Due to the lingering injury afflicting depth forward Tyler Motte, the Detroit Red Wings were positioned to recall a forward ahead of today’s contest against the Philadelphia Flyers. Although it’s unconfirmed if he’ll play tonight, the Red Wings announced they’ve recalled forward Elmer Söderblom from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Söderblom won’t be on many top prospect boards, but he’s certainly popular in many circles. At 6’8″, he’s a towering forward who would immediately tie Tyler Myers, Adam Klapka, and Louis Crevier as the second-tallest players in an NHL game this season.
He’s a solid skater, especially for his size, but it hasn’t translated into much point production in AHL Grand Rapids. After scoring 21 goals and 33 points in 51 games for the SHL’s Frölunda HC in the 2021-22 season the Red Wings may have thought they’d found a diamond in the rough in the sixth round of the 2019 NHL Draft.
Söderblom cracked Detroit’s roster of training camp ahead of the 2022-23 season scoring two goals through the first 13 games averaging 12:58 of ice time per game. After a month-long demotion to the AHL, Söderblom returned to the roster in mid-December and performed much better scoring three goals and six points in eight games.
The Göteborg, Sweden native has largely stagnated in his development since then, scoring 23 goals and 54 points in 119 games for the Griffins including five goals and 17 points in 38 games this year. Still, he’s only 23 years old meaning there’s still plenty of time for the Red Wings to help Söderblom some of his magic from his last season in the SHL.
He is finally using his huge size to be more physical. H will b a better addition to the bottom six because of his new found physicality and skill that he has honed over the years.
Hope he plays tonight. Detroit has a problem of calling up prospects and just putting them on the bench. Gotta get these guys in the first game possible to grow their confidence.
Hes in, on a line with Fisher and Raz centering. Looks like Veleno is out
At the time, with Sundquist and Rasmussen, they were dominating in forecheck, it was exciting to see the trio together.
Soderblom managed to play about 13 minutes and didn’t look too bad at all. Managing a game rating of zero. This is the experience these guys need. To adjust to and grow into NHL speed. Sitting on the bench, on the scratch list or on the bus between teams isn’t doing anyone any good.