Some interesting news out of Twitter today, as the Red Wings have already started their summer of being more aggressive with trades:
UPDATE: The #RedWings have acquired prospect Dylan Sadowy from San Jose for a third-round draft pick in 2017. pic.twitter.com/kAyys8W2aQ
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) May 26, 2016
Sadowy was a Sharks’ draft pick in 2014, going in the third round at #81 overall. It’s not immediately clear whether the third round pick that goes to San Jose next year will be the Red Wings’ own or the one that the Toronto Maple Leafs still owe them from when they signed Mike Babcock, but that extra pick is a good reason why Detroit was able to make this move.
The 6’1″ 195-pound left-shooting 20-year old winger had not yet been inked to his entry level contract, but as ESPN’s Corey Pronman points out, that’s likely to happen soon:
Sadowy days away from re-entering draft. Imagine he’ll be inked shortly. https://t.co/qY6cjrV6Z3
— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) May 26, 2016
Pronman also had this to say about Sadowy as a prospect in August 2015:
Dylan Sadowy trended up in a big way this season, notching 42 goals in his 18-year-old OHL season. He’s a sturdy forward with good two-way awareness. His hands aren’t elite, but his skill is a tick above average, to combine with a quality wrist shot and a fantastic work ethic. His skating is the major flaw in his tool kit right now.
Sadowy split time between Saginaw and Barrie in the OHL this season, putting up 70 points in 64 games. Fear the Fin had some great information on him put up in March:
He is a gritty, agitating, goal-scoring winger. Dylan played on the top unit in all situations for the Saginaw Spirit but has been used as a secondary option on even strength, the penalty kill, and on the power play for the Barrie Colts. Sadowy has improved a lot as a skater since the draft. His edgework is decent, his motor never stops, and he never gives up.
His bread and butter is using his power and strength to drive to the net as well as to get into the corners and below the net to win board battles. However, his top speed isn’t great, and his acceleration is rather poor.
So there’s more than one person talking about how Sadowy would need to improve his skating to get to the NHL level. There is something quite interesting which the Wings seem to have been lacking lately tucked in there though:
Sadowy dominates as a goal scorer near the crease. While most of his goals aren’t pretty, Dylan Sadowy knows how to put the puck in the net. Dylan is incredibly effective at cleaning up the rebounds and passes across the crease. Add in his excellent screen positioning and lethal deflection ability, and you have a very dangerous scorer.
Frankly, the Wings have seen a severe drop-off in the ability of net-front players to screen and deflect pucks since Tomas Holmstrom’s retirement and outside of Tyler Bertuzzi, it’s not clear they have that part of the game well-stocked.
I’d recommend reading the entire FTF post for more information, but it’s clear that the kid playing in Saginaw for most of the last four years caught somebody’s eye in the Detroit organization.
UPDATE:
The worry about having to ink him before the draft seems abated.
Sadowy has agreed to terms on his entry-level contract with DET: https://t.co/UyKGLezI8a
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) May 26, 2016
There’s also a good piece from Stephen Burtch on Sportsnet from May 10th calling Sadowy a potential first-round pick if he happens to re-enter the draft (which he won’t now).
If we think in terms of draft pick valuation and the expected value for forwards picked in various draft slots, comparable players to Sadowy would have an expected production rate of 0.36 points per game. That’s the expected value range of a top-10 pick in any given NHL draft year.
