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.
Lon Horwedel, Imagn Images
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 some instinct for puck protection, his game often seemed to contrast against his stature. Physicality did not always come naturally, and he struggled to leverage his size to win back pucks on the forecheck. It was his hands that made him a sensation, while he’d yet to learn to take full advantage of his size.
McLellan said this morning that Soderblom’s game is not “one dimensional” in the way some of the league’s biggest players can be; instead, “I think Elmer has the other tools to go with it,” he said. Now, by his own telling Soderblom has made sure size and the incumbent physicality are among the arrows in his quiver.
“I think I’ve improved a lot of areas, but mostly my skating and my physicality—finishing some more checks and being tough to play against,” he said this morning, when asked how his game has grown since last he played in the NHL. “Skating more, being more physical, shooting more pucks,” he added. “I think that’s my game right now.”
There was no silver bullet to add a more physical dimension to his game; instead, Soderblom explained that doing so has “just been building the habits over the years, learning from the seasons that’s gone by.”
Meanwhile, McLellan stressed that he wanted Soderblom to enjoy tonight’s game against the Flyers, his season NHL debut if not his first ever game in the league. “This is a good reward for a young man that’s done good things down there,” the coach said.
Now, McLellan intends to “turn him loose and let him play, not inundate him with information, not overload him with some of the things that we’ve changed here.” “He’ll get a brief update on some of our language, but I hope that he just puts the equipment on and plays,” he continued. “If he makes mistakes, that’s fine. We’ll help him with them, but when he leaves tonight, I want him to leave happy and excited about playing again.”
As for the wait between his first NHL action and his return, Soderblom said, “Of course it’s been really frustrating, but I’ve just been patient and worked hard ever day to get here, and so I’m just gonna keep going and keep working.” If he sticks to that plan, there may well be no need for another call up to the show.
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