Taro Hirose Signing Has Been a Solid Addition For the Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings recently signed Taro Hirose to an entry-level contract, and since then he has already had an immediate impact on the lineup. Since joining the Red Wings, Hirose has flourished, and the Red Wings can only hope this continues.

Since last week when Taro Hirose signed his deal with the Detroit Red Wings, he has been able to show what he’s got in four games. Hirose who left the Michigan State Spartans after his junior year has joined the Red Wings in hopes to help a team that is hopefully heading towards the end of a rebuild.

Hirose has seen the ice in four NHL games for the Red Wings so far since signing. In each of these four contests, Hirose has tallied an assist for the Red Wings totaling four points. Looking into the statistics is not the most telling thing because, yeah, assists are great, but with only four games under his belt it could just be some luck. It really does not seem that way for Hirose, he has appeared to be playing very calmly and with good poise for a rookie coming off an NCAA season.

Hockey is a sport that every level of the game gets a little more competitive and jumping from NCAA to the NHL is no cakewalk, so to see this guy adjusting to the top-caliber of play can only mean good things. Hirose is a playmaking forward that sees the ice very well and can find the open lane or open man, skating well, and making good passes. At the NHL level, with the small sample size we have, Hirose has shown sparks of this success he showed at the NCAA level.

The twenty-two-year-old is a Hobey Baker Award Finalist who had a fantastic year with the Spartans. I recently covered both Hirose and Kuffner’s signing, so there is some more background information in this article.

The bottom line is, Hirose had an incredible season with the Michigan State Spartans, and the Red Wings are hoping that his talent will transfer into the NHL. Based on how he is playing, Hirose is showing calm and collected poise while handling the puck, staying in control of the play even though most of the college signees tend to have some trouble transferring their talent over.

Do not mistake the claim that other signees cannot transfer talent from the NCAA to NHL level; most players do have some struggles, those who do not tend to turn out to be the star players. So when thinking about Hirose, the hope needs to be that he continues to play at this caliber where he is providing scoring opportunities and remaining calm when under pressure from defenders.

Hirose provides the Detroit Red Wings with some more to look forward too as we approach the end of a year where we are fighting for the lottery spot for Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko who have been the concern of teams like the Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings, and Red Wings.