Nill talks about Wings’ prospects
John McGourty, an NHL.com staff writer, has a nice article about the Detroit Red Wings’ prospects including thoughts from Assistant GM Jim Nill about Igor Grigorenko, Jan Mursak, Cory Emmerton, Justin Abdelkader, Jakub Kindl, Kyle Quincey, and Jimmy Howard.
Nill’s thoughts on Grigorenko, who signed a one year contract with the Wings this summer:
The Red Wings are thinking that Grigorenko, 24, is as good now as he will ever be and they want to try to reunite him with Datsyuk.
“Igor is coming over in August,” Nill said. “We wanted him to attend our prospects’ camp this month, but he had visa trouble. He’s in training with Ufa. He’s got a one-year, two-way contract, NHL and AHL, but if he’s not on our roster by November, he can go back to Russia. It’s a two-month trial, in effect.
“Igor was a top player, MVP of the World Juniors, but he had an accident the next year and had a rod placed in his femur. Then, he nearly died from a blood clot. It affected his skating. I saw him play about a year ago and his skating is back to 90 percent of what it was. His head and hands have come all the way back, so if the pace of the NHL is no big deal, he’ll be on our team this fall. The pace will be the issue.
“He’ll have a big adjustment anyway with the language and living issues,” Nill continued. “It’s all in how he adapts. We think he’ll be a really good second-line guy that might suit Datsyuk. He has the potential to be a star, but it’s one day at a time to start. For instance, if we want him to go to the minors to catch up with the speed, how does he accept that? It won’t do him any good to struggle up here and not play much. A lot of Europeans don’t respect the AHL, but four weeks in the minors might be the best way to get up to NHL speed.”
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