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Accept my apologies as I transition back to the Red Wing news cycle from last week. However, I didn’t want to lose sight of last week’s “suggestion… from Red Wing prospect Adam Almquist that a return to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) could be in the cards for him instead of a third season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Almquist is a restricted free agent this summer. The bottom line for him is he made $65,000 last year in the AHL, according to capgeek.com. Perhaps a bit more with performance bonuses included. The SHL would pay him at least double that (if not more).
The Red Wings can choose to retain his NHL rights by tendering him a qualifying offer (by June 25th), but if he rejects it he would be free to play in Europe. If Almquist re-signs with the Red Wings, he is no longer waiver-exempt and would have to clear waivers in order to be assigned to Grand Rapids if he did not make the big club out of training camp. The club can also choose not qualify offer and cut ties completely with Almquist (7th round, 210th overall draft pick in 2009), making him an unrestricted free agent.
The 23 year-old Almquist ranked third in the AHL last season with 49 assists (along with four goals) in 73 games. He has 14 goals and 70 assists in 144 career AHL games. Almquist made two appearances with the Red Wings this past season and had one goal in those two outings.
The book on Almquist is that he is a good skater, with exceptional hockey sense, moves the puck well and is particularly effective on the power play. The strike against him is his size (5-11,174) and strength. The Wings appear to have concerns about Almquist's ability to win battles along the boards and in front of the net against NHL players.
Despite his solid production in two seasons with the Griffins, most observers feel there are at least three other rearguards in the Red Wing pipeline that sit ahead of Almquist on the depth chart in Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul and Alexey Marchenko. In addition, Matthias Backman and Nick Jensen also are in Grand Rapids and appear to have NHL potential.
So what is Kenny to do?
In this day and age where seemingly more and more emphasis is being placed on having mobile, puck-moving defensemen in order to attain a greater rate of puck possession, it seems rather odd that the Wings would feel Almquist is not ready to test the NHL waters as a Red Wing. Unfortunately for players with a smaller frame, even when a player like Torey Krug of the Boston Bruins proves great hockey sense can overcome a size deficiency, many teams proceed with caution.
If it’s me, I extend a qualifying offer. If Almquist signs it, he can attempt to make the Wings in Traverse City come the fall or the Wings can choose to move him to an interested NHL team with less depth on the blueline organizationally. In this salary cap era, the Red Wings need to utilize any advantage available
If he chooses not to sign the offer, Almquist can head to Sweden and at least the Red Wings retain possession to his rights, which could then still be traded to another NHL team.
In the end, it wouldn’t necessarily bother me if the Wings do not believe Almquist has a future with Detroit. Although I don’t necessarily agree with that assessment, I also have not seen him (and the other Red Wing defensive prospects) play and train to the significant extent their qualified staff has.
Nevertheless, what would bother me if I am a Wing fan is to watch another young asset depart without getting anything back after the resources the organization sunk into his development. Furthermore, after burning essentially two 2nd round picks (Calle Jarnkrok and the upcoming 2014 2nd rounder) for six weeks of David Legwand, it would not be wise to foolishly allow their organizational depth to weaken.
Let’s not forget, it was that depth that enabled them to make the playoffs for the 23rd consecutive season despite an injury-plagued season resulting in the club finishing 2nd in the NHL in man-games lost.
Last season, Detroit was FORCED to incorporate their prospects into the lineup. This offseason they need to decide whether they find a way to move the right prospects onto the roster at right times OR perhaps Holland becomes bold and they find a way to flip some of these assets for the desired Mike Babcock upgrades (right-handed top-four D and/or power forward).
mark.spizzirri@hockeybuzz.com
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