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DeKeyser excited by upside Green brings to Wings |
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According to Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, he plans to unite Danny DeKeyser with off-season free-agent addition Mike Green as a defense pairing.
He’s shared this thought with the media, but apparently, not with DeKeyser.
“I haven’t really talked to the coaching staff,” DeKeyser admitted. “I don’t know what the pairings are going to be.
“If you guys know that, that’s kind of news to me.”
Good news, as it turns out.
“I think he’s a great player,” DeKeyser said of Green. “He’s got a great shot from the point, he moves the puck up the D-zone fast and he can skate really well.
“If we end up being paired together, I think it would be a good combo. I can definitely learn from him.”
It’s been awhile since the Wings suited up a defenseman capable of bringing to the ice the sort of up-tempo, attacking offensive game that Green is capable of delivering, and that fact of life is exciting to DeKeyser.
“He likes to jump in the play,” DeKeyser said of Green, the last NHL defenseman to top the 30-goal plateau when he scored 31 times for the Washington Capitals in 2008-09. “I already talked about his shot.
“He seems to have a good offensive sense of when to go and when to stay and he usually finds the holes and puts pucks on the net. That will help us out a lot.”
DeKeyser imagines that there might be a small adjustment period as the rest of the Wings adapt to the sort of freelance game that Green tends to play in the attacking zone, but with Detroit’s defensively responsible system, it shouldn’t take too long to get used to what Green delivers.
“It might be a little bit of an adjustment depending upon who he’s playing with and that kind of thing,” DeKesyer said. “You’ve just got to maybe cover up for him if he’s jumping in the rush.
“It may be up to one of the forwards to step back if he’s leading the rush. It’ll kind of be a team thing where everybody is just kind of aware.”
DeKeyser’s own offensive game is steadily evolving as he readies for his third full NHL campaign. He produced 4-19-23 numbers as a rookie in 2013-14 and last season, bumped it up to 31 points, including 29 assists, as he saw some power play time towards the latter part of the season.
He suspects that another season of experience in the league, coupled with the nuances he can garner from skating alongside a guy with the skill set that Green possesses with only serve to ramp up that aspect of his game even further.
“I think so, yeah and it also comes with just learning the pro game as well,” DeKeyser said. “It just comes with time.
“I think with the past few years the back end, we’ve wanted to contribute a little more than we have. Obviously, (Niklas) Kronwall’s been the leader back there with that, but bringing in another guy like Green, who will bring some offense will definitely help us out a ton.”
Saarijarvi To Flint
Defenseman Vili Saarijarvi, selected 73rd overall by the Wings in the 2015 NHL entry draft, will be performing very close to Detroit this season.
Wednesday, the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League announced that they’ve signed Saarijarvi to a contract. Flint, approximately an hour’s drive from Detroit, selected Saarijarvi with the ninth pick in the Canadian Hockey League import draft.
“The Detroit Red Wings’ scouting history, especially in Europe, has been second to none,” Flint GM Terry Christensen said. “Given that they felt good enough about Vili’s abilities as a player and his character and that he could potentially play for their club one day, shows a stamp of approval on a player that we were highly interested in.”
The 5-10, 165-pound Saarijarvi was chosen as the most valuable defenseman at the 2015 IIHF under-18 world championships in April, where Finland captured the silver medal, losing the final to the U.S.A. The Wings signed Saarijarvi to a three-year entry-level contract last month.
“I want to thank the Firebirds organization for picking me in the [CHL] import draft and giving me an opportunity to play in one of the best hockey leagues in the world,” Saarijärvi said. “This is a first class organization and I could not be more excited to play in a hockey city like Flint.”
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