Wings like Gelech's potential Big grinding winger compares to Ducks' Moen ... By Matthew Wuest - www.RedWingsCentral.com July 26, 2007 The Detroit Red Wings see a little bit of Anaheim Ducks forward Travis Moen in recently-signed right-winger Randall Gelech. The 23-year-old Gelech inked a two-year contract with the Red Wings in mid-July after the Phoenix Coyotes opted not to re-sign him. The Red Wings like his potential and want to keep developing him, and will likely assign him to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. “You’re hoping Gelech, down the road, maybe becomes a Travis Moen,” Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said. “He played against Moen in junior and he was just as good of a player. You’re just hoping. He’s still a young kid.” Moen, 25, had 21 points in 82 games with the Ducks last season and added 12 points in 21 playoff games en route to Stanley Cup. Gelech recorded 17 goals and 17 assists for 34 points in 79 games last season with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder has the attributes of a good NHL fourth-liner. “We like his size, he plays hard on the boards, he chases the puck well and he has pretty good hands for a big guy,” Nill said. “In this game, we’re forced to rush a lot of kids and we’re just hoping we find one of them who slips through the cracks, much like Dan Cleary did.” In other news: — Goaltender Logan Koopmans has re-signed with the Red Wings, inking a one-year contract. The 23-year-old has averaged just over 20 starts per season over the past three years because of various injuries, and was even contemplating retirement at one point. The Red Wings now have five goaltenders under contract. “He had tough luck with injuries and we just said, ‘You know what? Let's give him a chance, one more time,’” Nill said. — Defenseman Derek Meech has to clear waivers if the Red Wings decide to assign him to the AHL out of training camp. Fellow blueliner Kyle Quincey is exempt for another year. Both are fighting for the same job. — The Red Wings are bringing free-agent goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier to training camp in August and September to see what he can do, and might offer him a contract if he shows enough potential. Pelletier already participated in the team’s summer strength-and-conditioning camp in Detroit in early July and showed well. “We’ll just bring him to camp and see what happens — it’s all in how he plays,” Nill said. “We’re opening the door for him. Does he grab it? We’ll find out. We brought him to prospect camp and he outperformed three other goalies, so he’s the one who got the chance to come to our main camp.” — Nill was impressed with a number of players at the team’s summer strength-and-conditioning camp at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Notably, Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader and Jakub Kindl showed up having made impressive physical gains from previous years. “They’ve been there for a few years now and it’s paying off,” Nill said. “They were miles ahead of everybody else.” Nill listed defensemen Bryan Rufenach and Brendan Smith and left-winger Joakim Andersson as those who impressed him on the ice at the camp. Rufenach was at the top of the list. “He’s got very good hockey sense and vision and he’s real smart with the puck,” Nill said. “He’s going to school for four years and you’re hoping you’ll end up with another Dan Boyle down the road.” Nill said Andersson showed at camp that a little more lower-body strength will help him erase concerns about his skating. Nill added that the camp was an “eye-opener” for Swedes Johan Ryno, Mattias Ritola and Dick Axelsson. He said Ryno was in “good shape,” Ritola in “great shape” and Axelsson “needs to work” on his strength and conditioning. — Russian forward Igor Grigorenko missed the summer camp because of visa issues but will likely arrive in Detroit in mid-August. “His agent wants him to come over and get him adapted,” Nill said. “Our (players) usually get here around the third week of August and get together to do their own skating, so he’ll be meeting up with those guys then.” — Nill had this to say about free agency. “We’re kind of sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “If somebody's name comes up that we like at the right price, we'd look at it, but if we have to start today with what we have, we'll start with what we have.” You can contact Matthew Wuest at wuest@redwingscentral.com.