Soderblom trying to hit new heights in rookie season with Red Wings

DETROIT -- Elmer Soderblom isn't just tall. He's historic by NHL standards.

At 6-foot-8, the Detroit Red Wings rookie stands an inch below the tallest man to play in the NHL, Zdeno Chara. He's tied for the title of tallest forward to play in the League, with Mitchell Fritz, Steve McKenna and John Scott.
His shoe size is 15. His skate size is 12-7/8, and his blade length stretches 322 millimeters. Each is the largest Detroit equipment manager Paul Boyer has seen in his 29 NHL seasons.
NHL rules limit sticks to 63 inches from the heel to the end of the shaft, but players 6-6 or taller can request an exception and go as long as 65 inches. Of course, Soderblom's stick is exceptionally long.
"I don't cut it," he said. "It's the longest I can get. It's under my chin. I like it."
The amazing part? He's no lumbering bruiser. Though the 21-year-old is a work in progress, adjusting to the speed of the NHL and learning to use his body, he has a smooth stride and good hands. That long stick is whippy, so he can release quick wrist shots. He flashes high-end skill.
He scored in his NHL debut, banging in a rebound in a 3-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 14. In a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 17, he juggled the puck with his stick blade through the neutral zone and across the offensive blue line to elude an opponent on a 1-on-1 rush. He scored again in a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 23, banging in another rebound.
"I still think there's going to be huge ups and downs in his game," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "But there's so much to be excited about."

Soderblom said he was always the biggest player on his team growing up. But his hero was a forward, Peter Forsberg, and his coaches didn't try to make him, say, a physical defenseman.
"I think it's important to play your own game," he said.
He said he played soccer and wrestled, which helped him learn to control his body, until he focused exclusively on hockey at 11 or 12. He spent hours handling and shooting pucks in his backyard.
Hakan Andersson, the Red Wings director of European scouting, said Soderblom dropped hints of potential in junior hockey in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2018-19.
"He would go a period or two without showing anything," Andersson said. "But then he made one or two moves where you went, 'Wow. This kid's got some skill.'"
After the season ended, Soderblom's team kept practicing three times a week through late June, about the time of the 2019 NHL Draft. His coaches singled him out to Andersson as the one player who had improved dramatically in that time. The Red Wings selected him in the sixth round (No. 159).
"I think most teams didn't see enough in him during the season to draft him," Andersson said. "But hearing that made me want to take a flier on him."
Soderblom began to blossom over the next three seasons, while working with Niklas Kronwall and others in the Red Wings player development department. In 2019-20, he had no points in 10 games for Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League. In 2020-21, he had five points (three goals, two assists) in 28 games. In 2021-22, he had 33 points (21 goals, 12 assists) in 52 games.
After scoring two goals in five preseason games -- including a jaw-dropper in a 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 7, when he used his reach to elude an opponent and flicked a backhand shot top shelf -- Soderblom made the Red Wings opening night roster.

"I want to just improve my game and show that I can play at this level, hopefully put up some points and be a more offensive threat," he said. "That's my main goal."
Though the Red Wings have been teaching him to use his size to his advantage, they have let him be him.
"You wish in a perfect world he was hitting everybody in sight and had those hands," Andersson said. "He'd be a superstar. But it is what it is. He doesn't have one of those North American mean streaks in him."
Martin Dahlin, the father of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, has watched Soderblom since he was 14 and been an assistant coach when Soderblom has played for Sweden internationally. He said he has learned to use his size much better the past couple of years, especially to protect the puck.

"He's always been talented," Dahlin said. "But now you can see that his development is starting to come together."
Soderblom still has a long way to go. Sometimes the NHL has looked fast for him. He had committed turnovers that have led to goals against.
But it took years before Chara became an elite defenseman. McKenna had 32 points (18 goals, 14 assists) in 373 NHL games from 1996-2004, Scott had 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 286 NHL games from 2008-16 and Fritz had no points in 20 NHL games in 2008-09. Among the nine NHL forwards officially listed 6-7 or taller, none has reached 20 goals in his NHL career.
Soderblom is trying to do something that has never been done before, and at least figuratively, he still has a lot of room to grow.
"It's a fast game," Soderblom said. "Less time than in SHL. More physical. It's really important to win the lines, be careful with the puck and just really pay attention to the small details. But I think it's getting better and better. It's fun to play in [the NHL]. I feel like I'm growing into it more and more."