Top 20 Detroit Red Wings Prospects To Watch In 2019-20

Evgeny Svechnikov did not play in 2018-19 due to injury

Near the end of the Ken Holland experience, he selected Evgeny Svechnikov in the first round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft for the Detroit Red Wings. Svechnikov was a highly-touted forward, who’s brother was a former number two overall pick who was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Svechnikov has dealt with some injuries that have prevented him from developing as smoothly and quickly as he had hoped to do so. The last two years, in particular, have taken a toll on Svechnikov, keeping him out all of last year with an injury sustained in a Detroit Red Wings preseason game.

Svechnikov is left-handed shooting right-winger who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs in at 212-pounds for the Detroit Red Wings. Svechnikov is an offensive asset for the Red Wings future if he can remain healthy. Scouts constantly outlined that Svechnikov has “all the tools” to become a genuine threat at the next level. It has merely boiled down to injuries and the fact that he needs to finally “click” and get everything to come together.

Maintaining a bigger frame allows Svechnikov to use his strength as an advantage, bullying players on his way to the net. After watching some gameplay of Svechnikov’s days with the Cape Brenton Eagles of the QMJHL, it is easy to see his strength.

In the offensive zone, he will use his body to get to the net and get a good shot on goal. If the shot is not there, he often uses his abilities to drive the net to create an open man by sucking a defender away from “his guy” and then feeding the puck to the open player.

When it comes to production, injuries kept him out last season, but in the 2017-18 season, he appeared in fifty-seven games after another injury shortened his season. In the fifty-seven games with the AHL team, he scored seven goals and sixteen assists for twenty-three total points on the year. He even played in fourteen games at the NHL level managing to squeak out four points in the form of two goals and two assists for the Red Wings.

Early Expectation: Svehcnikov can be a high-impact scorer at the NHL level, which is very easy to see after watching gameplay. If he can manage to stay healthy, he could vault himself into a top-three forward, first-line type of player.

The most significant question mark will be his ability to remain healthy has his NHL career, hopefully, takes off. In terms of comparison, Svechnikov is similar to that of Anthony Mantha. Mantha spends a bit more time in front of the net, whereas Svechnikov tends to do damage from the outside, but can bully his way to the net like Mantha.