Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
The talk surrounding the eventual departure of Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock invariably centered around which of the young players in the Wings system will be receive the torch from veterans Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.
Young players like Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar are just beginning their NHL journeys having spent years with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins developing. Both look pretty impressive so far. The 25 yr. old Nyquist scored 55 goals in 139 games for Detroit over the last two seasons while Tatar (24 yrs. old) had 29 goals, including seven game-winners and nine on the powerplay, in 82 games for the Wings last season.
Detroit has a bevy forwards in their system who look like impact players in the future. Names like Teemu Pulkkinen, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi may soon be joining Nyquist, Tatar, Riley Shehan, Tomas Jurco and Danny DeKeyser as the future of the Red Wings.
And that group will probably be topped off by Dylan Larkin who, at just 18 yrs. old, is performing extremely well in the AHL playoffs for Grand Rapids. In five games he has three goals and two assists after joining the team following an impressive 2015 IIHF World Championship tournament for Team USA.
Babcock had asked the question, "Who's gonna replace Pav[el Datsyuk]? when contemplating his future with the organization. Larkin, it would seem, is at the head of the group and with the way the Wings draft and develop talent, any number of the players mentioned above might provide the answer.
With the NHL Scouting Combine beginning today in Buffalo, NHL GM's, assistants and scouts will be in town primarily to prep for the upcoming draft. But they will also be talking amongst themselves to get a feel for what might be available in the trade market.
Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland will one of those in town and Mlive.com's Ansar Khan thinks the Wings will have their eyes and ears wide open. "Trades are more apt to happen in the days leading up to the entry draft (June 26-27) and during the event itself in Sunrise, Fla. A thin free-agent market might prompt more teams, including the Red Wings, to look to deal."
With the number of team scouts and execs on hand trade-talk is starting to heat up. "Calls (from other GMs) are starting to come in," Holland said. "Teams are kicking the tires, like we're doing. Before they go into their (organizational) meetings they want to see what's out there. If there's a trade that makes us better we'll look at it."
Through the entire piece, Khan mentions all of the above prospects as well as others, but conspicuously missing is the name of 2013 1st rounder (No. 20 overall,) Anthony Mantha.
The 6'4" 190 lb. winger hit Grand Rapids this season after scorching the QMJHL for 57 goals and 120 points in his final season for Val-d'Or. But Mantha went from untouchable before the 2014-15 season to a player "who Detroit would hesitate to move" according to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. Even though Matheson described Mantha as "the 6’5” kid who had 81 goals in 81 games in Val D’Or in junior last year and while feeling his way in his first pro season in Grand Rapids, could be heir apparent for Johan Franzen," he had Detroit as possibly moving him for Sabres defenseman, Tyler Myers.
Back in February there were plenty of rumors that Myers was in play. There had been a connection between Detroit, who had been looking for a right-handed d-man since the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom, and Buffalo dating back to the 2014 trade deadline. Those rumors persisted into the 2014 off season and into the early part of the 2014-15 season. Larkin and Mantha were presumed off the table while Jurco, Nyquist and even Tatar were those most often mentioned.
Matheson penned his piece on Detroit as a possible destination for Myers on February 5th, 2015. On February 11th, Murray traded Myers to the Winnipeg Jets in a blockbuster deal that included LW, Evander Kane.
If Mantha had gone from nearly untouchable to a player "Detroit wouldn't hesitate to move" back in February, his performance in the AHL playoffs coupled with the emergence of Larkin, Bertuzzi and Athanasiou might make him expendable.
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press wrote a piece on May 29th entitled Red Wings plan to keep pushing Anthony Mantha which was subtitled, Detroit's top pick in 2013 has struggled this season, has looked like he isn't trying hard enough.
Said Holland via the St. James piece, ""when it comes to player development, my philosophy is I'm always nervous. If a player has too much success early, you worry they don't understand how hard it is, and that they have to put in time at the gym. When they don't perform to the level expected, then adversity is great motivator. Nobody wants to be embarrassed. In Anthony Mantha's case, he what he did in juniors is hard to do. We're going to support him and push him and educate him and tell him what's expected, and then it's up to the player to decide that he wants to do the things that need to be done."
Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill, who's all but assured of being the Wings next head coach replacing Babcock said Mantha "needs to change his habit of how he skates every day in games. Because of his elite ability, he could play without moving his feet in juniors. He needs to learn to skate at a more consistent basis, get into puck battles, and when he has puck, skate to attack. If he gets that habit, he will be an elite player."
Mantha was drafted four spots behind defenseman Nikita Zadorov who was taken 18th-overall at the 2013 NHL Draft. Even though the Sabres were in need of scoring forwards throughout the system and had already taken a defenseman--Rasmus Ristolaien--with the 8th-overall pick, head amateur scout Kevin Devine opted to go after Zadorov over Mantha and the two other forwards (Kerby Rychel and Curtis Lazar) drafted between them.
Said Devine after landing Ristolainen and Zadorov, "we had them neck and neck. We were looking to move up [from No. 16] but teams were saying no and [Zadorov] kept sliding and sliding," he said with almost a Cheshire grin on his face. "So, to get those two big guys [without trading up] was pretty nice."
And in an odd twist, it would seem as if both might be available because of the incredible depth that Detroit (Mantha) and Columbus (Rychel) have at the forward position.
Right now I am of the opinion that the 2013 NHL Draft will go down as one of the best in history, perhaps being in the same conversation with those of 2003 and 1979. Any talent that the Sabres can grab from the very deep 2013 draft might bode well for future success.
As mentioned, the Sabres drafted Ristolainen and Zadorov in the first round that year. In addition to those two they also drafted left wing JT Compher (35th,) center Connor Hurley (38th,) and right wing Justin Bailey (52nd) in the second round. And with the 69th-overall pick they drafted right wing Nicolas Baptiste.
In addition to snaring six of the top-69 draft picks they added 2013 57th-overall pick, forward William Carrier (STL) and 118th-overall pick, right wing Hudson Fasching (LAK.)
Methinks the Wings would be interested, once again, in a defenseman in return for Mantha. As much as I like Mark Pysyk and think he'll be a valuable piece to the puzzle moving forward, he's the type of right-handed defenseman that would pique Detroit's interest.
As we get caught up in the combine featuring the psychology of prospect interviews and intrigue of the VO2 max test, the gathering of scouts and execs descending upon Buffalo for the next six days represents the opportunity for teams to lay the groundwork for future trades, of which, the Sabres most definitely will be a part of.
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