If anything was proven in his first season as Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill showed he had no fear in playing his young players. Arguably he should have played them much more.
Last year he gave debuts to Dylan Larkin (who led the team in goals), Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athansiou and Tomas Nosek, and played defenseman Alexey Marchenko 66 games.
Unfortunately for Blashill, his general manager has saddled him with contracts that were difficult to move and harder to bench to give the young players in Grand Rapids an opportunity. Fortunately, if the need arises, there are several NHL-ready defensemen and wingers that can jump in and play — and possibly start the season with the Red Wings.
Defensemen Xavier Ouellet, Robbie Russo, Ryan Sproul and Nick Jensen would be next in line. The wings are even more loaded: Mantha, Zach Nastasiuk, Tyler Bertuzzi and Martin Frk are just a few of the forwards who may have their opportunity next season.
Unless the General Manager Ken Holland can find a taker for Pavel Datsyuk’s $7.5 million cap hit as he leaves to play in Russia next season, there’s going to be opportunities for some of these younger players to play. After all, when 10 percent of your cap is dead money, minimum-salaried players will be needed to fill some of the void — even if they can’t match the production.
There are two places where the Wings are less than solid: goalie and center.
With Larkin’s fast-track to the top-six forward role last year, that means one fewer center in the minor-league pipeline. The Red Wings will go back to the Big Ten for Wisconsin center Luke Kunin.
On a struggling Wisconsin team, Kunin finished with a team-high 19 goals, tying for the sixth-most by a Badgers freshman in the program’s storied history. He finished as a minus-9, which isn’t bad considering the Badgers had one plus-player all season. To say the Badgers struggled was an understatement.
What Kunin lacks in size (he’s 6-foot, 193 pounds), he makes up for with a heavy shot and grit, which is perfect for Blashill’s system.
With the 16th pick in the 2016 NHL draft, the Detroit Red Wings select Luke Kunin, University of Wisconsin.
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