Willie Coetzee

[Andy Pred 48 337]

Have the Wings brass pulled off another coup? Willie had 4 helpers in last nights Red Deer's

win which puts him top of the scoring charts in the WHL. Early doors I know but very encouraging to see. He is supposed to be supporting Ferraro, but with Landon out with a knee injury he has taken on the lead role and so far doing a fine job. Keep it up Willie!!

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Phenomenal start to the season for Coetzee. Been following Red Deer's scores this season and it seems every game he's just tearing it up. I hope he can keep it up and become a big time point producer this season. Now for Ferraro to get back soon and have a Red Wings duo in Red Deer.

[Andy Pred 48 337]

Well in the aftermath of Red Deers drubbing by Medicine Hat by 9-2 last night,our boy Willie managed to come out of the game with a goal and a +1 rating!

[Carman 387]

26 points in 15 games. Second leading scorer in the WHL. Hopefully he can keep this up!

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Goal and two assists tonight, 29 points in 16 games.

Ferraro is also back in the line-up.

[Lidstrom for life 20]

Led his team with 81 points in 72 games. His +10 rating was also a team best. I think I read somewhere that he will be in Grand Rapids next year, can anyone confirm that?

[titanium2 867]

Led his team with 81 points in 72 games. His +10 rating was also a team best. I think I read somewhere that he will be in Grand Rapids next year, can anyone confirm that?

He can be according to league policy and he expressed interest in doing so this past year. He just has to make the team.

[newfy 695]

This guy seems like one of our most pure offensive prospects. Why is it that he went undrafted?

Does he not have the speed or something to translate at the pro level?

Or did the wings just scoop up another free agent prospect who is looking like a steal(kinda like Lashoff)?

[titanium2 867]

I've been wondering that myself. Who knows?

I'm pretty excited for Coetzee. I'm just worried that the Griffins have too many undersized scorers.

Coetzee, Tatar and Pare are 5'10.

Mursak is 5'11.

The Griffins need some serious size for their team next year.

[Echolalia 2,961]

I've been wondering that myself. Who knows?

I'm pretty excited for Coetzee. I'm just worried that the Griffins have too many undersized scorers.

Coetzee, Tatar and Pare are 5'10.

Mursak is 5'11.

The Griffins need some serious size for their team next year.

Nothing will prepare you for Red Wing hockey like throwing a bunch of undersized players with no gritty support into a North American rink full of goons wearing the opposite jersey!

[SwedeLundin77 460]

Nothing will prepare you for Red Wing hockey like throwing a bunch of undersized players with no gritty support into a North American rink full of goons wearing the opposite jersey!

Gee, I suppose being in the hunt for Lord Stanley almost every year is also a bad sign too... Get over it, whatever the scouts have been doing has worked. Don't act like we have ALL small players. There are plenty of prospects 6' or bigger and growing still.

[titanium2 867]

Gee, I suppose being in the hunt for Lord Stanley almost every year is also a bad sign too... Get over it, whatever the scouts have been doing has worked. Don't act like we have ALL small players. There are plenty of prospects 6' or bigger and growing still.

Yyyeah, he was being sarcastic.

[SwedeLundin77 460]

Yyyeah, he was being sarcastic.

Didn't seem that way, seemed like another person who forgets that this team has been successful with both undersized and bigger players in the system...

[TNBT 3]

I haven't really kept up to date with everything going on with the Wings and our prospects lately, but after doing some reading over the last few days, Willie is starting to look like he could be a real steal for us. I hope he can keep up producing and really establish himself in the AHL next season. He has speed, great hands and he can put the puck in the net, meaning he has legitimate top-6 potential. He does need to work on his defensive game, but so does a lot of our skilled forward prospects. He'll never be a real two-way player most likely, but he still needs to at least be accountable in his own end.

[titanium2 867]

2010 Prospect Camp Review

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/07/red_wings_prospect_camp_assess.html

70 Willie Coetzee

Pluses: Coetzee didn’t join the camp’s on-ice activities until the second day, and he was, by far, the most frustrating player to watch during camp. The liberally-listed 5’10,” 186-lb right winger already has a contract with the Red Wings, he posted 29 goals, 52 assists and 81 points in 72 games for the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, with whom he has one more season of eligibility, and…

Coetzee can stickhandle in a phone booth, hold onto the puck in a hurricane, deke and dangle with the best of them, he has a surprisingly heavy and seeing-eye shot, his passes are snake-slither good and his shifty skating and ability to change directions in a hurry, with the puck on his stick, to protect the puck under pressure and either score off the rush or generate offense of the cycle. His skill set was doubtlessly elite. I just didn’t see him put all the pieces together very often. He lurked in the weeds during a time when he really could have dominated skill-wise. I don’t know if he had a bad week, was nursing a nagging injury, or simply got off on the wrong foot, but while he started to shine a bit during scrimmages, otherwise, he looked best dekeing and dangling the puck during skill drills or off on his own when nobody was looking.

