Martin Frk’s shot at a career with the Detroit Red Wings didn’t end as much as it simply ran out of time.
Right-winger Frk, who scored 27 goals in his first full AHL season in 2015-16 with Grand Rapids, is today a Carolina Hurricane, after they claimed him on waivers from the Wings.
A late bloomer who took three full pro seasons before he could establish himself as an AHL regular, the Wings simply didn’t have any room for Frk in a goal-scoring role.
“Marty Frk has taken steps in the right direction pretty much every year,” Blashill said. “When he came into the American League, he went through some struggles, I think learning how to play what I would say the right way and to his credit, including getting sent down to (ECHL) Toledo, to his credit, he worked and worked and worked and worked and worked.
“If you ask anybody in Toledo, anybody in Grand Rapids, they’ll tell you he’s the first guy to the rink every day. In Toledo he was running to the rink to make sure he was in great shape. He’s a worker. I think he’s coming, I think he’s taking steps in the right direction and he does have a skill set.
“He can obviously really shoot the puck.”
The fact of the matter is that Frk did most of his impressive preseason work against what were basically AHL-laden clubs – remember that the vast majority of the NHL’s best players were playing in the World Cup of Hockey - and didn’t show enough in other areas of the game to make him a valuable asset to the big club.
“You can’t make our team, you’ve got to make our team better if you’re one of those guys on the outside looking in,” Blashill said.
Basically, Frk doesn’t possess the skill set to play in a checking role and needed to prove to be more valuable than the likes of Teemu Pulkkinen, Darren Helm, Thomas Vanek or Riley Sheahan to stick in Detroit.
Sent Down
Four other players who cleared waivers Sunday – defenseman Nick Jensen and Brian Lashoff and forwards Mitch Callahan and Eric Tangradi – were all assigned to AHL Grand Rapids, as was goaltender Jared Coreau.
The moves left 26 players on the Red Wings roster as the Tuesday 5 p.m. ET to cut to the 23-player season-opening roster nears, including waiver-exempt forwards Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou and forward Ben Street, probably headed to injured reserve after being cut on the neck in Friday’s preseason game against Toronto.
Blashill indicated over the weekend that he’d likely make the final roster decisions on Monday.
Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»