The Detroit Red Wings Stock Exchange, Week Two

After a great start, the Detroit Red Wings have cooled off a bit, now holding a 4-4-2 record – let’s assess a few player performances in that stretch by revisiting the “stock exchange”.

Here’s a quick explanation if you didn’t catch last week’s introduction to the Red Wings stock market:

We’ll treat player performances as the primary indicator of “stock value” – if a player has a strong week, his price is high; if he has a rough one, his stock is lower. “Buying” stock in a player indicates trust in their ability to either keep their good performance going, or improve, while “selling” means the opposite.

Buy

Joe Veleno

After a short stint in Grand Rapids, Veleno is finally back on Detroit’s main roster. He impressed in his 2021-22 season debut against the Maple Leafs, where he notched a goal and an assist. He was much quieter in his second game against Montreal, but to be fair, the entire Red Wings offense went silent.

After a fantastic offseason, a good start in Grand Rapids and a few great NHL games under his belt, Veleno will almost certainly become a regular on the main roster by the end of the year. In fact, it could be very soon. Get your Veleno stock while he’s still not an NHL regular, because prices could skyrocket very soon.

Moritz Seider

I can’t believe I’m recommending buying high again, but Seider just keeps getting better. He was named NHL rookie of the month for October after leading the team in assists and finishing the month in second place in rookie scoring (right behind Lucas Raymond). I don’t want to get too ahead of myself here, but Seider might not just nab a good chunk of Calder votes, he might earn a few Norris votes, too.

He’s calm, effective defensively, efficient offensively and already leads the power play unit. It is getting pretty hard to temper expectations for the burgeoning defender. Buy up all the stock you can in Seider before award season rolls around.

Alex Nedeljkovic

Besides a rough go in Montreal a few weeks ago (the Canadiens routed the Red Wings 6-1), Nedeljkovic has been lights-out in the crease. Even as the Wings have cooled off and fallen back to .500 (4-4-2 as of Nov. 3) with three straight losses, Neddy holds a save percentage of .911.

Buy stock in the goalie while he still holds just one win under his belt  – if he keeps playing at this level, the wins are going to start coming.

Hold

Michael Rasmussen

In Tuesday night’s matchup against the Montreal Canadiens, Rasmussen was given the tall task of filling in for Dylan Larkin as the top-line center. It didn’t go great. His offensive woes and tendency to lose board battles was glaringly obvious in such a prominent role.

But defensively, Rasmussen was excellent, staying glued to opposing defenders and making life difficult for the Canadiens in the Red Wings zone.

If your expectation is for Rasmussen to eventually ascend to the top-six and contribute offensively, sell all your stock now. It’s not going to happen. Nate said it best in his film focus on Rasmussen’s performance against the Canadiens: 

Last night’s sample size reveals Rasmussen to be a very responsible, competent defensive forward who is still figuring it out on the opponent’s side of the ice.

As the top center Tuesday night, Rasmussen’s greatest strengths and flaws were revealed. He’s an excellent defender that can certainly carve out a role for himself among the bottom-six in Detroit, but he just doesn’t have the raw skill for a top-six role. When he’s back centering the third or fourth lines in the coming weeks, I expect Rasmussen to look significantly more comfortable and make small improvements in that position. Don’t throw out Rasmussen just yet.

Sell

Troy Stecher

Unfortunately, my recommendation to sell your Stecher stock doesn’t really have much to do with how he’s played so far this year. The problem is, he isn’t getting a chance to play. Kinda tough to raise your stock when you only play in 50 percent of the team’s games. Also, statistically, he hasn’t had a great start. Through five games, he holds a corsi-for percentage of 38.1 (-7.1 relative) – generating offense has been a tough ask thus far. His WAR (wins above replacement) is at .3 (expected WAR is -.1). There is plenty of time for Stecher to turn things around – five games is a miniscule sample size in the grand scheme of things. However, with poor stats and not too much playing time, Stecher’s stock is trending downwards.