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Shades of Ray
By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / July 6, 2009A scouting report on Ray Ferraro once read, "his skating won't win any medals ... He has a choppy stride and lacks rink-long speed."
Not that skating held Ray back at all — those same choppy wheels earned him millions of dollars, 400 goals and more than 1,200 NHL games — but his son, Landon, is not a chip off the block in that regard.
Landon Ferraro, the Detroit Red Wings' top pick, 32nd overall, can flat-out fly. He won the fastest skater competition in the Canadian Hockey League top prospects game last season in a blistering 14.009 seconds.
"That boy can skate," one scout told Red Wings Central.
Aside from speed, Landon has a lot of his dad's trademark skills. Ray's scouting report also read "hungry around the net and can bury the puck from the bottom of the circles in" and "willing to go into traffic to score and make plays." You don't have to change a word of that to write Landon's report.
The 6-foot, 170-pound center finished ninth in Western Hockey League goal-scoring last season, finding the net 37 times among 55 points in 68 games, despite playing for one of the most offensively-challenged clubs in Canada.
If his Red Deer Rebels improve, don't be shocked if Ferraro explodes offensively.
"First of all, you've got the hockey history, the bloodlines of his father, hockey in the family," said Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill. "He's got good offensive skills and he competes hard. He just has to get stronger."
The Red Wings got a consensus first-round pick with the second pick of the second round after trading down from the No. 29 slot. Ferraro was ranked as high as 17th (International Scouting Service) and as low as 37th (Red Line Report) and the Red Wings ranked him in the middle of the first round.
He can play all three forward positions, but he's best at center and fantastic on faceoffs, a big plus for the circle-savvy Wings. He's gritty, works hard and has a natural sense of timing, particularly on the power play.
"He's just a solid all-around player," said Nill.
That's the thing with Ferraro — although he might not be an elite-level offensive prospect, there aren't many weaknesses to his game. His defensive play came into question with some scouts leading up to the draft, primarily because he went a combined minus-47 the past two seasons on a miserable team. The Hockey News called defense the "only wart" on Ferraro's game.
But the Red Wings aren't overly caught up with it.
"He was an offensive player on a team that needed him to produce," Nill said. "Defensive play is learned. It's hard to teach someone how to score goals, but you can teach defense. So we don't worry too much about it."
Interestingly, Ray was also knocked for his defensive play at one time, but shook off that criticism as he gained more experience.
"Ferraro has improved tremendously and is no longer a liability," his scouting report read. "In fact, he's a pretty decent two-way center."
That no doubt brings a smile to the face of the Red Wings, who are hoping for a similar evolution from the younger Ferraro.
"If everything works out the way you project, you hope he's going to be a second-line forward," Nill said. "He's got the head and the hands for that."
This is the final part of a series of features on the Red Wings' 2009 draft choices. Click below to read about the other prospects selected.
» July 4: Late-blooming Jensen on the rise
» July 3: Almqvist has a sense of wonder
» July 2: Nestrasil 'ready to battle every shift'
» July 1: Feet-first Fournier a fit for Wings
» June 30: Tatar tops Wings' charts
» June 29: Yappin', scrappin' Callahan breaks the mold
» June 27: Triple threat: Ferraro, Tatar and Nestrasil
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The next wave
RWC's top 10 prospects (2009-10 preliminary)
| 01 | F | Tomas Tatar » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 02 | D | Jakub Kindl » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 03 | D | Brendan Smith » | Wisconsin (NCAA) |
| 04 | G | Thomas McCollum » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 05 | F | Gustav Nyquist » | Maine (NCAA) |
| 06 | F | Landon Ferraro » | Red Deer (WHL) |
| 07 | F | Jan Mursak » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 08 | F | Cory Emmerton » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 09 | F | Joakim Andersson » | Frolunda (SEL) |
| 10 | F | Mattias Ritola » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |