Pro Hockey Talk’s Adam Gretz posted a set of “power rankings” regarding the potential offseason storylines, and he offers a brief little bit regarding the Red Wings’ potential offseason moves:
13. Does Detroit have another big move? It is time for the Red Wings to take the next step in their rebuild. They have some great young core players, made a big move for a goalie (Husso), but they are still facing an uphill battle in that division.
I’m in a noisy rink, so you can enjoy a little Red Wings talk from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek via their 32 Thoughts podcast before I can hear it:
Buckle up! Jeff and Elliotte discuss the latest around the goalie market, some names to keep an eye on this week and a couple of interesting stories to follow.
They guys touch on Matt Murray (00:30) and Jack Campbell (3:40), Adrian Kempe (9:00), J.T. Miller (11:35), Brent Burns (15:20), the Panthers (18:10) and the Blue Jackets (19:30), Evgeni Malkin (20:45), Claude Giroux (23:20), Johnny Gaudreau (24:00), Ondřej Palát (25:10), the Strome’s (25:30) and the Red Wings (26:50), Andrew Copp (28:20), a few things on the Avalanche (28:50), David Perron (31:20), Nick Deslauriers (32:00), Phil Kessel (32:45), John Klingberg (33:00), Josh Manson (33:50), Miles Wood (35:30), Shane Wright (36:30), potential rule changes (39:25), Andreas Athanasiou (40:50) and they give a quick thought on Montreal (44:30).
Per the Detroit Red Wings:
A live look inside the 2022 Detroit Red Wings Development Camp with Ken Kal, Daniella Bruce, Art Regner, and Carley Johnston.
Update: Also:
Good morning, Detroit!
Time to get at it. #DRWDC pic.twitter.com/A4Xk7DgDGR— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 11, 2022
The Grand Rapids Griffins have posted an article reviewing defenseman Dan Renouf’s 2021-2022 AHL season, and they posted a video highlighting Renouf’s contributions as well:
97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield explains why he believes that the Red Wings are building something of a bridge toward the Sebastian Cossa era by bringing in Ville Husso to split time with incumbent starter Alex Nedeljkovic:
The Wings are very excited to have Husso. He’s coming off a breakout season in which he earned a vote for the Vezina Trophy. It’s been 10 seasons since Detroit had a goalie earn a Vezina vote, Jimmy Howard in 2012-13. Howard never quite reached that level again, Petr Mrazek wasn’t the successor the Wings thought he would be and here they are in 2022, still searching for a long-term answer in goal.
Sebastian Cossa remains their most promising candidate. He also remains at least a couple years away. Because the comparison is so popular, Steve Yzerman drafted Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first round in 2012; the future Vezina winner didn’t take over the net in Tampa Bay until midway through the 2016-17 season. The same timeline for Cossa, a first-round pick in 2021, would make him Detroit’s No. 1 goalie in 2025-26.
In the meantime, someone has to man the Red Wings’ crease. And if he mans it well enough, like Ben Bishop did for the Lightning prior to Vasilevskiy’s arrival, he’ll force Cossa to take it away. He’ll also guard the club against the possibility that Cossa doesn’t take it at all; a 19-year-old, 6’6 goaltender can land anywhere on the professional spectrum.
This is why Yzerman traded for Husso, just like he traded for Alex Nedeljkovic a year ago. And this is why he quickly signed Husso to a three-year deal worth a reported $4.75 million per season. That will bring Husso through the 2024-25, by which time Cossa should be playing in Detroit. Then it’s on Cossa to take over.
“I feel like these days in hockey, (you need) to have two good goalies on the team,” Husso said.
The Score’s Josh Wegman posted an article discussing “the 5 most interesting teams heading into free agency,” and the Detroit Red Wings made his list:
Are the Red Wings ready to make the leap from rebuilder to playoff team? Maybe not as much as the Devils or Ottawa Senators are, but they’re close. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond were exceptional as rookies last year, and there are still plenty of other prospects coming through the pipeline.
