Nobody gets the people talking like Dick Axelsson.

Everyone's favorite side story from this past season is back in the news again. Heading into the final year of his three year entry-level contract, Axelsson has officially re-signed a two year deal with Farjestads BK in the SEL. What does this mean? Well, Axelsson still plans on coming over for camp, but he's voiced concern about reporting to Grand Rapids should he be sent there, which, if you know anything about the way Detroit develops players and how crowded their roster already looks for next season, you know is where he'll end up.

If you haven't followed along, here's the deal. In the first year of Axelsson's contract, he wished to stay in the SEL. Detroit endorsed this because due to his late development (never played for a high profile Swedish junior team like most prospects do), major contract disputes between his SEL team and SWE-2 team, and a couple injury issues, Axelsson never really got a proper adjustment period to SEL hockey. In year two, this past season, he came over to Grand Rapids. He had a strong training camp in my eyes, and was very strong early on for Grand Rapids. Unfortunately, the team as a whole struggled, and amidst a ton of line re-shuffling, Axelsson was only getting fourth line minutes and was even out of the lineup a few times. Keep in mind, nobody was scoring. Axelsson got frustrated and was not too impressed with the AHL, so he packed his bags and returned to the SEL -- where he got much more ice time -- and that was that for his season.

I read this and figured, sigh, well that effectively ends his tenure as a legitimate NHL prospect. But then as more and more leaked out about this signing, I got to thinking.

It turns out that, like Daniel Larsson's contract, the deal is a one-and-one. One year with the option of cutting out of the second year if he chooses. Which, as reader Teus pointed out in my last post, doesn't really matter anyway because there is now a transfer agreement between the NHL and Sweden -- players can cut out of their SEL contracts and leave for the NHL when they please (well, before and after seasons at least -- you can't "recall" a player from the SEL midseason).

Taking this even further, Detroit has given Axelsson the thumbs up on returning to Sweden. They were not too happy when he took off without notice this season. But it makes some sense -- Axelsson hasn't proved much in the SEL yet. He had a decent year with Djurgardens in 07/08, but was then kicked off the team for poor training habits (and rumors, yes, just rumors, about off-ice partying). He then posted an impressive 18 points in 21 games with Farjestads to close the season, but a finger injury that eventually required surgery kept him from having a productive playoff.

However, Axelsson has drawn the wrath of Detroit's Swedish super-scout, Hakan Andersson. Here are a few of the choice words that Hakan had for Dick (copied from George's translation at Red Wings Snapshots)

"We had hoped that Dick would have liked to pursue an NHL career.  But there are no hard feelings.  Detroit doesn't stand in the fall with Dick Axelsson, but he doesn't want to be there when the train rolls.  He never sends any signals, in any case."

"Dick may be happy as long as Farjestad can cope with him."

"As it is right now, he doesn't want to play for the farm team and we think, or rather know that he doesn't qualify for a spot in Detroit.  He's simply not that good. If he doesn't want to play for our farm team so it doesn't matter to us where he plays.  My boss says he doesn't want players on our farm team who don't want to be there.  So it was last winter, and I assume so it would be this winter."

"He will be happy as long as Farjestad wants him, and it's still a fairly high level [of hockey].  He surely couldn't [make it] with Djurgarden for a particularly long time.  Now we'll see how long Farjestad will be able to cope with him."

"We have the rights to Dick for another year and if he will against all odds develop and emerge in the team we may have to think about it then.  But as it was last winter, he was hardly a prominent player with Farjestad."

"It feels like he has set his hockey career on a completely different level than we expected."

You might be wondering the same thing I was at this point: why is Hakan Andersson giving him the verbal business like this? It seems very unlike a high ranking official in the Red Wings organization to publicly trash a player. Andersson is just a scout -- the scout, as it is -- but still. From an organization that preaches patience with players, Hakan's comments seem petty.

But it makes sense. Unlike most of Detroit's Swedish steals, Andersson must have pushed for Axelsson to be drafted high. He was taken in the second round of the 2006 draft, having been unranked, virtually unheard of, and undrafted in his first year of draft eligibility in 2005. There was really nothing that justified it. You just assumed that he was a player because Andersson usually waits for the middle and later rounds to find his Swedish steals. He stuck his neck out for Axelsson, and he got burned.

For the record, Axelsson handled the comments pretty well for a player who many laptop GMs accuse of being "immature" and "childish." He brought up an interesting point and a potential huge development issue in that Andersson basically gave Axelsson the cold shoulder;

"Hakan and I had a great relationship at first. But when I went home, he didn't even dare to call and ask how I was.  They were annoyed about me and now I can understand that."

