The Detroit Red Wings claimed Jacob de la Rose off of waivers from the Montreal Canadians. The power forward will add depth to the struggling Wings.
Jacob de La Rose will add depth to the bottom six forwards for the Detroit Red Wings. He has yet to play in a game this season. A couple of weeks ago he had a heart issue with the Montreal Canadians but later was medically cleared to play, although the Habs didn’t use his services yet this season.
This is a low-risk move on the part of the Wings. de La Rose is only owed $900,000 dollars this season. Detroit will likely try him out as their 14th forward over the next week mixing in him on the fourth line.
The 23-year-old is a type of swing forward who can play either wing or center if needed. He won’t wow you with his statistics or scoring ability, but he adds to the already strength of the Detroit Red Wings. A bottom 6 forward. Doesn’t it seem like the Wings already have too many of these type of players?
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Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Luke Glendening, Christoffer Ehn, Martin Frk, must we go on? We can even mention Frans Nielsen and Tyler Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi in his defense if off to a terrific start but he is better suited as a third line winger. This move could mean one of two things. The Detroit Red Wings are considering sending Christoffer Ehn to Grand Rapids, or worse yet Michael Rasmussen back to junior.
The Wings have to decide if they want to keep Ras up or send him back to junior over the next 3 or 4 games. If Ras plays ten games in Detroit, he will burn the first year of his entry-level contract. It is basically a 10-day loan with zero risk to see if a junior player can stick or needs more polishing. It is a ten game free try-out.
If the Wings have decided internally that Ras is going back to junior after being scratched in Montreal the waiver pick up is just essentially a roster spot. The Detroit Red Wings may decide to keep 14 forwards up, but that may not be wise with how injured and old the defense core is.
Jacob de La Rose has played 119 NHL games over parts of four seasons. He has 8 goals and 11 assists to total 19 career points. He’s averaged nearly 12:30 TOI in his young career and has accumulated 51 penalty minutes.
The Detroit Red Wings may also choose to try and sneak him through waivers and down to Grand Rapids at some point this season. Again, it is a low risk, limited reward claim but with Evgeny Svechnikov sidelined for the season he merely just fills a roster spot. Hey, it is a small win for us Wings’ fans. Ken Holland claimed a 23-year-old rather than someone who is 35 or older.