With 8 prospects participating in the WJC, all four of Sunday’s games involve Wings prospects

Per the Red Wings, there are eight Wings prospects participating in the World Junior Championship this year in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta…

And, as MLive’s Tyler Kuehl notes, all four games today–Finland vs. Germany at 2 PM EST, Russia vs. Sweden at 4:30 PM EST, USA vs. Slovakia at 7 PM EST, and Canada vs. Czechia at 9:30 PM EST will all include Red Wings prospects.

The games will air on the NHL Network in the U.S., TSN in Canada, and…alternate services online.

Griffins-Monsters game scheduled for Monday in Cleveland has been postponed

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The American Hockey League on Sunday announced that the Grand Rapids Griffins’ away game scheduled for Monday, Dec. 27 against the Cleveland Monsters has been postponed due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the Monsters. A make-up date has not yet been determined.

The Griffins will return to action this Friday, Dec. 31 when they host the Milwaukee Admirals at 6 p.m. for the 24th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration.

Get healthy, Cleveland.

Allen on the WJC: Cossa’s Canada’s #2 goalie

I know this news from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen will disappoint some Wings fans, but it’s what I expected given that Team Canada tends to defer its netminding decisions toward the oldest players on the team–and Dylan Garand is the oldest Team Canada netminder at 19:

Coach Dave Cameron chose Dylan Garand over Detroit Red Wings prospect Sebastian Cossa for Canada’s opening  game against the Czechs at the World Junior Championships (7 p.m., NHL Network).

TSN’s Mark Masters wrote New York Rangers’ prospect Garand  “has a real chance to run with the job.” 

“Generally, guys don’t get benched for [good] play,” Cameron said. “He’s got the net and he’s going to want to keep it.”

It’s disappointing for Red Wings fans wanting to watch the 6-foot-7 Sebastian Cossa in net for Canada. He was the 15th overall pick in last summer’s draft. Garand was a fourth rounder in 2020.

Defenseman Donovan Sebrango, a Red Wings’ prospect, will play for Canada against the Czechs. Red Wings prospect goalie Jan Bednar may play for the Czechs. They plan to rotate goalies.

Continued; Cossa will still serve as Canada’s back-up, and he’ll gain experience and knowledge while getting in a couple of games on back-to-backs during the “round robin” portion of the tournament.

Simon Edvinsson, ‘one to watch’

The Hockey News’s Rachel Doerrie and Tony Ferrari picked a World Junior Championship-participating player who belongs to each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams who are worth watching, and their pick for the Red Wings is a good one:

Detroit Red Wings – D Simon Edvinsson: While Canadian netminder Sebastian Cossa easily fits the bill for this exercise, it will be the Red Wings’ top pick last summer that fans should be watching. He has been absolutely delightful at the SHL level this season and his game has begun to round out the way everyone in the prospect world had hoped. Whether it’s defensively or offensively, Edvinsson will very likely be the Swedes’ best blueliner.

Continued; at the present moment, Cossa will probably back up Canadian starting goaltender Dylan Garand, so Edvinsson should be the Wings’ resident minute-munching defenseman at the WJC.

HSJ in the morning: Where the Wings stand during the NHL’s pause

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a primer of sorts, explaining where things stand for the Red Wings amidst an NHL “pause“:

The Detroit Red Wings come out of the Christmas break with the NHL still sorting through the mess created by the pandemic.

Teams can return to practice — and COVID-19 testing — at 2 p.m. local time Sunday. The Wings have been shut down since Dec. 19, when a rising number of team personnel testing positive made fielding a competitive lineup unsustainable.

The league-wide holiday break began Dec. 22, two days ahead of schedule. At that time, 50 games had been postponed. Monday’s games — including the Wings playing at the New York Rangers — also have been postponed, bringing the total games needing rescheduling to 64.

In addition to Monday’s game, the Wings had two other games postponed: At home Dec. 20 against the Colorado Avalanche, and Dec. 23 at the Minnesota Wild. Their next scheduled game is Wednesday at the New York Islanders — but that could change. The NHL is expected to provide an update on its return-to-play plans by the end of Sunday.

Continued

Roughly translated: Sweden’s Christmas celebrations at the hotel were up and down for Simon Edvinsson

Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson spoke with Aftonbladet’s Simon Holm earlier today regarding Sweden’s World Junior Championship team’s Christmas celebrations at their hotel in Red Deer, Alberta. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Sweden’s Christmas celebrations at the hotel were up and down for Simon Edvinsson

Tweets of Christmas note: Wings wish fans a Merry Christmas (Friedman confirms, it’s December 25th!)

