Red Wings Prospect Roundup: Impressive World Junior Start for Detroit Picks

Things couldn’t have gone much better for Detroit Red Wings picks on the opening day of action at the IIHF World Junior Championship.

Center Nate Danielson (9th overall, 2023 NHL entry draft) was collecting a goal and an assist. He also was picking up Canadian player-of-the-game honors as Canada was whipping Finland 5-2.

A year ago, Trey Augustine (41st overall, 2023) became the first 17-year-old netminder to win four games for the USA at a world junior tourney. Tuesday, he was picking up where he left off. Blocking 20 of 21 shots, including 10 first-period saves, he led the Americans to a 4-1 verdict over Norway.

“Our goaltending was excellent,” USA coach David Carle said. “We have some things to work on, but it’s nice to get a win to start the tournament.”

Swedish Power Play Dominating

Meanwhile, host Sweden was serving notice that you take penalties against them at your peril. The Swedes went 3-for-5 with the man advantage in their 6-0 shutout of Latvia. And the man who is the QB of that power-play unit is Red Wings defensive prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka (17th overall, 2023).

“It paid off well (Tuesday),” Sandin Pellikka told Swedish website Aftonbladet.se. “We must continue like this.”

Anton Wahlberg makes the building erupt 🇸🇪📣 A powerplay goal for @trekronorse gets the game going! #WorldJuniors #SWELAT pic.twitter.com/69hb8q4zJE

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 26, 2023

Anton Wahlberg tipped in a Sandin Pellikka point shot to open the scoring while Sweden was enjoying the man advantage.

“Power play is a very important thing and when you get the chance you can push a puck there,” Sandin Pellikka said. “It is clearly important that we are efficient there and we must continue with that.”

Germany’s Kevin Bicker (147th overall, 2023) gets his tournament underway today against Finland.

Red Wings Pick Tyutyayev Heading Home

The Kirill Tyutyayev experiment has officially come to an end. He’s heading home.

The dinimutive Russian forward was a curiosity when the Red Wings made him the final selection, 190th overall, of the 2019 NHL entry draft. During the 2017-18 season, Tyutyayav scored 47 goals and 114 points in 31 games for Spartakovets Yekaterinburg of the Russian U18 league in 2017-18.

F Kirill Tyutyayev, the 23-year-old forward from Russia, is leaving the @ToledoWalleye. He has signed to play back home for a team in the VHL (Gornyak-UGMK). “Toots” had 13 points with one goal and 12 assists in 24 games for the Walleye this season. pic.twitter.com/sk5KY7PSkM

— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) December 26, 2023

He was never able to put up anything near that level of output in North America. Tyutyayev accounted for two goals and six assists in 39 AHL games for the Grand Rapids Griffins. There was cause for optimism when he put up 47 points in 39 ECHL games with the Toledo Walleye last season. However, Tyutyayev was good for just 1-12-13 numbers over 24 games with Toledo this season.

He’s signing with Avtomobilist Yekaterinberg in his hometown, but joining Gornyak UMMC of the VHL, their farm club in Russia’s second division.

Buchelnikov Gains Recognition In Russia

Red Wings draft Dmitri Buchelnikov (52nd overall, 2022) is finding his footing with Admiral of the KHL and it’s beginning to show up on the stats sheet. The 20-year-old left-winger has scored in two of the last three games. In fact, with 4-9-13 totals through 24 games, Buchelnikov has collected all four of his goals over Admiral’s seven games so far this month.

Earlier in December, Buchelnikov was given recognition as the KHL Newcomer of the Week. It’s the second time he’s won the award.