsch-Sproul/Jensen
Nedomlel
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It was great to finally watch hockey again last night. Although the score ended up only being 1-0 the Wings really dominated play and could easily have had 5 goals. There were a ton of great chances missed and the Canes goalie really stood on his head at times. As expected the Canes forward group was severely outmatched against the Wings group. I guess I’ll just go line by line giving my impression of the players.
Mantha – Larkin – Nastasiuk
Dylan Larkin was easily the best player on the ice last night. The kid was dangerous every shift and set up numerous chances or himself and his teammates. One thing I noticed about Larkin last night that I never had before was how incredibly quick his stickhandling is. On a couple of occasions he was under heavy pressure in the offensive zone and managed to stickhandle his way out of it and make a quick pass to an open teammate; this got a wow out of me and the rest of the crowd each time it happened. He was making smart, lightning quick decisions all night long and was just a possession monster. Also, you have to love Larkin’s attitude and effort. He was going all out from start to finish and you could see how pissed he was getting in the third period that his line was unable to score. Larkin easily belongs on the Wings to start the year and I really hope that Holland gives him an opportunity.
Nastasiuk: I am a big fan of Zach Nastasiuk and think that he is our most underrated prospect on HF. He and Larkin looked very good together and I hope the two are kept together if Larkin does not start the year with the Wings. Nastasiuk was not flashy, but he consistently made smart plays, both offensively and defensively and was strong on the forecheck. He made some creative passes in the Offensive zone and just continued to impress me. This kid is a future NHLer and I think he will play the Abdelkader role for the Wings one day.
Mantha: Well… I feel that an analysis of Mantha’s game last night would best be described by splitting it into the good and the bad.
Good: Mantha was engaged all night long defensively. He used his reach in the defensive zone to close down passing and shooting lanes and backchecked hard every shift.
Bad: Mantha was incredibly weak on the puck in the offensive zone and I really don’t know what was up with him. He didn’t use his size and reach at all to protect the puck and turned the puck over more than any other Red Wing last night. At one point he was forced outside of the blueline even though he had possession of the puck at the top of the faceoff circle and was noticeably bigger than the defender. He just casually skated the puck outside of the zone and I really have no idea why, it just seemed like a really lazy play. He took a couple of nice shots offensively, but he really needed to assert himself more.
Svechnikov – Athanasiou – Bertuzzi
Athanasiou: The most noticeable thing about Athanasiou’s game last night was how easy he was able to gain the offensive zone. I don’t think the Canes were able to stop him once, he was just too fast. He made several nice plays and fed Svechnikov a nice pass that lead to Nosek’s goal. At time he did hog the puck a bit when passing the puck to a teammate would have been a better play. Overall it was a really good game for Athanasiou.
Svechnikov: I was very impressed with Svechnikov last night. He had the most scoring chances out of any Wing and could have had a hat trick. It was off of one of his grade A scoring chances that the puck squeezed through the goalie and Nosek banged it home. He used his size well to protect the puck and showed excellent stickhandling abilities. I think a good way to describe his game is that he was just always in command; he never panicked with the puck and just always made a smart play. He also did not shy away from physicality, getting involved in a couple of scrums and he threw his weight around throughout the game. He threw a crushing hit along the boards that had the Canes bench up in arms. His skating was a bit chopy and still needs work, he fell on his butt right in front of the crease as Bertuzzi fed him a nice pass. Defensively he was ok, not much to mention here, he used his reach effectively in the defensive zone.
Wow, I have to start making these shorter or I feel I will never finish.
Bertuzzi: A Solid game for Bertuzzi. He wasn’t as involved offensively as his linemates, but he was aggressive on the forecheck and was finishing every check. One thing I noticed defensively is that he slides down to block a shot a little too early/often and ended up getting toe-dragged around his body twice.
Polie – Nosek – Verrier
Nosek and Verrrier: I felt that I should do these two together as they both had really good games and meshed very well together. The pair really dominated when they were on the ice; good defensively, strong on the forecheck, caused a lot of havoc around the net. Verrier continues to impress and I think he deserves a contract. I’m going to be disappointed at this point if he does not get one.
Polie: He set a new bar for what invisible means to me from a hockey player. He was consistently behind the play and had zero impact on what was happening on the ice. At one point at the beginning of the third period I remarked how I couldn’t remember him even touching the puck. It wasn’t until 3 minutes left in the third period that he finally got the puck along the boards, but lost it in less than two seconds. Really makes you wonder what he is doing here.
Etchegary – Turgeon – Betz
I’ll just do Turgeon here as this line didn’t do much and I doubt anyone really cares about the other two. Turgeon was solid all over the ice. He was smart defensively and had good positioning all over the ice. He also looks like he improved his skating over the summer.
