Month: July 2018

I can only scratch my head at this Ken Holland quote from today’s post-free agent signing conference call, per the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

“We are trying to transition from older people to younger people,” general manager Ken Holland said Sunday afternoon. “We signed some veteran players because it’s important we have some veterans around our kids, but at the same time, it’s important that those kids get an opportunity. We believe we can make both things happen.”

Recent forward draftees Michael Rasmussen and Filip Zadina and defensemen Filip Hronek and Dennis Cholowski are among leading candidates to grab jobs either out of training camp or early in the season.

“We’re going to give a lot of young players a long look in preseason and the plan is, the hope is, to have two or three kids crack our lineup,” Holland said. “But they have to be ready. And if they don’t make the roster on opening day, that doesn’t mean they’re not up two weeks later. It’s a six-month season, and lots happens. Zadina and Rasmussen were just here at development camp and the message to those players is you have to come in and win a job. We are going to give them every opportunity.”

The Wings want to create a competitive situation balanced with rebuilding.

“The hope is we can hang in and the longer we can hang in, I think the better the environment is for the fans, for our players, especially for our young players,” Holland said. “Ultimately my focus as the manager is probably on this team a little bit down the road. I don’t want it to be way down the road, but a little bit down the road, we can be in the playoff race.”

St. James continues, and if there ever was a single-article summary of Ken Holland’s system of beliefs as they apply to his managerial moves, the above-quoted paragraphs are that philosophy distilled. The man truly believes that he’s threading the needle between a veteran-laden team and a youth movement.

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa suggests that Red Wings general manager Ken Holland lacks the patience necessary for a “full rebuild,” for better or worse:

The weekend brought the solace of a clear increase in talent among the Wings’ prospects, at the development scrimmage. It also brought reconfirmation, if ever any was needed, that Holland’s approach to the rebuild remains more dutiful than eager.

It is evermore clear he is entirely unwilling to risk a 50-loss season to vastly increase the odds of drafting an assured star, like Dahlin or Hughes.

But Holland can boast that this season his strategy brought Zadina, Joe Veleno, Jonatan Berggren and Jared McIsaac, and he has five picks in the first three rounds in 12 months.

For those who expected a more vigorous approach to rebuilding the Red Wings a few seasons ago, disappointment escalates.

Holland is moving at his pace. It will hasten, somewhat, in 12 months when, making another 10 selections in the draft, Jimmy Howard, Nick Jensen, Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist and Vanek become free agents, and Cholowski, Zadina, Veleno and Givani Smith might be ready for the NHL, in Holland’s eyes.

But for now, it is a matter of getting Athanasiou, Larkin and Mantha signed, consulting with Zetterberg, opening training camp … and patience.

Krupa continues…

This was coming. That’s my “bottom line” thought about the Red Wings and Ken Holland’s decisions to re-sign Mike Green, bring Thomas Vanek back and ink Jonathan Bernier to a generous 3-year contract–that all of this was coming.

When I left the Wings’ summer development camp on Saturday, I understood that Ken Holland was going to put some roadblocks in the faces of the players the team had spent the week promoting, and I knew that from the instant the Wings re-signed Holland himself.

In my opinion, there’s just nothing to be enraged or infuriated about not because Kenny wasn’t gonna do what he does, but instead, precisely because Kenny Holland has never, ever changed his stripes as it relates to padding the roster with veteran players.

It happens every summer, no matter how damn good the young players are, and the only people that can fight the battles against the Old Guardian are the Wings’ young players, not you nor I, so I just try my best to sigh heavily and move on with my day.

I hope that you can find your happy place and know that the enthusiasm I conveyed regarding the Red Wings’ young players this past week is still very real, and that they are still the future, regardless of how many roadblocks Holland places along their path toward the NHL. In the end, talent prevails, and over the long haul, the Wings’ best players will shine through…

It’s just going to take a little longer to get to that bright future than you or I would like, because “our team’s” general manager is one stubborn old codger.

That’s my take, at least.

Filling in some loose ends, Grand Rapids Griffins goalie and Calder Cup winner Jared Coreau is heading to Anaheim…

Former Red Wings goalie Jared Coreau signs a 1-year deal with the Ducks worth $650/$450K.

— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) July 1, 2018

While Valtteri Filppula is not going to end up with the Red Wings, despite strong rumors to the contrary:

Source says #Isles have indeed signed C Valteri Filppula, though team has not confirmed.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) July 2, 2018

 

Xavier Ouellet thanked the Red Wings and Griffins on Instagram as he signed a 1-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens today:

Before l talk about how excited l am about signing with the @canadiensmtl , I want to take a second to thank the @detroitredwings organization and the city of Detroit for giving me an opportunity to make my debut in the NHL—it was an amazing experience! The cities of Detroit and Grand Rapids brought me so much. It was an honor to wear the Redwings jersey and I’m sad to leave Michigan behind as I move back home to Montreal. Thanks again to all my teammates, all the fans, and the organization. #detroit #RedWings Maintenant c’est le temps de dire a quel point ma famille et moi sommes excité pour ce nouveau depart à Montreal, la ville ou j’ai grandi, devant le support de ma famille et mes amies. Now l want to say how truly excited my family and l are about this new opportunity in Montreal. A fresh start in my hometown in front of my family and friends is going to be amazing. #montreal @canadiensmtl

A post shared by Xavier Ouellet (@the_xman16) on Jul 1, 2018 at 1:07pm PDT

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. The Associated Press’s Stephen Whyno penned an article regarding today’s Red Wings’ free agent signings…

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff chimes in on the Red Wings’ free agent signings this afternoon. Duff suggests that the Red Wings are taking steps backward, not forward, by re-signing Mike Green and Thomas Vanek and bringing in Jonathan Bernier:

What Holland doesn’t seem to comprehend is that being competitive right now is the worst possible solution for Detroit’s future. The Wings don’t need to keep just missing the playoffs. They need to stop missing out on the Rasmus Dahlins of the hockey world.

