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Axel Sandin-Pellikka Cannot Crack the Red Wings Lineup
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- Axel Sandin-Pellikka Cannot Crack the Red Wings Lineup
Nearly three weeks ago, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka was expected to be on his way to the Grand Rapids Griffins . He is still on the NHL roster. He also is not playing.
Sandin-Pellikka has appeared in seven games this season, with no goals, one assist and a minus-1 rating. He has not played since Oct. 20 at the Seattle Kraken, and he sat for all three games of Detroit's Western Canada trip: Oct. 22 at Vancouver, Oct. 24 at Calgary and Oct. 26 at Edmonton. He has not been injured. He has been a scratch.
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The 21-year-old could be out of the lineup again Thursday, Oct. 29, when the Red Wings host the Chicago Blackhawks. If he sits a fourth straight game, should the Red Wings send him to the minors?
Axel Sandin-Pellikka needs games, not press box nights
If Detroit scratches him again, it is time for this organization to have a serious conversation about sending him to Grand Rapids. The Red Wings cannot let the 17th pick of the 2023 draft sit in the press box. Either he plays here the way the other young defensemen are playing, or he goes to the AHL and gets his reps. In Grand Rapids he would draw top-pair minutes and power-play time instead of fourth-pairing scraps. Octopus Thrower, in one columnist's take, made the same argument : there is no benefit to keeping him on the bench.
For now, Sandin-Pellikka has lost his spot to William Wallinder. Wallinder skated in the second pairing alongside Justin Faulk in both games at the end of the trip while Sandin-Pellikka and Andreas Englund watched. In September, head coach Todd McLellan described the third pairing as an open audition. "It is going to be competitive," McLellan said, in comments reported by Detroit Hockey Now's Bob Duff. "You know, we talk about Ax [Axel Sandin-Pellikka], we have a pretty good idea what he can do. Right now, they're all competing." A month into the season, that audition has produced an answer, and it is not Sandin-Pellikka.
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Justin Faulk's expiring contract is the obvious opening
Justin Faulk is in the final season of the seven-year, $45.5 million deal he signed with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, and he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer, according to CapWages . Moving his $6.5 million cap hit would open a spot and hand Sandin-Pellikka a real runway. It would not be simple. Faulk's contract carries a modified no-trade clause over its last two seasons, which lets him submit a 15-team list, so he has a say in where he lands, if he lands anywhere at all.
Simon Edvinsson is not the answer, at least not yet
The name that would squeeze this blue line hardest is not close to the lineup. Simon Edvinsson has not played a game this season. The 23-year-old is an unsigned restricted free agent, he sits on Detroit's injured, non-roster list because of the contract standoff, and Elliotte Friedman reported in early October that Edvinsson prefers a trade to the short-term bridge deal the Red Wings have offered. He has until Dec. 1 to sign, either in Detroit or with a team that acquires him, or he cannot play at all this season.
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Whenever Edvinsson is resolved, he takes a spot on the blueline, and it will not be Moritz Seider's. That is a November problem, though, and Sandin-Pellikka's problem is Thursday and the game after that. The odds are stacked against him seeing meaningful minutes in Detroit any time soon. The Red Wings should send him to Grand Rapids now instead of waiting for the roster to sort itself out.