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirms: It’s Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Enjoy the day— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 25, 2021

So the Red Wings have Christmas wishes for you…

From our family to yours — Merry Christmas, #RedWings fans! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/T7n20Cvy4o— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 25, 2021

And in the “my favorite present as a kid” category, Mitchell Stephens is a little too excited about “toiletries and underwear” for his own good:

??? pic.twitter.com/o4W5B9gBce— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 25, 2021

Merry Christmas, gang.

Monroe discusses Walleye’s Winterfest

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe has posted a Christmas Day column which discusses the Toledo Walleye’s Winterfest activities at Fifth Third Field in Toledo:

From remembering legends of the past to honoring its outdoor roots, Winterfest has become a tremendous celebration of Toledo hockey.

The 18-day event centered around an outdoor rink constructed on the Mud Hens’ baseball diamond continues this week. A Toledo Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony will be held on Wednesday and an alumni game pitting former Detroit Red Wings greats against Toledo’s legends will be held on Thursday.

Mickey Redmond, the beloved Red Wings television color commentator who also played for Detroit for six seasons, will play in the alumni game at 6:30 Thursday night.

“I’m looking forward to being in the great hockey town of Toledo and seeing all the Winterfest activities. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Redmond said.

The Walleye were the first ECHL organization to ever hold an outdoor game in 2014-15 and seven years later enthusiasm for the sequel has only grown. The Walleye will once again play two outdoor games. Toledo hosts Kalamazoo on Sunday and will take on Indy on Dec. 31 — the first New Year’s Eve game in the organization’s history.

“During the recruiting process, Winterfest was a selling point to potential players,” Walleye coach Dan Watson said. “As a staff, we are excited and we’re looking forward to playing at Fifth Third Field.”

Continued

NHL.com’s Stubbs tells the tale of NHL games on Christmas, Mr. Hockey’s scoring included

Red Wings legend Gordie Howe used to “work on Christmas day,” and, in an article discussing the NHL’s long history of Christmas Day games, Stubbs speaks with one Marty Howe regarding his dad’s scoring exploits:

Gordie Howe was more than Mr. Hockey.

He also was Mr. Christmas.

It’s been 50 years since the NHL last played games on Christmas Day and it’s highly unlikely that teams ever will skate again Dec. 25. So lock up Howe’s half-century-old records for most career Christmas goals (12) and points (24), eight points ahead of the 16 (10 goals, six assists) Frank Mahovlich scored in 12 games.

The NHL played 124 games on Christmas between the 1920-21 and 1971-72 seasons, with Howe playing an NHL-record 21 times on Dec. 25. But the League has not dropped a puck that day since 1971, by agreement between the NHL and NHL Players’ Association.

Howe and his wife, Colleen, loved everything about the holiday, Mr. Hockey taking pride in the elaborate light displays he designed on their home. Then he’d string more lights over the rink he built on the front lawn for children Marty and Mark, with whom he’d play in the World Hockey Association and NHL, and Murray and Cathy.

“Gordie played so well on Christmas probably because he behaved himself pretty well, he never really overindulged,” Marty said. “He’d be social, have a couple with his teammates, then excuse himself, probably to see what Mark and I were going to do next.”

Continued, with quite a bit of information about the NHL’s Christmas Day games…And some of Howe’s records.

IIHF.com suggests Wings fans watch Cossa, Bednar and Edvinsson at the World Junior Championship

IIHF.com’s Chapin Landvogt posted a list of players to watch from each of the teams participating at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton, and several Red Wings prospects made his list:

Sebastian Cossa, G, [Canada], 19:: One of the best and most successful starters in the WHL, Cossa has done a lot of winning the past three years. It’s basically all he does. Uncertain whether he’ll even be Canada’s starter, if Cossa gets the call, he brings a whole heck of a lot to the table for a nation that has racked up a lot of medals the past 30 years.

Jan Bednar, G, [Czechia], 19: This Detroit Red Wings draft pick is a starter in the QMJHL and has been an up-n-comer for several years now. He’s now looking to man the pipes for a Czech team that has all the makings of not only being a playoff contestant, but perhaps even go for a medal. His performance may be what makes it possible.

Simon Edvinsson, D, [Sweden], 18: A high draft pick in last summer’s NHL draft, the towering Edvinsson has been a workhorse and revelation for Swedish powerhouse Frolunda, not only taking a regular shift, but racking up 12 points in 24 games to date. Capable of it all in all three zones, Edvinsson has what it takes to take over a short tournament of this nature and will his team to victory. You won’t be able to miss him.

Continued; I’m not expecting Cossa to start for Canada as Dylan Garand has the experience at the WJC as a 19-year-old, but Cossa should gain good experience as a back-up;

Bednar is a wild card because he’s so spectacular and spectacularly inconsistent at the same time, surrendering “softies” at the same rate that he makes tremendous saves;

And Edvinsson’s going to be fun to watch because he, like Moritz Seider before him, is one of those players who’s a rink rat and a hard worker who challenges himself to improve every time he takes to the ice.