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Red Wings Top 25 Under 25: Dylan Sadowy

As we near the conclusion of WIIM’s “Top 25 Under 25” series profiles, we look at winger Dylan Sadowy, who was brought into the organization via an offseason trade with San Jose that sent a third round pick out west. Where does he stack up in an organization already stacked with talented wingers? Let’s try to figure it out.

Vitals

Position: LW

Shoots: Left

Born: April 2, 1996

Birthplace: Woodbridge, Ontario

Height/Weight: 6’1”/ 181 lbs.

Stats

What you can gather from the stats is that Sadowy can score. And though I haven’t been able to see too much of the 21-year old winger, highlights I saw from Barrie and Red Wings prospect camp seem to confirm what the stats show.

The reason is that the kid knows how to put himself in good scoring situations. Per  some fantastic analysis by Sportsnet’s Stephen Burtch, Sadowy led the OHL in high danger scoring opportunities, racking up 61 chances in the low slot. In another piece by Burtch, Sadowy ranked third of all OHL players in terms of how well his scoring would translate to the NHL.

For a little more on his scoring, here’s our own Teacakeordeath from when the Red Wings first acquired Sadowy:

Make no mistake – even though Sadowy isn’t the next Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews, he’s still someone who knows how to score goals.  At work in Holmstrom’s Office, Sadowy is skilled at elevating the puck close-in on the crease and opposing goalies when needed.  That said, roofing it isn’t what he’ll do every time – his big skill seems to be knowing where goalies are going to leave openings, and putting the puck there as opposed to shooting for an open area of the net that an opposing net-minder is about to have covered.  When he scores, it’s not like he’s just inching out the opposition and sneaking it between pads and posts.  He’s going 5-hole while a goalie reaches back to cover the open top-corner.  He’s busting a water bottle while the goalie is diving down to pounce on the puck, or jabbing a puck under a goalie’s knee while everyone else is winding up to dig it out.  Sadowy should be considered a rebound nightmare.

OHL

After a relatively slow start in his first two seasons in the OHL, Sadowy exploded for 40-plus goals in each of the past two seasons. What made it more impressive is that 20 of his goals in the 2015-16 campaign came on a terrible Saginaw team.

He served as an alternate captain for a year and a half until a midseason to Barrie. His strong play carried over, where he was a fixture on the second line and scored 36 points in 28 games.

NHL Future

Not gonna lie, the more I look into Sadowy’s game, the more excited I am that’s he’s a part of the organization. He has a knack for putting the puck in the net and plays with a bit of an edge as evidenced by most of his highlight videos being comprised of fights. Plus, he’s got a great beard. Maybe not Zetterberg-level good, but still pretty great.

With the current glut of forwards, I don’t see a big chance of him making the jump to the league this season. But if he can continue to put the puck in the net at the rate he did at the OHL, who knows?

Ken Holland had a pretty bad offseason, but this was a sneaky good move. If Burtch’s predictors are correct and Sadowy can carry over the scoring as he moves up the ranks, Kenny may have added first-round scoring talent with a third-round pick. That’s not too bad.

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