Red Wings place disappointing Evgeny Svechnikov on waivers

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Detroit Red Wings have placed Evgeny Svechnikov on waivers for the second time this season after the young forward cleared in early January. Now that he has played 10 games for the Red Wings this season, he needed to clear waivers again to be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Svechnikov, 24, has never developed into the top-six power forward that Detroit hoped for when it selected him 19th overall in 2015. His younger brother Andrei Svechnikov has reached those heights in Carolina, but the Red Wings forward has instead toiled at the minor league level for almost all of his professional career. In 30 NHL games, Svechnikov has nine points, five of those coming this season. Even in the minor leagues, though, things haven’t gone smoothly, with Svechnikov only recording 60 points in 112 AHL games since the start of 2017-18.

Of course, part of the reason why that number is so low is the entire season he missed in 2018-19 after suffering a major knee injury. While that can’t be completely blamed for his stalled development, it certainly didn’t help things.

There have been flashes of potential this season, but Svechnikov doesn’t appear to really be in the long-term plans for the Red Wings. His one-year contract will expire at the end of this season and leaves him a restricted free agent again. Should a team want to claim him now, he’d have to remain on its NHL roster until clearing waivers in the future.