Defensive Prospect: Almost There

There’s no denying that the Detroit Red Wings could use a little help on defense. Their forward lines are more than clogged, where impressive performances by players such as Anthony Mantha and Martin Frk along with AHLer and fan favorite Mitch Callahan during the preseason could prove to be welcomed additions to the Red Wings roster when the puck drops on the regular season.

 

Enter Alexey Marchenko, who represented Team Russia at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto before bowing out to Team Canada in the semifinals. The 24-year-old is certainly headed in the right direction, as his steadiness on the back end (without needing to be flashy) has garnered attention from head coach Jeff Blashill.

 

Said Blashill (regarding his World Cup performances): “I thought it was a great evaluation for us to see him against some of the best players in the world. Certainly, when they played Canada every line was a top line in the NHL, so I thought it was a good evaluation for us to see if his skill-set can match up against those guys' skill-sets.”

But that doesn’t mean that Marchenko is out of the woods yet.

The coach continued: “We saw some things we want him to continue to work on and we made some clips out of those games that (assistant coach) Doug Houda will go over with him.”

 

Marchenko will make his preseason debut tomorrow night when the Red Wings take on the Chicago Blackhawks once again.

 

 

 

Hear what Blashill had to say about the Russian defenseman below: