The Left Wing Lock

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Brian Lashoff wants to put the disappointment of his AHL rookie season behind him. The 21 year-old defenseman suffered two serious injuries that nearly derailed his season and limited him to just 37 games.

“I separated my shoulder five games in to the season and I had a high ankle sprain in January,” he said. “It was tough as I thought I was playing pretty well. When I came back I was trying to get back in the lineup and I was kind of behind the eight ball a little bit and I never really caught up.”

After battling injuries all season, the 6-foot-3, 203 pound defenseman has returned with added motivation. Lashoff worked hard in the off season strengthening his shoulder and ankle and also adding ten pounds of muscle to his frame.

“I am a totally different player,” he said. “I am stronger and more confident. I am probably in the best shape I have ever been in. I feel the extra muscle out there on the ice and I think it will help me be faster and stronger.”

The Albany, New York native spent the offseason training with his brother, Matt Lashoff, who is currently in the Toronto Maple Leafs System. When they weren’t training, Matt was recording his first studio album and he even asked younger brother Brian, who began learning to play the guitar at age12, to play on the track called “Something I know”.

“It’s something fun outside of hockey,” he said. “A lot of guys like to play video games, but we like to play music. He asked me to play guitar on a song and I thought it would be something cool that we will be able to look back on.”

With the offseason over, Lashoff is in Traverse City this week participating in the 2011 NHL Prospects Tournament along with other Red Wings prospects. The former World Junior Championship gold medalist is playing top minutes, but the team has struggled and lost again Sunday night to the Minnesota Wild by a 4-2 margin.

“I think we played better as a team tonight than we did on Saturday,” he said. “I felt that first game we were kind of pressing a little bit instead of playing within the Red Wings system. I thought we did that a lot better tonight controlling the pace of the game but we didn’t get the result.”

The Red Wings out shot the Wild by a 26 to 48 margin, but had difficulty getting past goaltender Matt Hackett. Only Artem Sergeev and Xavier Ouellet were able to score on Minnesota’s top prospect, but it wasn’t enough. Detroit squandered its opportunity on the power play converting just one of ten chances. Despite those statistics, Detroit was in control for much of this game.

“We totally played our game today,” Lashoff said. “That’s key to our success is getting the offensive zone and the middle lane drive. We did that more and got more pucks on net but it’s unfortunate that Hackett stopped most of our chances.”

Despite the teams lack of success at this year’s tournament, Lashoff’s play has been a bright spot. On Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets he played a physical game and even initiated a brief fight. He is also showing more offensive jump than he has previously and is more inclined to take chances that might help generate offense.

“That is kind of my game,” he said. “I want to jump up on the rush a little bit more this year, but at the same time I want to have a physical edge in my back pocket as well.”

Lashoff, who has been named an alternate captain for this years Red Wings squad,  clearly relishes being in a leadership role. Although he likely will not be formally named to the Griffins leadership, the former Kingston Frontenacs captain clearly possesses these qualities and he fully expects to use them to help the team.

“I am going to take that upon myself to try and step in and help lead the team,”  he said. “I feel like if I can get a full year in the American league and establish myself as a leader then I will be on my way.”

Notes

• The Wings deserved a better outcome tonight after playing a much improved game. They still continue to struggle to generate goals from the forward lines.
• Gustav Nyquist assisted on both Red Wings goals and he even manned the point on the power play. Overall he looked much more comfortable in second tournament game.
• Tomas Jurco continues to get top billing playing on the top line with Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson.
• Roman Sadikov played a strong game but the big goalie needs to work on his rebound control.
• Trevor Parkes played a strong physical game, though he wasn’t able to find the score sheet. The 6-foot-1, 181 pound forward has never been afraid to play a physical game and his dogged play along the boards and in front of the net drove the Wild players crazy.
• Joakim Andersson initiated a fight with Tyler Cuma after several high sticks that weren’t called. The fight was swiftly broken up by the referees.
• Willie Coetzee also dropped the gloves. The 5-foot-10, 186 pound speedster isn’t known for his fighting abilities, but he was coming to the aid of Brendan Smith who was flattened into the boards by Carter Sandlak.
• The Red Wings will get a day off from on ice practices choosing to not participate in the optional practices on Monday. No games are scheduled for Monday so it’s expected that many of the teams will not practice.
• Scratches for Sunday’s game included Mitch Callahan, Bryan Rufenach, Gleason Fournier, Adam Estoclet, Petr Mrazek, and Marek Tvordon.
• Evan Mosher is next in the goaltending rotation for the Red Wings and he could face a tough task against the Buffalo Sabres who have a stacked roster and have yet to lose a tournament game. He’ll likely be backed up by Petr Mrazek.