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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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    Detroit Red Wings

    jedi17
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    • Post n°1

    Detroit Red Wings Empty Detroit Red Wings

    Post by jedi17 Mon 06 Mar 2017, 6:32 pm

    Riding the rapids with young defenders
    March 5, 2017, 11:18 PM ET [3 Comments]
    Bob Duff
    Detroit Red Wings Det Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
    Youth will be served, so the age-old saying goes.

    That hasn’t always been the case with the Detroit Red Wings but this season has been an aberration in terms of business as usual where the Red Wings are concerned.

    With Jonathan Ericsson (broken wrist) done for the year and Brendan Smith dealt to the New York Rangers, opportunity is knocking for Detroit’s young corps of defensive hopefuls.

    “(Nick) Jensen, (Xavier) Ouellet, (Ryan) Sproul, all of them are going to play big minutes as they go through a learning process and hopefully be a better player in the end,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said earlier last week.

    Sproul’s chances were put on the shelf when he suffered a knee injury in Saturday’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers. He’ll undergo an MRI Tuesday but there’s fear that he may have seriously injured his ACL.

    That opened the door to another young defender, though, when Robbie Russo was recalled from AHL Grand Rapids. Russo led all Grand Rapids defensemen with 39 points as a rookie in 2015-16 and has 31 points in 56 games this season. On a Detroit defense that isn’t particularly offensively skilled, that could be the key to keeping him with the Wings.

    “I think ultimately he’ll need to be a real good puck-mover, a guy who gets the puck out of your end,” Blashill said. “He’s a real good defender because of how smart he is, and I think it would help him lots if he could be real good on the power play.”

    Russo concurs with that assessment of what would be the required elements for his game.

    “For sure, those are my strengths,” Russo said. “I’m going to try to use them and that’s what I’m going to try to do to get here.”

    Russo, Ouellet and Sproul are all 23 while Jensen is 25.

    Both Jensen and Ouellet have endured their times in purgatory en route to regular status as NHL defenders. Jensen waited until his fourth pro season to finally make his NHL debut but has scored three goals in his last 14 games and was recently inked to a two-year contract by the Wings.

    “It’s been quite an adventure this year obviously,” Jensen said. “I started off the year going through waivers, getting sent down to Grand Rapids, just part of being a professional hockey player. But I just stuck to it down there, did what I had to do, just kept playing like I wanted to play in the NHL. I eventually got the opportunity and I took advantage of it, I feel.”

    Looking back, he can see the benefits his game gained from that long tenure in the minors. 

    “Absolutely, I think the time I spent in Grand Rapids was immense in my development,” Jensen said. “It can be frustrating at times being down there for four years and seeing some guys called up over you but that’s part of the development they wanted, mentally tough people. 

    “If you’re just going to give up and quit because one bad thing happened to you, you don’t want a player like that, really. I think the mental part of it is a big part of it, too, and that’s what I went through in Grand Rapids and I think it helped out a lot when I got up here.”

    Ouellet has stayed in the Detroit the entire season, a first for him but it hasn’t been a campaign without pitfalls. He was a healthy scratch for 15 of 17 games during a stretch in October and November but has played all but one game since Nov. 26.

    “You’ve got to be consistent,” Ouellet said. “I think the big thing in my game, I was scratched for a little bit and it was kind of hard. I worked really hard when I had a chance to come back, I just didn’t want to get out of the lineup. 

    “I prepared every game, and still do prepare every game, like it’s my last one and I want to help the team win and I think that’s what’s allowed me to play every night.”

    Ouellet’s ticket to regular duty is the opposite of what the team will seek from Russo.

    “Yeah, I’ve got to play simple, I’ve got to play hard and simple,” Ouellet said. “That’s what makes me the most successful, is when I stay really simple and smart, so that’s what I try to do.”
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