Leino Introduction

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to be highlighting a few of the new additions and Grand Rapids call ups who will be playing a more prominent role for the Red Wings in 2009-2010, starting today with Finnish forward Ville Leino.

During the spring of 2008 the NHL was in a buzz about a late blooming free agent European forward named Fabian Brunnstrom, but while he was being courted by several teams including the Red Wings, a second late blooming forward was also negotiating for a spot in the NHL. Ville Leino was that guy, once Brunnstrom signed with the Dallas Stars the Wings stepped up the talks with Leino and two days later,   signed him to a 1-Year deal on May 10, 2008. Leino was excited when he signed with the Wings after an MVP season in the Finnish National League, where he finished 3^rd in the league in scoring with 28 goals and 77 points in 58 games. “I saw a team that was excellent,” said Leino. “And I really liked the organization, first-class, and (general manager) Ken Holland. You always have to weigh the good and the bad and there was obviously not as much opportunity to make this lineup, but it’s such a good organization. I like that they play a style that I’m used to, puck possession, they play a European type of game.”

After the somewhat unexpected signing of Marian Hossa during the same off season it suddenly became a lot more difficult for Leino to make the Wings out of training camp because their wasn’t enough roster spots to go around. At the beginning of the ’08 season the Wings had to send Leino to the AHL and it was clearly a tough decision especially since he lead the Wings in scoring during the pre-season with 8 goals and 11 points. “He’s an NHL player for sure,” Babcock said. “The puck follows him around like it does Pavel Datsyuk. He’s got great hands and hangs on to it real well. The pace of his game is not what it’s going to be here in two months, but it’s very good. This guy has a nose for the net, goes to the net, hangs on to the puck, dominant on the cycle, slippery, spins, hangs on to pucks, made great passes. He’s a Red Wing-type player. Leino, I think he’s going to be a scoring machine.” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland also had nothing but good things to say about Leino. “We like his hockey sense, his ability to protect the puck in the offensive zone,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “He’s got a scoring touch and he goes to the hard areas of the ice. He just needs to adjust to the pace of the game. His speed is average, but we can put Ville with different people. He can play on a skilled line or chip in offense on the third line.”

Leino had five goals, four assists and a plus-five rating in 13 games for Detroit during the regular season and no goals and two assists in seven playoff games. He spent most of the season in Grand Rapids (American Hockey League). He had 15 goals and 31 assists in 57 regular-season games and led the Griffins with 13 points, including three goals, in the playoffs. In regards to the upcoming ’09-’10 season Holland said Leino, 25, “has a chance to play on the second line and could help the second power-play unit.” “He’s got a really quick release, really good shot,” linemate Marian Hossa said. “He was a really good player in the Finnish League and he’s showing it. When he’s got the puck, you can tell he knows what to do with it. He’s not a huge guy, but he’s using his head and he’s always in the right spot.”

When the Wings lost Jiri Hudler, Marian Hossa, and Mikael Samuelsson it was even more important that they re-sign Leino. He did re-sign on July 6^th to a $1.6 Million over two years, this will give him an opportunity to earn a full time job on the Wings this year and hopefully he can prove that he belongs in the NHL and fills some of the void from the free agent exits.