Defense: I’m just going to do Russo, Hicketts, Saarijarvi as this is very long at this point.
Russo: He was pretty meh. He was ok defensively and didn’t do anything offensively. He wasn’t anywhere near the other two in terms of starting the offense. While Hicketts and Saarijarvi were able to skate the puck up ice and create something offensively, Russo did not have the speed to do this and instead would just dump the puck into the zone. To me he looks ECHL bound.
Hicketts: When Hicketts had the puck on his stick or the Wings were in the offensive zone he was very good, when this was not the case things went pretty bad for Hicketts. I’m not as high on Hicketts as most people here and this game only strengthened my doubt in him. He is just so small and was unable to contain the Canes forwards. He was also absolutely crushed trying to make a breakout pass which ended up being intercepted and led to a scoring chance for the Canes as Hicketts was sent flying and unable to recover. His lone bright spot defensively is that when the Canes were on the rush he was able to use the boards to separate his man from the puck.
Saarijarvi: He definitely looked the most promising of the three Dmen under contract with the Wings. He really brought the same tools offensively as Hicketts did, just with better defense. Both Saarijarvi and Hicketts were very aggressive with skating the puck up the ice and jump-starting the offense. Saarijarvi showed excellent skating ability and a wicked wrister.
Alright, I realize this is really long and I’m not sure how many people actually read this, but if anyone has any other questions feel free to ask. I cut down on some things later on because of how long this got. I really was not planning to type this much.
Mantha – Larkin – Nastasiuk
Dylan Larkin was easily the best player on the ice last night. The kid was dangerous every shift and set up numerous chances or himself and his teammates. One thing I noticed about Larkin last night that I never had before was how incredibly quick his stickhandling is. On a couple of occasions he was under heavy pressure in the offensive zone and managed to stickhandle his way out of it and make a quick pass to an open teammate; this got a wow out of me and the rest of the crowd each time it happened. He was making smart, lightning quick decisions all night long and was just a possession monster. Also, you have to love Larkin’s attitude and effort. He was going all out from start to finish and you could see how pissed he was getting in the third period that his line was unable to score. Larkin easily belongs on the Wings to start the year and I really hope that Holland gives him an opportunity.
Nastasiuk: I am a big fan of Zach Nastasiuk and think that he is our most underrated prospect on HF. He and Larkin looked very good together and I hope the two are kept together if Larkin does not start the year with the Wings. Nastasiuk was not flashy, but he consistently made smart plays, both offensively and defensively and was strong on the forecheck. He made some creative passes in the Offensive zone and just continued to impress me. This kid is a future NHLer and I think he will play the Abdelkader role for the Wings one day.
Mantha: Well… I feel that an analysis of Mantha’s game last night would best be described by splitting it into the good and the bad.
Good: Mantha was engaged all night long defensively. He used his reach in the defensive zone to close down passing and shooting lanes and backchecked hard every shift.
Bad: Mantha was incredibly weak on the puck in the offensive zone and I really don’t know what was up with him. He didn’t use his size and reach at all to protect the puck and turned the puck over more than any other Red Wing last night. At one point he was forced outside of the blueline even though he had possession of the puck at the top of the faceoff circle and was noticeably bigger than the defender. He just casually skated the puck outside of the zone and I really have no idea why, it just seemed like a really lazy play. He took a couple of nice shots offensively, but he really needed to assert himself more.
Svechnikov – Athanasiou – Bertuzzi
Athanasiou: The most noticeable thing about Athanasiou’s game last night was how easy he was able to gain the offensive zone. I don’t think the Canes were able to stop him once, he was just too fast. He made several nice plays and fed Svechnikov a nice pass that lead to Nosek’s goal. At time he did hog the puck a bit when passing the puck to a teammate would have been a better play. Overall it was a really good game for Athanasiou.
Svechnikov: I was very impressed with Svechnikov last night. He had the most scoring chances out of any Wing and could have had a hat trick. It was off of one of his grade A scoring chances that the puck squeezed through the goalie and Nosek banged it home. He used his size well to protect the puck and showed excellent stickhandling abilities. I think a good way to describe his game is that he was just always in command; he never panicked with the puck and just always made a smart play. He also did not shy away from physicality, getting involved in a couple of scrums and he threw his weight around throughout the game. He threw a crushing hit along the boards that had the Canes bench up in arms. His skating was a bit chopy and still needs work, he fell on his butt right in front of the crease as Bertuzzi fed him a nice pass. Defensively he was ok, not much to mention here, he used his reach effectively in the defensive zone.
Wow, I have to start making these shorter or I feel I will never finish.
