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Confidence carries over, Captain comes back as Wings beat VGK
Pius Suter’s performance over the past 2 games have been a nice boost for the team and for the fans. I was concerned a drop back to the 2nd line would see an immediate decline, but the second line had one if its best games of the young season. The first star honors for Suter must have been a nice boost.
Most of you know that I spend time each week writing about some of the top prospects. In particular, Detroit’s players in Sweden and Sebastian Cossa. Part of this is because we’ve seen so much growth (quickly) from Yzerman’s top picks. Edvinsson hasn’t disappointed as he still has an average of nearly 20 minutes per game at 18. Johansson has seen his minutes increase for Farjestad and could well be the next skater to jump the pond for North America. Cossa looks like a stud in net.
As I was reading through other thoughts on Detroit’s talent pool, it hit me that so many times these prospect lists come from a place of someone not really looking at the players. One of the reasons I’m so focused on keeping tabs is because of that. I saw Niederbach on the top ten list but Soderblom resigned to “honorable mention”. If you followed either player’s performance this season, you may have swapped them.
Soderblom started the season playing under 10 minutes per game. His minutes average was around 12:00 per night when he tied for scoring lead. Now, the big man is getting closer to 20 minutes per night and leads the team with 8 goals. He only has 3 assists, so points wise he has 11 in 19 games. The WJC highlights felt miles away at the start of this season.
I talk about someone “taking” a job often. Lucas Raymond came to camp and was easily a top winger. Moritz Seider came in and looks to be the team’s best defenseman. They took jobs and jumped up the depth chart. So much so, that I don’t really think of Seider as a prospect. Raymond, because he’s 19, will still get that nod from many but to me he looks like an NHL player already. Soderblom went from bottom 3, to bottom 6 to top 6 over the course of this season. His minutes continue to climb, but after he outperformed teammates who were ahead of him.
In reality, I still see Soderblom as a bottom 6 (possibly bottom 3) NHL player. There isn’t an exact formula for how scoring translates from the SHL to the AHL to the NHL. If Elmer continues to have the impact he’s having now, he should be in Grand Rapids next season. Conversely, Niederbach is having a hard time producing. He has just 2 goals and 2 assists in 19 games, with a 10:00 average TOI and only 18 shots. A center having fewer shots on goal than games played isn’t great. Soderblom has 45 shots on goal.
Niederbach is a center, and we definitely need the centers in the system to take off. He was pulled after less than a minute in the last game, so he may be hurt. (Edvinsson has missed the last 3 games). Hopefully both can find their way back to the ice soon.
If Edvinsson (upon returning) keeps his pace (1 goal, 8 assists in 19 games, near 20 min TOI, 36 shots) I expect he will be in camp next year with the intent to spend the season in North America. Johansson signed his ELC last year (Edvinsson hasn’t yet). William Wallinder is also getting some looks for Rogle with 3 goals and 5 assists in 16 games, averaging just 11 minutes. His TOI has climbed up as well and played over 17 minutes in the last game.
Someone pointed out to me that the top 4 U21 scorers in the SHL are all Wings players. Soderblom leads, Edvinsson is second (and has missed 3 games), Johansson is 3rd and Wallinder is 4th. Pretty impressive.
If all 4 are in camp next fall and play in North America, it would be a massive boost in the prospect pool. The transition isn’t always easy, so Yzerman would have to be convinced that their development is at a point that the SHL isn’t the best place for them to play.
Kudos to Soderblom for grabbing more minutes with his play. Edvinsson’s early success and confidence from the coaching staff seems to be a sign that Yzerman grabbed another good defenseman. Johansson and Wallinder both seem poised to finish the season with career highs. The Swedish contingent remains an important part of the rebuild.
Some of my previous posts:
Previous Post:
Confidence carries over, Captain comes back as Wings beat VGK
Bertuzzi, Suter and Raymond come up big, Seider gets OT winner
Previous post:
Larkin out again, Buffalo Pregame
Previous Post:
Wings after 11 - stats 
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