On the one hand, it’s a puzzling approach. Then again, as you looked around at the many empty seats at the new Little Caesars Arena, did you really believe the team line that the reason for those empty seats was because everyone was wandering around the concourse?

The fact of the matter is it’s been a battle for the team this summer so far in terms of season-ticket renewals, and as much as bottoming out would help the Wings get a franchise player, it won’t do much for the franchise’s bottom line.

Holland admitted he is trying to have the best of both worlds, but all that’s done the past two seasons is create a losing environment. Still, he believes in the long term, their approach is going to pan out.

“We’ve got lots of kids coming,” Holland said. “It’s going to take a little bit of time. We’re going to have to have some patience. I believe we’re headed in the right direction. In the short term, trying to bring in some veteran players to mentor, to role model the young kids. We need to be competitive. It’s important to develop players in an environment that’s positive and we go into every game with a chance to win. We’re trying to obviously juggle having veterans on the roster with moving depth players into the roster.”

That blueprint hasn’t panned out to a playoff spot the past two seasons and third-time unlucky would seem to be almost a certainty at this point.

Duff continues…

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji took note of the comments made by Mike Green, Thomas Vanek, Jonathan Bernier and Ken Holland on the players and GM’s respective conference calls this afternoon, and Wakiji also spoke with Red Wings goaltending coach Jeff Salajko regarding the team’s decision to go with Bernier as Jimmy Howard’s back-up:

“I feel he got Colorado into the playoffs last year, I think he won nine in a row in that winning streak, year before did it with Anaheim when (John) Gibson went down,” Salajko said. “I’m not viewing him as a backup goalie, whether we’re talking about a 1-B, this is a guy that can give you 30 to 40 games. A lot of backups are more in the 20-25 range, maybe more. He wants to play. Everybody that I’ve talked to, the coaches, the players, said he’s a worker and he will work and he’s a great teammate. That’s kind of what we need.”

Salajko said Howard is also a hard worker and now the two netminders will be able to have a friendly competition for playing time.

“Now you got two guys that are going to push each other,” Salajko said. “Jimmy will embrace it, I know that. We had to sign another goalie, we wanted to get the best one out there. Jonathan Bernier was the best goalie on the free agent market. Carter Hutton’s a nice goalie, he’s right there, but we feel like we got the best one. I’m excited to work with him. We talked for 20 minutes (the other day), he sounds like a real pro. He’s excited to get here and find a house and whatnot. I just think it gives us a little stability and depth in net. Maybe we don’t have to play Jimmy Howard 60 games this year, maybe it’s 50. The season will dictate that with these guys’ play and their health.

Continued

Of Henrik Zetterberg-related note from MLive’s Ansar Khan:

General manager Ken Holland, during Sunday’s conference call about the team’s free-agent signings, wasn’t certain about Zetterberg’s plans.

“The last I talked to him, I think he’s planning on playing,” Holland said. “Obviously, his back is going to determine whether he can or can’t. Do I have a clear green light? I’m expecting him to play. Do I have a clear green light? No. I don’t know that I’ve got a clear green light.

“Obviously, when you are dealing with the back and you’re dealing with the health of a person, it’s hard to read the future when it comes to health. Obviously, that’s a key piece for us. I’ll stay in touch with Henrik as we get into July to see how his health is.”

Red Wings GM Ken Holland spoke with the Wings’ media corps this afternoon, and Michigan Hockey’s Stefan Kubus took note of Holland’s take as to how today’s three free agency signings impact the team’s youth movement:

“As we go into training camp, players I want to see – Michael Rasmussen, Zadina, Svechnikov, Dom Turgeon played well last year and got up a little bit. On defense, Sulak, Hronek, Cholowski, Hicketts, hopefully I haven’t missed anybody, but we’re going to give a lot of young players a long look in preseason and the plan is, the hope is, that kids crack our line-up, but they have to be ready. I don’t believe you just put them on the team. You have to be ready. The message that we’ve talked to these players is obviously, Rasmussen and Zadina were just here at our Development Camp, and the message to those players is that you have to come in and win a job. We’re going to give them every opportunity.”

He also wanted to remind people that just because certain players may not be on the Opening Night roster come October, it doesn’t mean they won’t be making the drive from Grand Rapids to Detroit shortly thereafter.

“These kids have to come in, there’s that fine line between just putting them on the team, what do they have to accomplish to just be put on the team, and what do they have to accomplish, what do they have to do to win a job. That’s what we’re going to judge as we get into training camp. Again, we’re going to end up with two or three kids on our team, two or three young players. Who are they going to be? We’re going to decide after we go to Traverse City for training camp and preseason and then we’ll sit down with Jeff Blashill a couple of days prior to the season start to get our Opening Day roster.

“If they don’t make the roster opening day, it doesn’t mean they’re not up two weeks later. I look at Anthony Mantha a year and a half ago, we sent him down and then he scored I think eight goals in 11 games to start the AHL season and we called him up in early to mid-November. Everybody obviously always focuses in on opening day but it’s a six-month season and lots happens. In order to crack the line-up opening day, they have to come in and grab it. We think we’re going to be in a position where we can put two or three guys on the team, if two young defensemen can make our team maybe we’ll carry eight defensemen, maybe we’ll go 13 and eight, maybe we’ll go 14 and seven, we want to get to training camp and watch and see what these players do.”

Caples continues…