Bertuzzi: A Solid game for Bertuzzi. He wasn’t as involved offensively as his linemates, but he was aggressive on the forecheck and was finishing every check. One thing I noticed defensively is that he slides down to block a shot a little too early/often and ended up getting toe-dragged around his body twice.
Polie – Nosek – Verrier
Nosek and Verrrier: I felt that I should do these two together as they both had really good games and meshed very well together. The pair really dominated when they were on the ice; good defensively, strong on the forecheck, caused a lot of havoc around the net. Verrier continues to impress and I think he deserves a contract. I’m going to be disappointed at this point if he does not get one.
Polie: He set a new bar for what invisible means to me from a hockey player. He was consistently behind the play and had zero impact on what was happening on the ice. At one point at the beginning of the third period I remarked how I couldn’t remember him even touching the puck. It wasn’t until 3 minutes left in the third period that he finally got the puck along the boards, but lost it in less than two seconds. Really makes you wonder what he is doing here.
Etchegary – Turgeon – Betz
I’ll just do Turgeon here as this line didn’t do much and I doubt anyone really cares about the other two. Turgeon was solid all over the ice. He was smart defensively and had good positioning all over the ice. He also looks like he improved his skating over the summer.
Defense: I’m just going to do Russo, Hicketts, Saarijarvi as this is very long at this point.
Russo: He was pretty meh. He was ok defensively and didn’t do anything offensively. He wasn’t anywhere near the other two in terms of starting the offense. While Hicketts and Saarijarvi were able to skate the puck up ice and create something offensively, Russo did not have the speed to do this and instead would just dump the puck into the zone. To me he looks ECHL bound.
Hicketts: When Hicketts had the puck on his stick or the Wings were in the offensive zone he was very good, when this was not the case things went pretty bad for Hicketts. I’m not as high on Hicketts as most people here and this game only strengthened my doubt in him. He is just so small and was unable to contain the Canes forwards. He was also absolutely crushed trying to make a breakout pass which ended up being intercepted and led to a scoring chance for the Canes as Hicketts was sent flying and unable to recover. His lone bright spot defensively is that when the Canes were on the rush he was able to use the boards to separate his man from the puck.
Saarijarvi: He definitely looked the most promising of the three Dmen under contract with the Wings. He really brought the same tools offensively as Hicketts did, just with better defense. Both Saarijarvi and Hicketts were very aggressive with skating the puck up the ice and jump-starting the offense. Saarijarvi showed excellent skating ability and a wicked wrister.
Alright, I realize this is really long and I’m not sure how many people actually read this, but if anyone has any other questions feel free to ask. I cut down on some things later on because of how long this got. I really was not planning to type this much.
This is what a lot of the roster problems in GR come down to. We have guys who could/should be promoted, but we're still going to try to milk something useful from Kindl/Smith, and Quincey is a spare part 3rd pairing guy. Move at least one of these guys, promote a kid, and GR becomes quite a bit more manageable in regards to ice time. I wouldn't be against just promoting Jensen to stay up as our #7 once we move Kindl/Smith/Quincey.
People read it, Tatar Shots. Much appreciated.
Pavels Dog
Registered User
Thanks for the writeup. Sounds like Larkin is poised to keep his strong play from last season up. Hopefully Mantha just needs some games to get going, it would be nice if he could make a good impression here and in camp to restore some faith in his ability to make it.
Honestly it was just weird. It is hard to explain. It looked like a mix of him taking to long to make a decision and being told to put the puck on net more often. For the most part it just culminated in him holding on to the puck for to long on the perimeter, getting pressured, and then losing the puck. This was pretty consistent for most of the game. The bright side though is he was engaged defensively and on the backcheck all night. I guess he might have just been nervous/hesitant offensively because he is a much better offensive player than what he showed.
Your welcome guys. And Larkin looked phenomenal. He just completely dominated the game when he was on the ice. I'm going to be pretty disappointed at this point if he does not make the team.
I read Malik's write up. He didn't gush over him much but it is Malik so if you aren't a grinder or bottom pairing d-man he won't be in love with a player and all. But he did say that if he wasn't off probably due to chemistry by like .2-.5 seconds he would have had a dominant offensive game last night.
Henkka
Registered User
Thanks for these comments.
Does Saarijärvi look noticeably bigger than Hicketts on the ice?
Yes he looked like he had a couple of inches on him. As a note these two were a disaster together on the 2nd PP unit. They are both clearly accustomed to being the PPQB, but this lead to them both trying to take charge and ended at one point with both of them in the I formation at the top of the Umbrella ready to take a slapshot.
Also on the height thing again, Andreas Athanasiou still looks nothing like the 6'2 he is listed at.
Unfriendly Ghost
Kasper
Early on, the Mantha Ray has been unleashed. 1-0 Wings. Mantha from AA.
http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=2715308
http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=2715308
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