MSM takes on the Red vs. White Game at the Red Wings’ training camp ’18

Of MSM-related note from over the course of Sunday evening:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan found out where the phrase on the backs of every Red Wings player came from, and Khan folded it into his recap of the Red vs. White Game:

Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill wants his team to be harder to play against, play with an edge, compete from the opening faceoff to the final horn.

He wants to see “Sixty Minutes of Hell” during the regular season.

That’s the motto Blashill has adopted during training camp, one that’s emblazoned on T-shirts players are wearing while working out.

It’s borrowed from former Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson, who preached a “40 minutes of hell” playing style that pressured opponents all over the court and resulted in much success for the Razorbacks in the early 1990s.

Blashill has seen a higher compete level during the first three days of camp at Centre I.C.E., including Sunday’s Red and White intrasquad scrimmage.

“As competitive as a Red/White game as I’ve seen,” Blashill said. “Not much space. It was closer to a real game than just a scrimmage.”

Khan continues at length, and (2) the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan picks it up from there, discussing Filip Zadina’s performance in the scrimmage. Zadina played on a line with Andreas Athanasiou and Thomas Vanek:

Zadina scored a goal, helping the Red team to a 4-2 victory. Zadina had other scoring chances and the line had exciting moments – but for every positive there were learning moments, too, for Zadina.

“They’re real good NHL players,” said Zadina after the scrimmage at Centre ICE Arena. “We had pretty good chances on the ice together. I appreciated I could play with them.”

Even in a scrimmage with his own teammates, Zadina noticed the size and speed and quick decision-making of NHL players on the ice

This wasn’t the prospects tournament from a week ago when Zadina was going against players his own age. This was against, well, NHL players.

“It was different,” Zadina said. “I was getting used to playing with junior players. I’ll get experience from this game.”

Coach Jeff Blashill wanted to see how Zadina would mix on a line with a savvy passer like Vanek, and with Athanasiou’s speed.

Athanasiou, who has had a nice start to this camp, had a goal and Vanek made several dazzling passes setting up Athanasiou and Zadina, as the line was as productive as any in the scrimmage.

“They did a good job,” said Blashill, who hinted he’d probably keep the line together for an exhibition game. “Athanasiou is having an excellent camp so far. He’s competed real hard every day in practice, he’s taking tons of ownership. I’ve liked him with Vanek. Vanek creates scoring chances all over the place; that’s just what he does.”

Kulfan also continues…

3. The Free Press’s Helene St. James also took note of Zadina’s performance…

“I was trying to skate because AA, he is so quick, so I was trying to skate with him,” Zadina said. “As I did it today, I am open every single time because he is smart guy, he can find me any time on the ice. Same with Thomas. I am so glad I can play with them. If I play with them again, it will be way better.”

Blashill said Zadina looked like he might get “exponentially better” from playing with Vanek and Athanasiou.

It was the Wings’ first-round pick from 2015 who began the Red squad’s rally after Darren Helm pulled the White group to a 2-0 lead. Evgeny Svechnikov scored on Joe Veleno’s rebound in front of the net, the sort of dirty goal the Wings need.

“It’s certainly something he can do because he does have that strength,” Blashill said. “He’s real strong on the puck and to score you have to go to those areas and I think he’s very willing to go to those areas. It’s a good start for sure.”

Svechnikov, Zadina, Michael Rasmussen (the first-round pick from 2017) are the leading prospects to earn jobs in Detroit. Svechnikov was expected to do so last year, in fact, after a very good first year of pro hockey in the AHL, but first he was injured and then he struggled to score in Grand Rapids.

St. James also continues…

4. And DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji discusses the potential scoring exploits of another line:

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill has [Anthony] Mantha on a line with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi in the early going in camp.

“I actually hope we do play together,” Mantha said. “Last year was going pretty good at the end there, him and I. Bertuzzi is just a great player also right now. He showed it (Saturday) in the scrimmage. He brings it to the dirty areas. If we can be a line, it would be great for the team and hopefully for ourselves.”

Blashill will likely use that line in a preseason game or two.

“You have three real good players, you have good pieces in the sense that Bert is an F-1 on the forecheck, he’s a net-front guy,” Blashill said. “That allows the other two – not that they’re not hard on the forecheck – but it allows them to use their skill. Bert is a special player. He thinks the game at a high, high level. He’s got real good talent. I think Bert’s got a chance to be a real good player and I think putting them together can make a real good line.”

Bertuzzi’s willingness to go to the net can create opportunities for Mantha elsewhere in the offensive zone.

“Mantha has learned that the net is a spot where if you get to lots you’re going to score some easy goals,” Blashill said. “Having Bert there allows some flexibility for (Mantha) to use part of his skill set, which is a real good shot, too.”

Wakiji also continues…

5. The Detroit News’s Tom Gromak posted a 52-image photo gallery from the Red vs. White Game…

6. And the Detroit News’s Kulfan filed a notebook entry which discusses Darren Helm’s role given that he scored 2 goals during the scrimmage:

“It’s always fun scoring,” said Helm, who is more of a defensive forward. “I don’t get a chance to do it a lot, so I’m going to take it.”

Helm, 31, once was among the younger players on the Wings, a fresh face in a room full of legends nearing the end of their careers.

Not anymore. These days, Helm is one of the grizzled veterans, and it feels “a little bit different” to him.

“In my first six or seven years I was the young guy on the team and now there isn’t a whole lot of guys older than me,” Helm said. “But it’s kind of the way the game is moving, with younger guys. I guess that’s with any team that’s going through changes. There is change happening here and guys are excited about it.”

Helm noticed a different type of enthusiasm and edge in Sunday’s scrimmage. There are jobs to be won, spots in the lineup to be finalized, ice time to be determined – and the pace and competitiveness Sunday reflected that.

“It was a good scrimmage,” Helm said. ”The first two practices set the tone for what we were going to expect out here today. Guys know there’s opportunity and it showed today that guys are playing and want it. It was fun.”

6. And among the video clips from Sunday are YouTube clips from MLive’s Ansar Khan, who spoke with Darren Helm, Evgeny Svechnikov, Filip Zadina and coach Jeff Blashill…

 

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted clips of Zadina, Svechnikov and Blashill speaking with the media…

And here are the Wings’ Tweets of note:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.