"Of course it's sad that he'll just sit there and make those attacks.  I don't know if he thinks he knows me, and that he can say that people don't like me.  But he wants to take out their aggression that way.  Anybody can feel and say what they want."

"I don't know if he thinks he knows me, so he thinks he can say that people don't like me.  He might believe that.  But if Hakan doesn't think I can play at a higher level I guess I can play for a spot at this level. I would not have directly said that I wanted to earn a position in the NHL.  But I have made my choice and I believe in it."

Clearly this is going to motivate Axelsson, an already very moody and emotional player and person, to give Detroit another chance.

This got me thinking about the way Detroit has been developing Swedish players lately. It's a tough question to pose, but I think the logical thing to ask right now is if Detroit is truly as proficient at developing players as their often given credit for. Just hear me out. This is about the time of the post where many are thinking "what is this? When is he gonna mention the Red Wing's philosophy of paying your dues? Nobody is entitled to an NHL spot." Well, now's the time.

I'd argue that most of the players on the Red Wings did not pay their dues. Heck, some of the players who are flourishing the most did not pay their dues, and are succeeding in other organizations where they were thrust into the line of fire. Look at the roster among players drafted by Detroit.

Abdelkader, Datsyuk, Filppula, Franzen, Helm, Holmstrom, Zetterberg, Ericsson, Kronwall, Lidstrom, Meech, Howard, Osgood.

Cross off Lidstrom because that was a way different era -- probably Holmstrom too. But Datsyuk, Franzen, and Zetterberg moved right in -- different circumstances because those happen to be the three best players. Abdelkader, Filppula, Helm, and Kronwall (who was injury-prone in Sweden, thus needing some AHL time) forced their way in and "cut in line" so to speak, because they got the chance. Ericsson spent a year in the AHL after he was deemed NHL ready and look how that turned out. That leaves Osgood, who actually is a really good example of paying your dues, though he didn't really have a choice when Detroit went after Hasek. Howard and Meech certainly paid their dues, but to be fair, Meech is awful, and goalies tend to develop later than players. That just leaves the group of four who had some AHL time (throw Hudler in too, but he's not the best example because he got impatient with low ice time and left for Russia), but most of them accelerated into the NHL. Sure, it's because they deserved to be there, but who really thought Helm was an NHLer in waiting until he finally got into the lineup? I'm a prospects nerd, and I was baffled when they called him up the first time.

Of course, not all "paying your dues" involve AHL to NHL. Like Osgood for example, Detroit has found some success with free agents. Guys like Dan Cleary, Andreas Lilja, and now Patrick Eaves and Drew Miller were castoffs from other teams. They started with small roles on the team and worked their way up into moderate success. Cleary is coming off a bad year, but should be a 20 goal scorer that once scored three goals on Detroit's 4th line, but earned that ice time because he hustled and created chances while he was there. Lilja's a bit different because he was only a third-pairing guy, but it didn't take long for him to develop into a PK mainstay. Eaves and Miller both remind me of Cleary, in that they were largely 4th line players who will probably get a few chances in the next few years to earn a larger role.

But also, a precedent is being set for over-development. A lot of players are seeing that they can not only cash in for more money, but they can flourish with more ice time. Mikael Samuelsson scored 30 goals this year and was, ugh, clutch in the playoffs. Ville Leino is suddenly a useful player who looks like the guy that appeared briefly in Detroit last season. He admits that the trade was enough to light a fire under him, but also confessed that the coaches were telling him too many things and his confidence was shot. To be clear, I don't want either of these guys back, at all, but I'm just saying -- nobody thought either would amount to much outside of Detroit. Then you look at former prospects like Shawn Matthias and Tomas Fleischmann (edit: Kyle Quincey, duh), who would likely still be chipping away in Grand Rapids instead of securing full-time NHL positions. Jakub Kindl almost made the Red Wings when he was 19, and now at 23, Detroit has openly admitted they're not all that confident in him. The last thing we need is another Ericsson, with Nicklas Lidstrom, anywhere from a week to a year away from retiring.

So what am I saying here? That Detroit develops their players wrong? No, because clearly that isn't the case. Axelsson is just one of a handful of examples, but meanwhile there are a solid number of other prospects who are slowly chugging along without drawing a lot of media attention who are just fine. I'm just saying that, the notion that "you must pay your dues" is spoiled, flawed, and frankly, stupid. Yes, in the case of the NHL players, you take less to win. All that extra money didn't get Samuelsson anything, and Leino is a game away from the Finals only because the Eastern Conference is the only conference where Leino is a good player.

