Ansar Khan on Twitter has the scoop:
Just heard the Wings will recall Joakim Andersson (6-2, 206) from Grand Rapids.NHL debut tonight. He has 17 points (8 G, 9 A) in 29 games.
Andersson is a big body who didn’t quite impress during training camp, but will be needed for a low-minute fourth-line role which will give him somewhere in the neighborhood of eight minutes at the big boy level to show he can fit into the system.
When Stripe did the November Griffins report, his blurb about Andersson at the time was “Offense starting to pick up for two-way center.” as he had been playing on a line with Tomas Tatar and Frankie Pare. Hockey’s Future’s profile on Andersson from September says this about his development and potential.
He has very good size and strength and leadership abilities, is aggressive and pretty physical, but could still play the body even more. His hockey sense is very good and playmaking ability above average. A good penalty killer…The knock on Andersson is his skating and mobility. Not the slowest of skaters by any means, but his acceleration could use some work.
Tonight’s a big opportunity for the kid. Hopefully he can work on playing his game and not stress too much about using what limited playing time he’ll get to “shine”. Detroit’s fourth line is designed for the role-players. If he can do that, his debut will be successful
