On Michael Rasmussen's reliability, journey to an extension, and long-term value in Detroit
On Michael Rasmussen's reliability, journey to an extension, and long-term value in Detroit
On Tuesday morning, a scheduled day off, the Red Wings announced a four-year extension for Michael Rasmussen, the team's towering jack-of-all-trades forward. There was no ambivalence in coach Derek Lalonde's reaction to the news.
He told the press after today's practice that he was "ecstatic" that the two parties had reached an agreement, before continuing, "obviously you guys cover us, you see the way I use him. The staff...knows he's a very valuable player. Last month alone, he's centered a really quality fourth line, he's been on a checking line, we put him on our top line to give us a spark. Obviously, he kills for us. Good pro, good human, good individual, really happy for him...When it feels earned and when it feels like there's a little team success with it—we've improved as a group over the last couple years and he's been a big part of it."
Detroit drafted Rasmussen—then a prolific scorer for the WHL's Tri-City Americans—ninth overall at the 2017 Draft in Chicago, the penultimate draft of Ken Holland's tenure running the Red Wings. Perhaps because of the sour taste left by the latter stage's of Holland's reign, Rasmussen was perceived in some circles as a bust because of his modest point production as his professional career began. It wasn't until the 2021-22 season that he cracked 20 points in a season.
However, his extension (and Lalonde's reaction to that extension) tell a much different story about Rasmussen's career. Now in his fifth NHL season and on pace to smash his career high in points, Rasmussen's new deal reflects both the importance of the internal development of quality, cost-controlled depth as well as the reality that identifying talent in the draft is much easier than molding that talent into a functional role on a winning team.
This morning, Lalonde—who was an assistant during the Lightning's run of two Stanley Cups and three straight trips to the Final—fielded a question about how Rasmussen compares to the depth players like Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow who helped power that run of success.
"We had the luxury in Tampa of having three or four of the best players in the world—[Andrei Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point], but we never got over the hump until those secondary type players [arrived]," Lalonde said.
Coleman and Goodrow embody the importance of quality, low cost depth to a Cup contender. It is impossible to compete seriously for the Stanley Cup without running close to the salary cap, and while a good general manager ought to be able to unearth quality short-term help with depth, it's hard to overstate the value of locking in quality, functional role players to bolster a team's core.
Tampa Bay acquired both players in the run up to the 2020 trade deadline. Coleman arrived from New Jersey for Nolan Foote and a conditional first round pick (which the Lightning had acquired from Vancouver). He made $1.8 million against the cap. Goodrow came from San Jose (along with a third rounder) for Anthony Creco and Tampa's 2020 first. He counted just $925K against the cap. The acquisition cost for both players was not exactly modest, but for the cap-strapped Lightning their low cap numbers were invaluable.
To Lalonde's point, both players proved essential to the checking line that made Tampa such a formidable match-up for any postseason foe. By the time the contracts they arrived on expired, they could both command massive raises. Coleman signed for $4.9 million-per-year over five seasons, while Goodrow signed a six-year deal worth $3.642 million a season.
When you compare the current Lightning (fighting for a playoff spot just like the Red Wings in a crowded Atlantic division) to those Lightning (the NHL's gold standard, rulers of the Eastern Conference), the difference is not at the top of the lineup; it's at the bottom. Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, and Hedman have stuck around, while Goodrow and Coleman priced themselves out of Tampa's budget.
By developing Rasmussen internally, the Red Wings could skip past the acquisition cost of acquiring a quality depth piece and instead go straight into keeping him around.
There is an inherent risk in signing a depth player to any sort of long term, and while his $3.2 million AAV isn't quite as slight as Goodrow's or Coleman's when Tampa brought them in, it is nonetheless a modest number, which will only grow more affordable if and when the salary cap finally breaks free of its COVID-induced stasis (which is at last supposed to happen this summer). It pales in comparison to the premium a team must pay on July 1st for a player like Goodrow or Coleman can command as an unrestricted free agent fresh off a Cup run.
Meanwhile, Detroit has the added benefit of not having to project how Rasmussen might fit into its lineup. As Lalonde pointed out, the Red Wings' staff has seen first hand the way that Rasmussen can be added anywhere and improve whatever line he's been cast into.
Joe Veleno met Rasmussen for the first time at a U-17 tournament, where they played on a line together for Team Canada. From the moment, he encountered Rasmussen, he found him to be "very focused" and "very motivated." Rasmussen was the sort of player who just made life easier for his teammates.
As Veleno explains it, Rasmussen "plays a very simple game, a very north game. He's very predictable with his style of play. He plays hard. He's got some pace to his game. He works hard. He's got a lot of urgency when he plays, hunting pucks down, getting to the dirty areas, getting to the front of the net."
And this is where the importance of turning clear talent into a functional role comes in. Rasmussen's physical gifts are obvious—he's six-foot-six, an excellent skater, and a natural forechecker and battle-winner. But every team around the league has highly drafted prospects dripping with tools and skill that can't seem to secure a clear role in an NHL lineup. The idea that a player is young and fast and skilled is worthless if those skills don't fit into some larger schema of team success.
Rasmussen turned himself into a full-time NHL player (and multi-millionaire) by making certain that he could deploy his physical gifts in service of winning hockey—as a center or on the wing, on the penalty, in a depth role or alongside top talent. "When you're playing with skilled players, you need that guy that's gonna go into those hard areas and get to the front of the net and retrieve pucks from the corner, win some battles and forecheck. He plays that complete game," Veleno points out.
During the Red Wings' recent trip out west, Derek Lalonde told the press that "People just look at depth as four lines that can score. I look at it as four lines you can trust." He may as well be talking about Rasmussen—a player who can be cast into almost literally any role in the lineup and improve whatever surrounds him once he's there.
So whatever risk there may be in locking in a depth player to a multi-year deal, Rasmussen nullifies it with his reliability and versatility. As Detroit looks to replicate the success Lalonde (and Steve Yzerman) enjoyed in Tampa, Rasmussen's part to play is clear, and now it's assured.
And that wasn't always the case. He's endured some of the most difficult seasons in franchise history and responded to those circumstances by working tirelessly to prove. himself essential to the winning the Red Wings hope will soon come out of years of losing.
That Rasmussen has now secured his future in Detroit is a moment of triumph. As J.T. Compher pointed out today, "You always like to see guys get another day in this league. It's hard to do—to get a four-year contract like that, it's awesome." And perhaps that's the most poignant analysis of all—Rasmussen has proved his worth and secured a long-term deal reflecting that value. To make it all the sweeter, his coaches and teammates couldn't be happier with that news.
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