South Surrey-raised Michael Rasmussen has signed a three-year contract extension with his NHL club, Detroit Red Wings.
The six-foot-six forward, 22, skated in 40 games with the “Original Six” team during the 2020-21 season, recording 12 points (3 goals, nine assists) and 26 penalty minutes.
So far in his NHL career, the left-shot Rasmussen has scored 11 goals and 19 assists in 102 games.
In 2017 he was drafted by the Red Wings in the first round, ninth overall.
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BIG RAS! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/ISV8SIBkQz
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 22, 2021
• RELATED STORY, from June 2017: ‘Dream come true’ for NHL draft pick Michael Rasmussen.
Rasmussen’s contract extension was announced Thursday (July 22) on nhl.com, on the Red Wings page. PuckPedia reports that the deal will carry an average annual value of $1.46 million over the next three seasons.
Last season, “as a third-year pro and second-year NHLer, Rasmussen ranked among team leaders with nine assists (T5th), 26 penalty minutes (T3rd), 72 hits (2nd) and 28 blocked shots (9th),” says the post.
After spending the entire 2019-20 campaign with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, Rasmussen racked up six points (2-4-6) in seven games with Grand Rapids last season before earning a promotion to the NHL.
“The 6-foot-6, 229-pound center also saw his average time on ice jump from 12:50 over his first 20 games of the season to 16:46 for the final 20 games, marking the fourth-most by a Red Wings forward over that span. Rasmussen also logged 18 points (5-13-18) in 18 games with the Graz 99ers of Austria’s IceHL in the fall prior to returning to North America for the start of Detroit’s training camp.”
UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today signed center Michael Rasmussen to a three-year contract extension.
Details: https://t.co/NZDKr0EGqZ pic.twitter.com/Wgwd7MLj45
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 22, 2021
Rasmussen played parts of four seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans prior to turning pro, totaling 157 points (81-76-157) and 129 penalty minutes in 161 games from 2014-18. As captain of Tri-City in 2017-18, Rasmussen recorded 59 points (31-28-59) in 47 games in his final season of major junior before amassing 33 points (16-17-33) over 14 games in the team’s playoff run.
On the international circuit, Rasmussen represented Canada on two occasions, collecting four points (1-3-4) in four games at the 2016 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and three points (2-1-3) in five games for Canada Black at the 2015 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
• RELATED STORY, from 2018: Surrey’s Rasmussen shoots for gold with Team Canada in Vancouver/Victoria.
• READ ALSO: Surrey NHL hockey prospects excited for draft after one short, challenging season
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