Detroit Red Wings: Michael Rasmussen needs to perform better in 2021-22

The Detroit Red Wings saw forward Michael Rasmussen perform pretty mediocre overall in 2020-21. He made some strides and was better, but he needs to be better in 2021-22 if he wants to emerge in a role that the Red Wings can really benefit from.

The Detroit Red Wings should be pushing Rasmussen to make these strides. He did improve in 2020-21, but there is more to be done for him. The offensive side of things on the scoresheet may not have clicked, but then again, this team does not score whatsoever.

Rasmussen is 22 years old and played all over in the 2020-21 season. He did not spend the whole season with the Red Wings, but he did for most of it. Before then, he was playing over in the ICEHL for the Graz99ers, where he was tearing it up.

For them, he played in 18 games where he scored five goals and had 11 assists for 16 total points. The young forward looked like he was getting a much-needed confidence boost. However, after his loan was up and he was recalled, the Red Wings saw him look better on the ice but not much better on the scoresheet.

Detroit Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen needs to be better in 2021-22 for the sake of his development.

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He has played in the NHL in each of the past two seasons, perhaps a little prematurely. He may not have been ready to make the jump for the Red Wings, but he has evolved on the fly and been pretty mediocre.

In 2019-20, before the season was cut short, Rasmussen logged 62 games played where he had eight goals and added 10 assists for 18 total points.

He followed that performance up in 2020-21, which a 40-game season; granted, COVID-19 put a wrench into that, so do not discount his games played differential.

Given that the Red Wings only played a 56-game season, Rasmussen was in the lineup for most of them.

He would go on to score just three goals and add only nine assists for 12 total points. While the production on the scoresheet did not get much better, he was able to show some positives.

With Rasmussen showing glimpses of the player, the Red Wings are hoping for. He’s shown he can be a good net-front player or a guy who can be an asset in the offensive zone. As has been mentioned, he was mediocre in 2020-21 and can be better.

The hope should be for Rasmussen to do better under a full season in 2021-22. It seems like he can do it since he has shown signs of it, but only time will tell in 2021-22.