Red Wings excited to see impact a healthy Michael Rasmussen can have
DETROIT – Michael Rasmussen’s season-ending knee injury on Feb. 25 was a significant loss for the Detroit Red Wings.
As coach Derek Lalonde said following the first day of training camp, “Before that injury, he was one of our top players.”
After some high-intensity camp scrimmages, Rasmussen played his first game in seven months Tuesday and snapped a tie in the third period, lifting the Red Wings past the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in their preseason opener at Little Caesars Arena.
More importantly, he said his knee feels great following surgery. He appears ready to pick up where he left off last season.
“I’ve been bumping for a while,” Rasmussen said. “It’s nice to kind of be able to let loose in that way and not be too scared to hit your teammates or all that in camp. Nice to get some bumps, nice to be bumped.”
The 6-6 forward quickly re-established the chemistry he had with linemates Andrew Copp and David Perron.
“It’s pretty easy with two guys like that, two good players and easy players to play with,” Rasmussen said.
“Just their hockey minds. They know the game really well and know the spots to be in. They know our systems really well, so it’s easy for me to kind of know where they’re going to be, whether it’s in coverage or offensive zone stuff. Good puck-movers and they have good wall play.”
The Red Wings drafted Rasmussen ninth overall in 2017 envisioning him as a future second- or third-line center. He has frequently switched between center and wing the past couple of seasons, but Lalonde said Rasmussen was a “completely different player on the wing” last year.
“In the underlying numbers, he drove some offense,” Lalonde said. “When he’s on the wing, he seems a lot more productive and can drive some lines a little bit. We would trust him at center. I think being on the wing frees him up a little more to maybe establish a forecheck, to play a little more north-south game, which I thought suited him.”
Rasmussen tallied a career-high 29 points (including 10 goals) in 56 games last season and improved from a minus-25 to a plus-2.
“The biggest thing for me is trying to work on my speed and quickness, being powerful and being able to accelerate and win races, get to loose pucks,” Rasmussen said. “Working on my lower-body strength, working on trying to get stronger on the puck. It’s a lot of stuff that kind of goes into it in the gym. It’s always try to get as fast as you can, as quick as you can. Add some of that lower-body strength to be even stronger on the puck, be able to protect it and not get knocked off it.”