Elmer Soderblom said it was “very, very fun” to get the news, and of course it was. A call with Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman revealed that the 2019 sixth round Detroit draft choice would be heading back to the NHL, for his first action since Jan. 7, 2023, when he’d skated just 8:18 in a 4–1 Red Wings loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
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Of Soderblom’s opportunity, Detroit coach Todd McLellan explained simply to reporters after this morning’s skate in Philadelphia, “He’s earned the right to come up here, and we’re excited to see him play.” The numbers support this conclusion: In his last 10 games in Grand Rapids, Soderblom has scored four goals and provided five assists for the Griffins.
“He obviously had to go down and work on his game, but I’ve been told he’s playing very well lately, the last two or three weeks really coming into his own, and we’re hoping he can do that here,” McLellan added, as to what he and his staff are looking for out of the call-up. “Obviously a different league, but he’s experienced it before, hoping that he provides a little injection of life into the group, and I think that will come out as the game goes on.”
At the time Soderblom got his first taste of NHL action in the ’22-23 season, McLellan was coaching the Los Angeles Kings, and when his Kings met Soderblom’s Wings, the coach’s impression was the obvious one with regards to the towering forward. McLellan recounted this morning, “My history of knowing Elmer was two or three years ago I think, when we came to Detroit early in the season with LA, he was in the lineup, and I remember his size.”
Officially listed at six-foot-eight and 246 pounds, Soderblom’s size naturally commands any observer’s attention before anything else about his game. Most sixth round picks will never skate a shift in the NHL, but, in no small part due to his large frame, Soderblom found his way to the league in a hurry. Unlike Red Wings rookie Marco Kasper’s appearance in the same season, Soderblom’s stint with the big club was more than just a one-off cameo. He lasted 21 games and scored five goals and three assists.
Nonetheless, that initial stint in the show had a shelf life, and to find himself a career, Soderblom needed to round out his game. While he had…