All of the bad contracts GM Steve Yzerman inherited from Ken Holland are off the books, so the Wings have $31 million in projected cap space this summer.
Yzerman has already showed his aggressiveness with the addition of Ville Husso between the pipes, but Detroit still has plenty of needs up front and on the back end.
Some of the older UFAs, like Kadri and Giroux, may not be suitable, but somebody who could help push the team forward now and still fit the winning timeline would be ideal. Valeri Nichushkin, Andre Burakovsky, Mason Marchment, and Andrew Copp are all potential fits. Gaudreau can’t be ruled out, either. And even though Ondrej Palat is 31, he would make sense given the connections to Yzerman and new head coach Derek Lalonde.
This story comes to us via a Tweet from The Athletic’s Max Bultman: colleague and Tampa Bay Lightning correspondent Joe Smith penned an article in which he discusses Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s connection to his late mother:
When Derek Lalonde got his dream job as @DetroitRedWings coach, there was one person he wished he could have called: his late mother. How Donna, a hairdresser from Brasher Falls, shaped Lalonde’s rise. On Sunday, they celebrated her life in North Country https://t.co/lPgLGDbFbf pic.twitter.com/9rGZVJSQwc— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) July 11, 2022
Here’s the introduction to Smith’s story:
Continue reading Via Bultman Tweet: The Athletic’s Joe Smith tells a great Derek Lalonde storyThe Red Wings drafted University of Denver forward Carter Mazur last summer hoping that the 6,’ 173-pound center would be a solid 4th line forward with bite. Instead, en route to an NCAA championship, Mazur posted 14 goals and 24 assists for 38 points in 41 regular season and playoff games, and served notice that he possesses top-six potential.
Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary’s remarks regarding Mazur’s maturity:
The Detroit Red Wings Development camp is in Day 2 today. Monday, Red Wings Director of Player Development Dan Cleary told a story about how he knew Carter Mazur wants to be a player last November.
“He reaches out on his own without me saying anything,” Cleary said. “I’ve already seen him play twice. Then we do video. Then, he calls you after video and says, ‘Hey can you send me samples of scoring stuff. I feel like I’m having trouble finding the net.’”
The Red Wings have an entire library of that kind of information.
“You send him some clips of maybe getting his shot off quicker, finding areas in the zone,” Cleary said. “It was like a five-minute video. After that, however it clicked in his mind, he went on an absolute tear. He just felt so much more confident and it just took off. Was it the five-minute video or was it some psychological thing where he just had to see it. But he took on a huge role in Denver. He’s bigger, thicker. He’s gonna have a really important role next year in Denver.”
Per DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce:
Good morning @DetroitRedWings fans!! We’ll have live coverage of development camp today from 1-2pm. Tune in on Red Wings YouTube, Facebook, & website. #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) July 11, 2022
Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a subscriber-only article this morning which discusses Ville Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic’s similar situation’s as somewhat unproven goaltenders looking to prove something in the Red Wings’ crease this upcoming season. Duff notes that both goalies need to find a more consistent game:
Both Husso and Nedeljkovic have established beyond a shadow of a doubt that when on top of their game, they can perform on par with the elite of NHL netminders. The next step for both goalies is to prove they’re capable of doing it on a night to night basis.
Last season, Nedeljkovic was turning in a 46-save shutout against the Hurricanes and a 43-save shutout at Vancouver. However, the season also saw him enduring a stretch from Dec. 7-March 19 in which he went 8-16-3. In 14 of those games, Nedeljkovic was posting a save percentage below .900. Five of the games saw his save percentage dip below .800.
From Nedeljkovic’s point of view, his job as a netminder is to keep his team in the game, no matter the level of the play taking place in front of him.
“For me it’s finding ways to bail us out on nights that we’re not ready to play, we’re not feeling it as good as we can,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s my job to stop the puck, it’s my job to keep us in games and help us win games every single night. I understand that.
“If you want to be a great goalie in this league, you have to do that every single night. You can’t allow those kind of games to happen.”
Continued (paywall)
