Red Wings at ease with Vili Saarijarvi joining OHL's Flint Firebirds

Odds are, the OHL's Flint Firebirds will get someone special in defenceman Vili Saarijarvi, whom they took in the import draft just days after he was drafted in the third round and signed by the nearby Detroit Red Wings.

Just as water finds its own level, an 18-year-old draft pick at his first NHL camp will demonstrate what level he belongs at for his post-draft season. Saarijarvi, though, was a revelation during the Red Wings development camp after being taken No. 73 overall from the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers. That pits Saarijarvi, who's under contract to Finnish pro team Oulu Karpat, as one of the OHL's most intriguing newcomers if he joins the Firebirds. As a footnote, the Red Wings never drafted a single player from the franchise during the entire 25 years that it was owned by Peter Karmanos when it was based in Plymouth, Mich.

"At the end of the day, it's going to be Vili's decision where he will play next season," Red Wings director of player development Jiri Fischer says. "A and at the same time, it depends on his contract situation that he has in Finland.

"He was very good at camp," Fischer adds. "It was a good learning experience for him because he learned a lot about how to go through that. So when he comes to big camp in the fall, this experience will really help him ... On the ice, he showed his skills, which is smarts, skating, puck moving, not really being intimidated by the environment. pressure doesn't seem to really get to him and those are all great traits. So I'm really excited about him.

"[Red Wings scout and former player] Kris Draper watched him at the Ivan Hlinka [under-18 tournament in August 2014] and the [world[ under-18s last season. He was elite at the international level and produced a ton."

Czech connection to Flint

Fischer and Firebirds general manager Terry Christensen were also colleagues on the staff of Team Czech Republic at the 2011 world junior championship. The comfort factor is also enhanced by the fact Saarijarvi spent last season in Green Bay, where Red Wings ECHL coach Derek Lalonde previously worked.

"With the USHL, we know the league really well and know how good it is," Fischer says. "The OHL is another good league."

The symbiosis of having a prospect playing in-state is fairly self-explanatory, especially for a Flint team looking to build an identity in a new OHL market after moving from Plymouth at the end of the season. It certainly can't hurt the Firebirds' cause if Saarijarvi ends up skating alongside the likes of potential Team USA goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and 17-year-old centre Will Bitten. Saarijarvi also sounded enthused about joining Flint.

"We don't force our prospects to play anywhere that they don't want to," Fischer said. "We'll support the decision and try to give them the knowledge about the environment and try to work with them. My philosophy's always been, guys have to dominate where they are before they move on to the next level. If they don't figure out how to be productive in certain environments, a trade is not the fix. Skipping from place to place develops a bad habit of not working things out. Vili's going to decide where he plays and we're going to give him the support."

In recent winters, players in the Red Wings system such as Justin Abdelkader (Michigan State), Dylan Larkin (Michigan), Jan Mursak (Saginaw) and Jake Paterson (Saginaw) have played within the state. No doubt many would wonder about the anomaly that the winged wheel-wearing franchise never drafted from the nearby Whalers.

In 2009-10, though, Plymouth was an option for Red Wings first-rounder Tomas Tatar after they acquired his rights from the Kitchener Rangers in a trade for fellow import draft choice Gabriel Landeskog. Tatar, however, earned a spot with the AHL farm team in Grand Rapids while still shy of 19.

"He's still the only player to have scored 20 goals four years in a row for Grand Rapids," Fischer recalls. "He would have been the one to play for Plymouth if he hadn't been so good."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @naitSAYger.