John Matisz of The Score takes a look at four young players who have had a strong start. One of them is...
My take: Honestly, what's not fascinating about Soderblom? The dude's an alien.
Soderblom is listed at 6-foot-8 and 246 pounds - 1 inch shorter and 4 pounds lighter than Zdeno Chara. But, on the ice, the Red Wings rookie looks far less freakish and awkward than Chara. He has finesse....
NHL scout's take: Soderblom, picked in the sixth round, 159th overall, was a "truly interesting case" in the 2019 draft, according to one amateur scout.
"Even though he's huge, he's always been a skill-first guy, and I don't know if we'd ever seen that before. He was such a unicorn of a player in that sense," said the Europe-based scout. "But there was a question that scared teams off: Is the skating going to improve enough for him to make the NHL?"
The answer turned out to be yes. And the improved skating now allows Soderblom's reach to not just be a plus attribute but his calling card.
"He can intercept passes that most players can't. That's an X-factor," the scout said before adding, "But you can dream a little, like, 'Hey, once he's a little older he can become more physical and start using that size.'
more on Soderblom and three other players...
from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
Maatta has been averaging a point per game, with five points (one goal, four assists), as he has paid early dividends on both sides of the ice.
"Everyone is playing well," said Maatta, explaining why the Wings have had success along with his own offensive contributions. "Our forwards are playing well, doing a great job both ways, and the defensemen are joining the rush. But at the same time, we're defending as a five (man unit) and that's our strength.
"When we play in our structure, good things happen."
Maatta has never been a prolific point producer, but he did reach 29 points twice early in his career with Pittsburgh. Upon joining the Wings, Maatta said one of his goals was to put up a bit more offense, and so far he has.
"You work on it all the time, just things you can do on the blue line," Maatta said. "It's not necessarily those fancy plays, but it's just the play that happen 10 or 15 times a game, and you have to be good at it. When you make those plays, our forwards can get the puck with speed and we can play offense and good things happen that way."
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from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,
The 15th overall selection of the 2021 NHL entry draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Sebastian Cossa is rejoining their top farm club from the ECHL Toledo Walleye. His recall was necessitated after goaltender Victor Brattstrom was leaving Grand Rapids Sunday victory over the Toronto Marlies due to injury....
he Red Wings were loading up the Griffins with Detroit prospects this season and the early returns are promising.
Rookie defenseman Simon Edvinsson, and forwards Cross Hanas and Kirill Tyutyayev are all tied for sixth in the AHL among rookies with four points. Hanas is also tied for fourth among rookies with three goals in five games. With 2-2-4 totals, Tyutyayev has already exceeded the three points he was accumulating in nine games during an injury-plagued season.
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