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One Helm of a comparison
By Sarah Lindenau - RedWingsCentral.com / September 12, 2009The Detroit Red Wings compare Brent Raedeke to Darren Helm — and Raedeke is doing his best to emulate the hard-hitting speedster.
"Helmer is a really good player so being compared to him is a good thing," Raedeke said. "They want me to play like him and do all the little things. I have been working on that. Hopefully I can be as good as him or get to where he is right now."
The 6-foot, 197-pound center became a Red Wings' prospect last summer after being invited to training camp as a free agent. He impressed them so much they inked him to a three-year entry-level contract shortly thereafter.
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| Brent Raedeke is a speedy prospect who the Red Wings have compared to Darren Helm. More photos from Thursday at the prospects tournament » |
Raedeke returned to the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League and produced 19 goals among 55 points in 70 games.
"Overall it was a pretty successful season for only our second season in the league," he said. "We made the playoffs and I felt I had a pretty good year and put up some decent points. Hopefully we can build on that this year."
Raedeke, who called it a "dream come true" to sign with Detroit, quietly had a solid prospect tournament in Traverse City centering the third line and anchoring the penalty-kill while earning occasional power-play time for the Red Wings. He finished tied for second in team scoring with two goals and an assist and earned the praise of Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill.
"It's been a good experience," Raedek said. "I am getting a lot more ice time playing with some older players who played in the American League last year. Curt Fraser (one of the coaches) has been showing a lot of confidence in me using me in all situations, so this time around it is a little more fun."
Raedeke, hard-working by nature, had a busy summer, skating three times a week and putting in plenty of time in the gym to get stronger.
"I worked on exercises to build and train muscles to have better endurance," Raedeke said. "Playing at the higher levels, you need to have lots of endurance and stamina, so I worked on that a lot."
Raedeke is hoping all his hard work will pay off in the form of another productive season with Edmonton. It's the Oil Kings' third year as a franchise, and Raedeke - who has been around since Day 1 - will take on a leadership role.
"It's not official yet, but our coach and our general manager have told me they want me to be a captain this year," Raedeke said. "It's that little extra pressure. I like it so I think I would play better and if I was a captain."
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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 | F | Gustav Nyquist » | Maine (NCAA) |
| 05 | F | Jan Mursak » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 06 | G | Thomas McCollum » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 07 | F | Joakim Andersson » | Frolunda (SEL) |
| 08 | F | Mattias Ritola » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 09 | F | Landon Ferraro » | Red Deer (WHL) |
| 10 | D | Brian Lashoff » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |