We have hit the 9-game mark for the decision on if Michael Rasmussen will stay in the NHL and burn a year of his entry-level deal or go back to the juniors for another year. With the entire team struggling this year, including Rasmussen, I have three main reasons why I feel like the Red Wings need to send Rasmussen back to the WHL instead of hanging on to him this year.

1. The extra year on the contract

This is an obvious one. Rasmussen is still only 19, so having three years of him with another year of development under his belt could be for the best. Obviously, I want to see the kids as much as everyone else this year, but we got a sample of Rasmussen, and I feel like another year in the WHL could only help him develop as an all around player rather than a net-front, goal-scorer (which we haven’t even seen yet this year).

2. This team is, well, awful

I get there is no better way to grow for a young player than gaining NHL experience, but this team is just so bad. Like I said, I obviously want to see the kids up this year, but why waste a year of Rasmussen for this brand of hockey? Let other kids get experience and develop more, that way in 2, 3, 4 years, whenever they are ready to be competitive again, more players have that experience. I truthfully feel Blashill will keep burying Ras in the lineup anyways, so what’s the point of having him averaging 12 mins TOI to play for a terrible team and burn a year on his deal?

3. He doesn’t look ready

I know 9-games is such a small sample, but has anyone seen Rasmussen look like he’s NHL ready? He has just 1 assist in the 9-games and just seems like he’s out of place and getting pushed around too. I’m not sure playing him, especially with the lack of talent on this team, is a good idea for his development and could do more harm than good. I truthfully think another 30-goal season with Tri-City certainly could only help him moving forward compared to struggling in the NHL.

This is a tough topic to discuss right now for the Wings, especially with not much else going on this year. JJ touched on it a couple of weeks ago as well, and now with Svechnikov out for the year too, the Red Wings may be more inclined to keep Rasmussen around. However, I think the smart move here is to send him back for the WHL one more year, and let him start fresh next year (with Zadina too) when the team hopefully looks better than this.

Where do you put Michael Rasmussen the rest of the year if you were in charge of the Red Wings?