Red Wings assign Michael Rasmussen, Moritz Seider to Grand Rapids

Detroit — The Grand Rapids Griffins are going to be very intriguing for many Red Wings fans this winter.

Five of the Wings’ last six first-round draft picks will be starting the season in west Michigan, after forward Michael Rasmussen (2017) and defenseman Moritz Seider (2019) were sent down Sunday.

Also sent down were forwards Turner Elson, Matt Puempel, Chris Terry, and Dominic Turgeon, and defensemen Joe Hicketts, Brian Lashoff and Dylan McIlrath, and goaltenders Filip Larsson and Calvin Pickard.

Elson, Puempel, Terry, Turgeon, Hicketts, Lashoff, McIlrath and Pickard were among Red Wings who were waived Saturday and went unclaimed, allowing the team to assign them to Grand Rapids.

Rasmussen and Seider join 2018 first-round picks, forwards Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno, and 2015 first-round selection Evgeny Svechnikov, who were sent to Grand Rapids on Saturday.

Interestingly, the only first-round pick left on the Wings’ roster currently is defenseman Dennis Cholowski (2016).

With Jonathan Ericsson nursing an injury, there’s a good chance Cholowski could crack the opening night roster Saturday in Nashville.

The Wings were off Sunday, they’ll resume practice Monday, getting a better idea if Ericsson will be able to play this weekend, or not.

Teams must turn in their final roster by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Red Wings roster

►Forwards (14): Justin Abdelkader, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Bertuzzi, Jacob de la Rose, Christoffer Ehn, Adam Erne, Valtteri Filppula, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Taro Hirose, Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Frans Nielsen, Chase Pearson (injured, headed to Grand Rapids when cleared).

►Defensemen (9): Madison Bowey, Dennis Cholowski, Trevor Daley, Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson (injured), Mike Green, Filip Hronek, Jared McIssac (injured, will return to juniors when cleared), Patrik Nemeth.

►Goaltenders (2): Jonathan Bernier, Jimmy Howard.

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tkulfan