Rasmussen leads Americans into home turf
Michael Rasmussen has reason to be especially keen on playing at the Langley Events Centre this weekend — and the Vancouver Giants would be wise to take extra notice.
Rasmussen, a Surrey native selected ninth overall by the Detroit Red Wings in June’s NHL Entry Draft who scored four times for Detroit in five pre-season games, is one of the stars and team captain of the TriCity Americans.
The Americans, touted by some pundits as a contender for the WHL crown this season, visit the LEC tonight (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m., TSN 1410 AM), marking their lone road games against Vancouver for the campaign.
“It will be nice to play in front of friends and family. I haven’t seen them in awhile, so I’m looking forward to that,” Rasmussen, a 6-6, 221-pound centre, wrote in a text message interview Thursday.
“We have a good team in Tri-City and I’m excited to be a part of something special this year.”
Vancouver (1-2-0-0) is coming off a strong showing in a 6-3 win last Friday against the Kamloops Blazers at the LEC. Kamloops is a team expected to battle with the likes of Vancouver for a playoff spot. Tri-City’s aspirations are more lofty, with a lengthy post-season run possible.
The Americans (2-2-0-0) are expected to be one of the higher scoring teams in the WHL this season. Rasmussen, 18, is one of the major reasons why. His size and ability to get to the front of the net and tip pucks and jump on rebounds conjures up images of former NHLer Dave Andreychuk.
The Red Wings re-assigned Rasmussen to Tri-City on Sunday. The Okanagan Hockey Academy product made his Americans’ season debut Tuesday, scoring once in regulation and nabbing first-star honours in a 3-2 shootout win against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
He scored 32 times in an injury-shortened 50 games for Tri-City last season. Opinion on him going into the draft varied, with analytics types in particular saying he relied too much on the power play (15 goals on the man advantage last season).
Detroit signed him to a three-year, entry-level contract in August, and after his pre-season effort, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press wrote “the expectation is he will push for a job in Detroit as soon as next season.”
Rasmussen merits special matchup consideration on a nightly basis at the WHL level but, as Giants coach Jason McKee points out, the Americans’ “group of forwards is as good as anybody’s in the league.”
Tri-City also has 2017 Anaheim Ducks fourth-rounder Kyle Olson, 18, and 2017 Carolina Hurricanes third-rounder Morgan Geekie, 19, up front, along with Nolan Yaremko, 19, who had 10 goals in six WHL pre-season games this year.
Tri-City’s defence is anchored by puck-moving type Juuso Valimaki, 18, who went 16th overall to the Calgary Flames in June’s draft.
“We have to make it difficult on them. We want to make it hard. We want to play in their end as much as possible,” McKee said of facing the Americans. “We want them to have to come 200 feet to score.”
The Giants will wear commemorative Don Cherry-themed jerseys Saturday, all of which will be autographed and available for online auction until Tuesday at vancouvergiants.com. All proceeds will go to the Kidney Foundation of Canada. Additionally, Giants’ season ticket holders in attendance Saturday will receive a limited edition Don Cherry bobblehead.
Vancouver will visit the Americans March 9 and March 11 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash. Playing Tri-City on back-to-back nights at home is rare and so is that trip south, since Vancouver also visits the Spokane Chiefs March 10. Spokane is 225 kilometres northeast of Kennewick.