When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Elias Lindholm with the #5 overall pick in this year’s NHL draft, Victor Rask quickly fell a notch in terms of Canes prospect buzz. The exciting topics of conversation right now seem to be Elias Lindholm at forward and Ryan Murphy on defense. While those players deserve the attention too, I think Rask could play as big of a role as either with the 2013-14 team. He is a couple years deep in his development including a good mix of juniors, international play and a decent AHL stint last year and should be very much in the mix of players battling for roster spots in training camp in September. As noted in previous blogs, the Canes have a bundle of open forward roster spots largely to be filled in training camp.
Victor Rask is a natural center, but with Lindholm probably in the mix this season, the team might be best served sorting out who plays where sooner rather than later so that players can be developed accordingly. Eric Staal and Jordan Staal seem slotted in 2 center positions for the forseeable future leaving only 1 center slot remaining. If Lindholm makes the 2013-14 team as expected, and the team commits to his development at center that would suggest that Rask needs to move to wing. Short-term, I think with his bigger frame and couple additional years to grow physically he is more suited to step up to the rigors of battling in the corners nightly in the NHL.
I really think that Canes fans are going to be pleasantly surprised with where Rask is development-wise all of a sudden. The situation could prove to be a bit like Eric Staal’s during the last NHL labor stoppage. As Canes fans remember, Staal played the 2003-04 season as an 18-year old rookie. His production was minimal and he seemed to fade physically a bit down the stretch. Then hockey went into hiding, and he got a full year to develop physically and work on his game in the AHL during the 2004-05 work stoppage. He looked like a completely different player in terms of strength when NHL hockey restarted after the missed season. Canes fans got a short glimpse of Victor Rask at prospects camp 2 years ago as a just-drafted 18-year old. With the labor stoppage last season, we get another fast-forward where all of a sudden he is 2 years bigger and stronger and has had not 1 but 2 seasons to develop.
To be clear, I am not projecting an Eric Staal-like scoring surge. That would be unfair. But I really think that Victor Rask is primed to be the young forward who blows the doors off camp and rises above the fray of forwards competing for open spots. He will not develop into a 220-pound physical beast. But he has an NHL frame and at 6-2 is now pushing closer to 200 pounds. He also has a decent amount of experience playing in the smaller spaces and with more physical contact of the North American rinks. And like countryman Elias Lindholm, even as a draftee he came minus any glaring weaknesses who projects to be a decent all-around forward once he settles in. He skates reasonably well. While not a raw scorer, he is decent offensively both in terms of playmaking and scoring. The challenge could be figuring out where to play him. If Lindholm gets slotted as the 3rd center then Rask would fall into either a 2nd or 3rd line LW slot or otherwise the 4th line. If the Canes happened to add a veteran wing as seems very possible that could further complicate things. If Rask were to fall to the 4th line because there is no room at center or left wing on the top 3 lines, then I think the team might be inclined to have him play 18-20 minutes/game at the AHL and continue his development versus seeing limited ice time and roles in a 4th-line role at the NHL level.
On the current roster, I would project Rask to be the front-runner to win the LW spot next to JStaal/Ruutu. The hope is that even as a rookie, his game would be balanced enough to play on a defensively focused line. I will pass on getting into all the other possible scenarios that come into play if the Canes add another wing to fill out the top 9.
For another good Victor Rask read, check out Chip Alexander's article at the N&O:
N&O article on Rask
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