Grand Rapids Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill has been on a whirlwind
coaching odyssey over the past three seasons. Two years ago, he was the
head coach at Western Michigan. Last season, he was an assistant coach
with the Red Wings. This year, he’s one game away from coaching the
Griffins to the AHL’s Calder Cup.
Through it all, it has become
apparent that Blashill is an excellent coach and has a keen eye for
talent and player evaluation. After a recent Griffins practice,
Blashill offered the following assessments for 12 of Detroit’s top
prospects. Each of these players has spent all or part of the season
with Grand Rapids.
Petr Mrazek (G): Petr has the
special ability of thriving in pressure situations. He loves pressure.
He has the opportunity, if he continues to improve his skill set, to
become a very good NHL goalie.
Brian Lashoff (D): Lash is
somebody that has become a real good defensive defenseman — a great
penalty killer, blocks shots ... he’s done a real good job.
Luke Glendening (RW): Luke Glendening is a rare person who has an unbelievable will and work
ethic combined with an unbelievable ability to get better at things. He
never played center before, but he improved his face-offs to be one of
the best face-off guys in the league. I believe he will not be denied
the opportunity to play in the National Hockey League. (Glendening is
not under contract with Detroit, but that is expected to change very soon.)
Tomas Tatar (LW): Tats is extremely competitive, tough and highly skilled for being a
smaller player (5-foot-10, 182 pounds). Like all of our prospects, they
have to fit into a puzzle and that’s obviously Ken Holland’s job. Tats
has the ability, with continued improvement, to become an NHL player.
Tomas Jurco (RW): Jurco has gone from being a highly skilled player to being a very good
player, there’s a huge difference. Early in the year, he was a skilled
player that necessarily didn’t know how to play winning hockey. Now
he’s a winning hockey player that’s extremely talented.
Gustav Nyquist (RW): The biggest thing I’d say about Gus is that he’s extremely talented. He’s a great locker-room guy, a great character guy that people may not
understand the impact he’s had on this team (Grand Rapids). When he
came back, it was a big factor in us being here (Calder Cup Final)
today.
Riley Sheahan (C): Riley is an extremely good
defensive player who has offensive ability as well, but what I’ve loved
about him is that he’s very, very accountable. As Riley improves the
physicality of his game, Riley will have a real good opportunity to be
an NHL player.
Landon Ferraro (C): Landon has had a
real good year, a breakout year in the American League. He has great
speed, he has a great shot and he can score goals. His element of
speed is transferable to the NHL. Landon has had injury problems and has
gone through this year, knock on wood, fairly unscathed. As he
continues to develop, he has an opportunity.
Danny DeKeyser (D): Danny, when he stepped into Detroit, showed he can be a very good
defenseman at the NHL level. He did it at the hardest time of the year,
at the end of the year and into the playoffs. I know they (Red Wing
brass) were real pleased with his ability to defend, his ability to move
the puck. (Blashill recruited and coached DeKeyser at Western
Michigan)
Joakim Andersson (C): Joakim was on the Swedish world
junior team, so he’s done a lot of good things. The question mark was
his skating, but a guy like Joakim can overcome that because he’s
really, really smart. He has an unbelievable will and he has lots of
ability with the puck. He showed this year that he can be a national
hockey league-er.
Calle Jarnkrok (C): When Calle was here (he
played nine games for the Griffins), it was a good experience for him to
see that everything happens quicker in North American hockey. He’s
going to take that lesson and apply it this summer to get better at
those things. With added strength, he’s an extremely smart hockey
player with extremely good skills. He needs to add strength to his
body.
Teemu Pulkkinen (RW): Pulkkinen has a real good shot, the
hard part for these guys (European players) is that they come in and
they haven’t learned the systems. Once he becomes comfortable with the
systems, it will allow his ability. He has a real ability to shoot a
puck and that’s what he’s going to have to rely on to be an impact
player.
Certainly, the Wings have many prospects that have a
chance to make it in the NHL, but as we can draw from Blashill’s
critiques, most of Detroit’s future players still need to work on their
game before donning the Red Wing sweater.
