TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Here is the beauty of an NHL prospect tournament: On a night when the Red Wings dressed three recent first-round picks — including the franchise’s highest-drafted player in 30 years — perhaps the biggest talking point from the team’s 5-4 win over the Stars on Thursday was a 5-foot-9 seventh-round pick whom the team roster lists at just 146 pounds.
Kirill Tyutyayev played last season in Belarus. He has a budding cult following on Red Wings Twitter, but he was among the least-known quantities of the drafted prospects on Detroit’s roster entering the tournament. And yet he opened the tournament with a pair of goals in the first two periods. So after the game, there was Lucas Raymond — the team’s fourth pick from 2020 — fielding a question about Tyutyayev and absolutely loving it.
“The Russian?” Raymond said, before breaking into a big smile. “Ahhh, he’s a beauty.”
Yes, The Russian was indeed one of the standouts Thursday for the Red Wings, opening the game’s scoring by ripping one top-shelf and adding another tally later with a hard drive to the net and a pretty finish. And his best play might have come on a pass, finding a seam while curling up the wall that eventually set up a goal for teammate Chase Pearson.