Potential 30 Goal achievers for the Detroit Red Wings

Evgeny Svechnikov

The young Russian forward Svechnikov has yet to show he will remain an NHL regular. Svechnikov was recalled by the Wings last season to compete in 14 contests he scored two goals and added two assists for a measly 4 points.

Svechnikov often found himself playing around 8 minutes of hockey a night. That again is the “Blashill” treatment of young players. How can a goal scorer get into a groove playing so few minutes?

Svechnikov would have been better suited playing 20 minutes a night in Grand Rapids working on the areas of his game that needs improvement. If you are going to call these kids up you, need to PLAY them.

Evgeny will turn 22 years old this October and is expected to compete for one of the last available roster spots. Evgeny is the older brother of this year’s 2nd overall draft selection, Andrei. Some people suggest Carolina may be interested in pairing Evgeny up with Andrei if Detroit decided to listen to trade offers on Evgeny.

Evgeny played his junior hockey in the QMJHL for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. In his two seasons, he recorded 32 goals each year. Svechnikov ended with 78 points and 79 points respectively. Detroit drafted Svechnikov 19th overall in 2015 expecting a scoring threat eventually at the NHL level.

Two seasons ago, in his first full professional season, Svechnikov for Grand Rapids recorded 51 points in 74 games. Scoring 20 goals for the Griffins was a real positive for the franchise. Last season things went much differently. Svechnikov often found struggling, he was slumping and suddenly couldn’t produce at the level he once had shown.

Last season for the Griffins Svechnikov played 57 games and was only able to score seven times. Svechnikov is about as dark as you can be for a dark horse but has a scorer shot. He’s shown in the past his ability to score, and it has yet to translate to the NHL level.