(L) Andreas Athanasiou, (top) Dylan Larkin and
(L) Andreas Athanasiou, (top) Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi (bottom)
The writer is a Detroit freelancer and former Detroit News reporter.
By Paul Harris
The Red Wings are not as bad as their horrendous 1-7-2 start, nor are they as good as a recent stretch in which they won nine of 11.
Detroit is a marginally talented and inconsistent team that relies on the goaltending of Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Bernier to be competitive each night.
Now, what makes the Red Wings a fun team for fans to watch in 2018-19, is that most of its non-goalie difference makers are youngsters 24 and under, players the organization hopes will be the nucleus of a rebuilt Stanley Cup contender in two or three years.
Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, Dennis Cholowski and Michael Rasmussen have been productive, dynamic and clutch so far this season and – along with the expected youthful miscues - have all shown elements of the growth and development that could ultimately allow them to be outstanding NHL players.
Forwards Athanasiou (11), Larkin (nine), Mantha (nine), Bertuzzi (eight) and Rasmussen (five) are the Wings top five goal scorers and Cholowski, a defenseman, is tied for sixth and leads the team’s defensemen with four goals.
“I think you have to be happy,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “If you’re going in the right direction, the young players will take the responsibilities from the older players.”
Larkin has been the leader, not only of the young players but the entire team. The 22-year-old Waterford native and University of Michigan alum, who is in his fourth NHL season and wears an “A” – for alternate captain – on his uniform during home games (and is definitely the Wings' next captain), is certainly justifying the five-year, $30.5 million contract he signed in August.
The speedy center leads Detroit with 21 points and is the Red Wings' best all-around player on most nights.
“It’s not, obviously, just about the points,” Holland said about Larkin. “Every night, he’s got the toughest matchup, playing against the other team’s top line.”
That’s after inheriting the No. 1 center role after the retirement of Henrik Zetterberg at the beginning of training camp.
Larkin has also done it when it counts the most. He has two overtime game-winning goals (Nov. 9, in a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers at Little Caesars Arena and Nov. 17, in a 3-2 road victory over the New Jersey Devils) and a game-winning shootout goal.
In addition to being Detroit’s leading goal scorer, Athanasiou, 24, has been the team’s most dynamic, most spectacular and most consistently dangerous player due to his speed and skill. Athanasiou showed flashes of those traits on many occasions during his first three NHL seasons, but was inconsistent and, at times, seemingly indifferent on the ice.
Athanasiou catches fire
But that hasn’t been the case this season.
“I think from Day 1, he’s been very engaged. I thought his first practice in training camp was excellent. I think he’s carried that forward,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said about Athanasiou, after he scored in the third period to tie it and got the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thanksgiving Eve at LCA. “The nights when he hasn’t been at his best, the one thing he can still do is find a way score, find a way to make a play. His B game has been better and his A game is always good.”
After a slow start, Mantha, 24, has eight goals and three assists in his last 15 games, mostly showcasing his “elite” – according to Blashill – wrist shot.
“Mo, he’s a rare breed in a sense that he can score from anywhere,” said veteran defenseman Niklas Kronwall about Mantha, after the 6-5, 225-pound right wing had two goals and an assist and managed 10 shots on goal in a 7-5 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets this past Monday night at LCA. “That shot of his, when he’s skating like he did tonight, he’s been playing well lately for quite awhile now. It’s nice to see him get rewarded for it.”
Mantha led the team last season with 24 goals.
Bertuzzi, 23 and the nephew of former Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi, is a rare combination: A player with toughness and grit, good hands around the net, a good all-around game and a high hockey IQ. He’s proven adept at scoring “ugly” goals like tip-ins and rebounds, even if those pucks are in the air. Four of his eight goals have come in the third period with the score tied or Detroit down by two or less goals and did it again Wednesday night.
Bertuzzi’s goal with less than seven minutes left broke a tie and gave Detroit a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues at LCA. It was Bertuzzi’s second goal of the game.
“I love him as a player. He competes,” Blashill said after Wednesday night’s game. “…He finds ways to win pucks, gets stick on puck. We talk about hounding in the O-zone and hounding on the forecheck and that’s what he does. He goes to the net and he’s really good around the net.”
Teenage rookies
Cholowski, 19, and Rasmussen, 18, have had different paths this season as rookies.
Cholowski has seamlessly jumped directly from junior hockey to the NHL as a defenseman who plays over 20 minutes a game and in all situations. He scored in his first NHL game, the season opener, and has not looked back. Cholowski’s calm, hockey sense, passing ability and all-around game belies his age and he appears destined to be a No. 1 NHL defenseman for many years.
“When I wrote my report on him [Cholowski], I said he plays with poise. That’s the way he naturally is and that’s the way he plays,” said Red Wings director of pro scouting Mark Howe, who is also a Hall of Fame defenseman and Gordie’s son.
There was a question of whether Rasmussen would remain with the Wings this season or be sent back to his junior team in the Western Hockey League. Teenagers who are NHL rookies can play in up to nine games before the first year of their contract officially kicks in for the entire season. They can be sent back to their junior team at any time during the season.
Rasmussen only had an assist in his first nine games and it was a close debate within the Red Wings organization whether it would benefit Rasmussen’s development more to remain in the NHL or return to junior hockey.
It was decided that he would remain in Detroit and Rasmussen, 6-6 and 221 pounds, went out and scored his first NHL goal in the next game after the decision was made, a 5-3 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 30. He has since had a three-game goal-scoring streak and leads the Red Wings with three power-play goals. He also assisted on Bertuzzi’s game winner Wednesday night.
“I think it comes with experience. I think I’m getting more comfortable and I’m just getting more games under my belt,” Rasmussen said. “I think confidence and everything comes with that.”
That seems to be the case for all six of them.
