Wings make major cuts

Compared to the other Midwest-based teams, the Detroit Red Wings left a large number of players in camp for longer, but on Sunday (Oct. 4) the long awaited deep cuts came getting the team close to a final roster.

The Wings forwards: Andreas Athanasiou;  Louis-Marc Aubry; Tyler Bertuzzi; Colin Campbell; Anthony Mantha; Zach Nastasiuk; Tomas Nosek and Eric Tangradi along with defensemen: Nick Jensen; Robbie Russo and Ryan Sproul to the Grand Rapids Griffins, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate.

Also, the Wings assigned goaltender Jake Paterson to the Toledo Wallye of the ECHL and released forward Mark Zengerle and defenseman Scott Czarnowczan from tryout agreements while placing Pavel Datsyuk; Danny Dekeyser; Darren Helm and Alexey Marchenko on the injured reserve for various lengths of time.

Athanasiou, A 21-year-old. 6’2,” 192 lbs. forward from London, ON was selected in the Fourth Round (110th Overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Red Wings. Since then, he wrapped up a four-season Ontario Hockey League junior run with the London Knights and Barrie Colts and moved on to make his pro debut at the end of the 2013-14 season at Grand Rapids, playing in two games. Last season, Athanasiou returned to the Griffins, appearing in 55 games and collecting 32 points (32g, 32a) and 25 penalty minutes and finishing a +17 on the ice. In the post season, he added another nine points (5g, 4a) in 16 games.

Aubry, a 23-year-old, 6’4,” 209 lbs. forward from Trois Rivieres, QC. Aubry was selected in the Third Round (81st Overall) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Wings.

He played three years of junior with Montreal of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and made his pro debut with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2011-12. Since then he has played 231 games with the Griffins and another 18 with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL.

Last season, Aubry appeared in 67 regular season games with the Griffs, totaling 16 points (5g, 11a) and 52 penalty minutes and finishing with a +9 on ice rating. He added another three goals and 16 penalty minutes in a 16-game playoff run.

Bertuzzi, a 20-year-old, 6’0,” 179 lbs. forward from Sudbury, ON was selected in the Second Round, 58th Overall of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft by the Wings and he is the nephew of former Wings’ player Todd Bertuzzi.

Last season Bertuzzi played his fourth and final season with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, collecting 98 points (43g, 55a) in 68 regular season games and then another eight points (6g, 2a) in nine playoff encounters. Once done with the Storm, he moved on to play a couple of games at Grand Rapids where he collected his first professional goal and then went on another playoff run, collecting 12 points (7g, 5a) in 14 post season matches.

Campbell, a 24-year-old, 6’1,” 207 lbs. forward from Pickering, ON, finished his four year stint with Lake Superior State University in 2013-14 and then moved on to play 13 regular season games and another three in the playoffs with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Last season, Campbell appeared in 44 games with the Griffs, collecting five points (2g, 3a) and 29 penalty minutes.

Mantha, a 21-year-old, 6’5,” 214 lbs. forward from Longeuil, QC was selected in the First Round (20th Overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft by the Wings and returned to junior where he wrapped up a final season with the Val d’Or Foreurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey league where he collected 120 points (57g, 63a) and 75 penalty minutes in 57 games and also played on Team Canada at the World Juniors.

Last season Mantha suffered a broken league at the Prospects Tournament just before Training Camp but he still appeared in 62 games at Grand Rapids, collecting 33 points (15g, 18a) and 64 penalty minutes and then adding another four points (2g, 2a) and 16 minutes in 16 post sesaon contests.

Nastasiuk, a 20-year-old, 6’1,” 190 lbs. forward from Barrie, ON played his fourth and final season with Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League this past season and he has also finished the past two seasons on the Griffins roster. He was named team captain with the Attack in his final two seasons as well.

