While he was in town, the Detroit Red Wings took the opportunity to get Michael Rasmussen’s name on an NHL contract.
Detroit’s top pick in the 2017 NHL entry draft, Rasmussen, who was selected ninth overall, agreed to terms on a three-year entry-level deal that will pay him $925,000 per season when he’s in the NHL.
The six-foot-six, 221-pound center from the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans was in Plymouth, Mich. this week playing for Canada in the World Junior Summer Showcase, giving all of the Red Wings brass the opportunity to see him up close and personal against world-class competition in his peer group.
“Confident,… was Detroit coach Jeff Blashill’s first assessment of Rasmussen. Big. He’s serious. That would be the three things I’d say right away.
“He’s a big frame. I don’t know lots about the players because in this job you don’t get a chance to see them. Hopefully he ends up a real good Red Wing.…
The addition of Rasmussen, who scored 32 goals for Tri-City last season despite missing the final 22 games of the season after fracturing his wrist, was part of a movement by the Wings to seek to gain size up front.
“We wanted to get bigger, but we wanted to get bigger and still kind of keep the identity of what we’re known for and that’s obviously skill and (hockey) sense,… Detroit amateur scouting director Tyler Wright said.
Olympian Task There is a decided Red Wings flavor to the 2018 men’s Olympic coaching staff USA Hockey announced during the tournament in Plymouth.
Former NHL forward Tony Granato, currently the head coach of the NCAA Wisconsin Badgers, was named head coach of the team. Prior to taking the Wisconsin job, Granato was an assistant coach with the Red Wings from 2014-16.
One of the assistants on his staff will be former Wings defenseman Chris Chelios. Chelios, an assistant coach with the Wings, took a leave of absence from his Detroit earlier this summer to explore the possibility of working for the NHLPA, but opted to return to the Wings.
He served as an assistant coach with the bronze medal-winning USA team at the 2016 world junior championships. Chelios, who won two Stanley Cups as a player with the Wings, also earned an Olympic silver medal with Team USA at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics while playing on the Detroit defense.
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