Minuses: He weighs about 170 lbs. and needs to get stronger so that he doesn’t burn off as much of his speed battling through checks. Defenders definitely found him relatively easy to contain by warding him off with poke checks or encouraging him to take the long way around them—which he would do whenever he could—and whether it was his unwillingness to put his head down and go into traffic or his inability to finish as regularly as someone of his skill set should, he looked like somebody who had all the tools but can go through stretches when he doesn’t put them together, and when he doesn’t play with his skill set doing the shining for him, he can disappear.

Potential “upside”: From a pure skill potential he could very realistically score 20 goals at the NHL level and dazzle as a sniper, but he looked like a player whose skills didn’t necessarily translate well into the Red Wings’ system, which seems absolutely baffling given that he’s a highly-skilled puckhandling forward with deft moves, speed, and strong pace to his game. Brent Raedeke had a pretty mediocre camp last summer after dominating in juniors, so maybe it’s just a wake-up call that shakes your confidence….I don’t have a good answer here, because he really does have a top-six NHL forward’s skills. He just didn’t put things together for a few days in July.

[titanium2 867]

From their first prospects tournament game 9/11 in which the Wings won 6 to 1.

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/a2y/comments/red_wings_prospect_tournament_win_lopsided_in_more_ways_than_one/

Willie Coetzee remains a whirling dervish who can’t slow himself down, possessing oodles of speed, dipsy-doodling-and-dangling capacity, superb passing vision and a high, hard, nearly wild shot, but he’s almost so talented that he can’t play simple, what he needs to do is take all that talent and distill it into simple, effective play.

[titanium2 867]

http://redwingscentral.com/stories/2010_09/12_Roundup.php

PRO OR NO?

Willie Coetzee is in a unique situation this season: The 20-year-old can play well enough to earn a spot in the AHL with Grand Rapids or he can return to the Western Hockey League's Red Deer Rebels as an over-age player.

Players younger than age 20 aren't eligible to play in the AHL.

"Either option will make me happy," said Coetzee, who had 81 points in 72 games with the Rebels last season.

"Right now I am focused on playing hard at the tournament. I want to show an edge that no one else has so that I can make the team."

Coetzee didn't factor into the scoring in Saturday night's 6-1 victory over Dallas, but he did play on the top line alongside Tatar and Joakim Andersson. The trio was dangerous all night generating a lot of offensive opportunities.

Coetzee spent the summer working on his strength and speed and hopes to improve his defensive game.

"I know coming into the professional league that it is totally different than the WHL," he said. "You have to be fast and stronger and have an extra step. You also have to have a strong defensive game and I work on mine all the time so I can fit with the Red Wings."

[titanium2 867]

70 Willie Coetzee: I still haven’t figured Coetzee out. He possesses elite offensive skills, super-soft hands, a great shot, he can deke and dangle with the best of ‘em, he’s fast and smart and spins himself out far too regularly. If this makes any sense whatsoever, he’s like a 5’11,” 180-pound version of Todd Bertuzzi--when his hands and feet and the puck are all going in the same direction, he’s a little freight train with a nasty bite, but when everything isn’t aligned, it’s like watching a whirling dervish get dizzy. Put simply, though he has AHL eligibility, I firmly believe that he needs to go back to the WHL, dominate down there and come back a little more confident and a little more focused.

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/a2y/comments/red_wings_prospects_conclude_tournament_with_a_loss_prepare_for_main_camp/

[Red Wings Addict 787]

Willie Coetzee making strong case to remain with Grand Rapids Griffins this season

http://www.mlive.com/griffins/index.ssf/2011/10/willie_coetzee_making_strong_c.html

He said his time in Toledo served as a good eye-opener and gave him an indication on the parts of his game he needs to work on. "In a way when it happened, I think it was tough. For me, I thought it was a bad thing," he said. "You know how it goes through everyone's head, that it's a negative, but in the long run I think it was a good thing. It's a good experience builder, and there's still tough guys down there. It was good for me to realize what it takes to be here."

Coetzee said he trained harder than ever this summer, working to get stronger and improving his speed, which long has been one of his biggest assets. Since he was able to log heavy minutes in Toledo, he also now feels more poised with the puck.

Coetzee developed into a scorer in his final year in the Western Hockey League after recording 81 points (29 goals, 52 assists) in 72 gamse with Red Deer. He hopes that kind of development also translates onto the ice this season.

And no offense to Toledo, but he wants to stick it out in Grand Rapids.

"It was tough, it was hard. It's a good eye-opener to see what you needed to improve on," Coetzee said. "I took it in the summer and improved on everything they told me to, and came back this year to try to be the best player I could."

[FifeHockeyNut 57]

Got waived today per Darren Dreger, is this with a future buyout ahead ($125 waivers) or has he just been on main roster since Olympic break on IR?