Last season, Nastasiuk, the son of a professional Canadian Football player, picked up 77 points (35g, 42a) in 67 league games and added one more goal in five playoff games at Owen Sound. He then moved to Grand Rapids where he appeared in five regular season games and another four playoff encounters.
Nosek, a 23-year-old, 6’3,” 209 lbs. forward from Pardubice, Czech Republic, played all of his junior and pro in his home country until catching on with the Griffins last season where he picked up 34 points (11g, 23a) and 22 penalty minutes in 55 regular season games and then added another seven points (2g, 5a) in 12 playoff games.

Tangradi, a 26-year-old, 6’4,” 220 lbs. forward from Philadelphia, PA was selected in the Second Round (42nd Overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Anaheim Ducks. Since then Tangradi has been involved in three trades, playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens organiziation before signing on with the Wings as a Free Agent this past summer.

He has appeared in 143 NHL games and another 226 AHL contests.

last season Tangradi played in seven games with the Canadiens and 48 with the Hamilton Bulldogs, formerly the AHL affiliate of the Canadiens where he picked up 31 points (14g, 17a) and 56 penalty minutes.

Jensen, a 25-year-old, 6’0,” 196 lbs. defenseman from Rogers, MN was selected in the Fifth Round (150th Overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Wings and has stayed with the organization since graduating from St. Cloud St. University in the spring of 2013, playing primarily at Grand Rapids.

Last year, Jensen appeared in 75 games with the Griffins, collecting 27 points (6g, 21a) and 15 penalty minutes in the regular season and finishing with a solid +30 rating. He also added three more assists and four penalty minutes in 16 playoff games.

Russo, a 22-year-old, 6’0,” 190 lbs. defenseman from Westmont, IL was selected in the Fourth Round (95th Overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the NY Islanders. He played four seasons at Notre Dame, finishing up last year with with 41 points (15g, 26a) and 20 penalty minutes in 40 games.

Sproul, a 22-year-old, 6’4,” 207 lbs. defenseman from Mississauga, ON was selected in the Second Round (55th Overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Red Wings. He finished his junior career with the Sault Ste Marie Greyhound of the OHL and played the final two games of the 2012-13 season at Grand Rapids. Since then he has played primarily with the Griffs along with one NHL game in 2013-14.

Last season at Grand Rapids, Sproul appeared in 66 games and collected 24 points (5g, 19a) and 26 penalty minutes in the regular season and played in five more games in the post season.

Paterson, a 21-year-old, 6’1,” 176 lbs. goaltender from Mississauga was selected in the Third Round (80th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Wings. He wrapped up a four-year Ontario Hockey League career with the Kitchener Rangers and Saginaw Spirit and finished each of the past two seasons with brief stints with the Toledo Walleye.

Last year, Paterson split time between the Spirit, appearing in 24 games and posting a 2.48 Goals Against Average and a .905 Save Percentage and the Rangers, where he appeared in 26 games with a 2.37 GAA and a SP of .929.

Zengerle, a 26-year-old, 5’10,” 185 lbs. forward from Rochester, NY played his first season of pro last year with the Griffins after finishing a four-year-stint at the University of Wisconsin.

Zengerle appeared in 75 games with Griffins and totaled 37 points (15g, 22a) and eight penalty minutes.

The Wings released Zengerle hoping he would clear waivers and rejoin the Griffs for the upcoming season.

Czarnowczan, a 24-year-old, 5’10,” 176 lbs. defenseman from Macomb County, MI finished a four year run at Ferris State University in 2013-14 and played a few games with Idaho of the ECHL at the end of that season.

Last year, he split his time evenly between Grand Rapids and Toledo with 29 games at each spot. He racked up 11 points (2g, 9a) and 30 penalty minutes and finished as a +11 with the Griffins and added another 25 points (2g, 23a) and 12 penalty minutes while finishing at +13 with the Walleye. He also played 15 playoff games with Toledo, adding 14 assists and 22 penalty minutes.

Again, the Wings were hoping Czarmnpwczan would clear waivers and rejoin either the Griffins or Walleye for the 2015-16 season.

These moves leave the Wings with 27 players in camp including 16 forwards, nine defense and two goaltenders. As expected, Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek will be the goaltenders heading into the regular season opener on Friday (Oct. 9). The Ducks will likely have to move three more players before then as well.