I'm just suggesting that Detroit has not had that much success making sure their players are "over-ready" for the NHL. And now, with European players, they're facing the ever-growing threat of better salaries in Europe. European players (and this is not just happening in Detroit, for the record) are finding it much easier to go home if it looks like they'll be in the AHL too long.

Who wouldn't? You play a couple years of professional hockey in your home country where the fans are as ravenous, sometimes more ravenous, than NHL fans. Sometimes you have to learn a new language. You travel by bus. New culture -- new things to do, new food, new everything. With Grand Rapids, the city is nice but if you go 20 minutes in any direction you're on somebody's farm. Attendance all across the AHL is not good, Grand Rapids is one of the best in the league but games that aren't on Fridays can get pretty scarce. Meanwhile, in you could be playing in sold out buildings in your home country, while being a little more recognized in the national spotlight. And guess what? You still improve as a player, because the SEL is better than the AHL.

Look, I enjoy a Dick Axelsson joke as much as the next person. I'm just trying to make sure people see the other side of the coin here. He's certainly made his share of mistakes, but he gave Grand Rapids a chance. He was a second line player in a better league, and came to the AHL to play on the 4th line. It's not all work ethic. He looked very good in the two games I watched in Grand Rapids. Nobody on the team was scoring, so Curt Fraser shuffled the lines. My only complaint about the guy is he's very delicate with rookies. Jan Mursak barely played last year, then exploded for 24 goals this year. Tomas Tatar was the best player on the team in January and March when the rest struggled, and was frequently scratched in favor of veterans. Axelsson certainly could have waited longer, but when you're played so sparingly and then the team agrees to take on other NHL teams' garbage in Patrick Rissmiller and Michael Nylander, well, it paints a certain picture.

And he's not the first case. Johan Ryno is a pretty well-known story, and he was actually scoring in Grand Rapids when he decided to leave. Igor Grigorenko was the Wings top prospect for years, nearly made the team, and spent five games in the AHL before he decided he'd had enough and Russia was the better fit for him. Leino would have bolted if Detroit sent him down. Now, Daniel Larsson left, the second that he learned he was playing in the AHL again. Goaltending is a different animal entirely, but Larsson and Jimmy Howard were equals in 08-09. Howard moved up (because he paid his dues, sure) and then virtually starred in the NHL. Larsson split time with a struggling rookie goalie, and was poised to do it for a second straight season -- with that goalie, Thomas McCollum, almost guaranteed to get more playing time based on Detroit having invested a better draft pick into him.

When Larsson left, he also signed a contract he can opt out of for one year. He's said he still wants to play in the AHL, but feels it's unnecessary to spend another year in the AHL because he thinks he has nothing left to prove. I disagree, but either way he's going to get better competition in the SEL. He also said he wanted to work with a goalie coach, which makes me wonder how much time Jim Bedard actually spends in the AHL. But he's not to blame. Larsson is taking an opportunity to play for HV-71, coming off an SEL championship, for more money, a better national standing (Larsson was barely even considered for the Olympics, while many SEL goalies were), and, in his mind, a chance to come back to Detroit after a year should Chris Osgood retire. But still people feel slighted that he dare leave Detroit to pursue personal interests.

The point is when you have this wealth, you can't just sit on it and act like it's the player's fault for wanting a better opportunity. It's very tough to make the NHL, tougher in Detroit than most cities. Players still come here because they're thrilled to go to a world class organization, but not everybody wants to. Not everyone wants to wait, and it amazes me when fans get on their case about it. Off-ice issues or not, most prospects are immature just based on being 18-24 years old. We understand it because we're fans and we read about it. Not every player understands the ins and outs of development, as sad as that may be to hear.

The Axelsson decision is interesting. They seem to have no problem with Axelsson playing in Sweden, with the exception of Hakan. This means one of two things: they're either fed up to the point where they're not going to bother asking him to stay, or they're seeing by the amount of prospects they're losing for nothing that it might be better to let a skilled player like Axelsson play big minutes in the SEL opposed to flanking a couple of muckers like Kris Newbury and Jamie Tardif in the AHL. Don't get me wrong in all of this though, Axelsson's not innocent, he makes mistakes pretty often. But people act like he's some head-case nut-job and that's just not true.

I'm not really suggesting anything with this long-winded dribble. I'm just wondering if others find that Detroit's philosophy of patience is not nearly as effective as it's given credit for. And I'm wondering if others thing opening up the door to Europe, where high skill players like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Franzen were able to jump directly from, might be a better long-term solution. End rant.