The Detroit Red Wings like to cook their prospects until they're hard, leathery and basically inedible without barbecue sauce - as the experiences of Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar and Riley Sheahan can attest to.

The organization's top prospect, 2013 first-round pick Anthony Mantha, is likely to get the same treatment once he's cleared to return from a tibia fracture he sustained in September.

"(Mantha) has been given clearance to partake in some practice drills this week," Red Wings general manager Ken Holland told Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday. "Barring setbacks, sometime in the next couple of weeks, we hope we're talking about dressing him for a game."

Mantha is 20 years old so he's free to play in the AHL full-time (which is somewhat uncommon for players drafted out of the CHL in their draft plus-two season). If the Red Wings' intense patience is instructive, he'll likely spend at least one full season - and perhaps more - at that level.

"He's a young guy who's never played pro hockey," Holland said of Mantha. "He missed all of training camp, he's 20 years of age, and he's been sidelined eight weeks with a fractured tibia. He needs to be in the AHL and learn to play pro hockey. The NHL is full of players with lots of potential, with guys who scored in juniors. The NHL, it's a hard league to score in. It takes time.

"He's got to get healthy, then play in the AHL, and we'll watch," continued the Red Wings executive.

The 6-foot-5, smooth skating forward has scored 107 goals in 124 games with Val-d'Or of the QMJHL over the past two seasons.