In this third installment of the Red Wings prospect pool check in on hockeybuzz we take a look at a couple of NCAA defenseman with a chance to make the show and two of Detroit's most intriguing goalie prospects.
Brady Cleveland
Cleveland is a big, 6’5” defenseman who has no particular problem with using all 220lbs of it to let the opposition know when his shift is on. Originally committed to Wisconsin, Cleveland transferred to Colorado College last year in order to get more on ice time. Cleveland played in every game for the team, and scored his first collegiate goal late in the season. Perhaps being inspired by the play of fellow Wings’ prospect Max Plante, who he faced late in the NCAA season last year when the Bulldogs met the Tigers, he transferred to UMD for this year. Cleveland probably won’t ever lead in your usual box score categories, but he is currently leading the Bulldogs with 23 penalty minutes while sporting a +6 rating. The Red Wings don’t have a ton of left handed defenseman in the pipeline, but Cleveland offers a solid defensive game and size element the Red Wings desperately need. It's yet to be seen whether or not he can translate those to the next level, however.
Larry Keenan
Keenan is one of the Red Wings most recent draftees, taken 117th in the 2023 Entry Draft. Keenan is another big defenseman standing at 6’4”, but he provides more of an aggressive approach to the position. Keenan had 4 goals and 7 assists last year and was praised by his coaches at University of Massachusetts for his style of play. The Minuteman defenseman has a hard shot that he’s not afraid to use, averaging nearly two shots per game last year as a freshman. So far this year he’s accumulated 2 goals and 3 assists in 11 games, which should track for a much higher point total than last year. Keenan was also recently named to the U.S. Collegiate Selects team to represent America at the Spengler Cup in Switzerland in December. Detroit has a lot of other defenseman in the pipeline, but it never hurts to keep a smart, toolsy player in the system. Especially one with NHL pedigree.
Rudy Guimond
While not as highly touted as Detroit’s other goalie prospect from the 2023 Entry Draft, Trey Augustine, Guimond has been quietly developing into a solid prospect for the Red Wings. After leaving the USHL for the QMJHL following changes in the NCAA’s eligibility structure last year, Guimond went undefeated for the Moncton Wildcats with a 16-0-0 record in the regular season. In that time, he raised his sv% over .900, something he had not been able to achieve with the USHL’s Rough Riders. Guimond and the Wildcats went 8-1 in the playoffs as well, becoming league champions last year. Though his numbers have dipped this season slightly from his hot start after moving leagues, 2.39 GAA and .916 sv% this season as compared to a 1.73 GAA and .940 sv% last year, Guimond will have a full season with the team to really show who he is. The 20-year-old netminder is committed to play for Harvard next season, which may give the Red Wings a better idea of what they have in the well traveled goalie.
Trey Augustine
Saving the best for last, Augustine is a netminder the Red Wings are just about chomping at the bit to get inside the building. A homegrown product, Augustine is in his third season with the Michigan State Spartans and has looked like one of the best players at the NCAA level ever since he first arrived. Last year Augustine had a 2.08 GAA and .924 sv% in 30 regular season games. Though he and the Spartans fell short of winning the NCAA championship, Augustine came back for his junior season (somewhat to the Red Wings top brass’ displeasure) at Michigan State and seems determined to find a way to win it all this year. Through 9 games Augustine is 8-1-0 and has a 1.32 GAA and .948 sv% while allowing 2 or more goals in only 3 of those games. As of this writing, in his last 5 games he has surrendered 1 or fewer goals in each of his starts. Augustine may be a little undersized at just 6’0”, but he’s certainly having an outsized impact on ice and in the Red Wings planning office.
Quick Hits:
Another goalie to keep an eye on is Michal Pradel in the USHL. The Slovakian netminder is signed with the Tri-City Storm and has a better sv% than Guimond did at the same level. As previously mentioned, behind the AHL level the Red Wings are surprisingly thin when it comes to up and coming defenseman, with most of their draftees projecting more as third pairing defenseman, but Jack Phelan has been improving in his time at University of Minnesota.