Here comes Leino

by James Mirtle on Jan 29, 2009 9:42 AM CST Comment 6 comments

The Detroit Red Wings today recalled forwards Ville Leino and Aaron Downey from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. The club also placed defenseman Brad Stuart on Injured Reserve.

Leino, 25, is currently second on the Griffins roster in scoring with 37 points in 44 games (11-26—37). He appeared in eight preseason game for Detroit finishing with six points (3-3—6) and a +3 rating. He was signed by the Red Wings as a free agent on May 10, 2008.

>> team release

After losing out on Fabian Brunnstrom, the Red Wings pulled Leino out of Finland, where he was the second leading scorer and MVP in the top league over there. Here's a mini-profile I had of him back in May when he signed in Detroit.

Leino was solid in the preseason and has put up decent numbers in Grand Rapids. He could be a pretty decent depth contributer for the Red Wings next season when they lose a few bodies due to the salary cap.

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Love how Holland pulls these guys out of thin air. Ironic that Brunnstrom is on his way down as Leino is on his way up.

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by puckreport on Jan 29, 2009 10:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Just a minor correction. Leino was not the leading scorer in the Finnish Elite League. He came in second. Janne Pesonen was the league leader.

by Freeptop on Jan 29, 2009 10:53 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe he was leading at the time James wrote the profile? Just a guess.

Ironic that Brunnstrom is on his way down as Leino is on his way up.

That is funny, considering how they were linked together.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Jan 29, 2009 10:59 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Good point. I should have called him the MVP.

by James Mirtle on Jan 29, 2009 11:15 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

From what I saw of him in the pre-season, he’s got great hands and good hockey sense. Weak skater. If he had Helm’s speed, he’d probably be on track for super-stardom. As is, he’s more like Jiri Hudler of a couple years ago. It’ll be interesting to see how much he’s progressed in Grand Rapids, and if he’s able to keep up with the pace of a regular season game. It’d be nice to see him get some power play time like Meech has, just to see how he’ll handle it. With both Franzen and Zetterberg out, there’s a good chance he will. (In fact, that’s probably partly why they called Leino up instead of Helm.)

by RyanV on Jan 29, 2009 12:26 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I had him in one of my keeper leagues, but just couldn’t afford the roster spot at the time, so I dropped him. Ditto Max Pacioretty, which may bite me in a year or two.

by Doogie2K on Jan 29, 2009 1:15 PM CST reply actions 0 recs