On defensive worries (and a bit of a ramble)

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an afternoon notebook which discusses a number of topics, including the Red Wings’ mediocre defensive play over the first four games of the regular season:

▶ Defense a concern: Maybe the correct way to phrase it is still a concern.

The Wings came into this season focused on improving team defense. It cost them a playoff berth last season, and any hopes of ending an eight-year playoff drought was going to be pinned on improved defense.

These three games, collectively, haven’t lessened any concerns.

Saturday’s victory raised hopes. The Wings played with a sense of urgency defensively, won more individual battles, and played more like planned — although allowing 42 shots and having to play so much defense wasn’t ideal.

It’s only three games. Not even an entire week into the regular season. But allowing 10 goals in three games isn’t an inspiring start.

Continued (paywall); the Red Wings’ defense, offense and goaltending have all been “up and down,” and I won’t deny that I have the same worries and doubts that you and I both have expressed over the course of the summer, training camp and the exhibition season…

But it really is three games, three very middling games, and three games against quality opponents. I didn’t expect the Red Wings to come out of the starting gates like racehorses, especially given that they lost some integral on and off-ice pieces in David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere, and given that the team’s goaltending isn’t sorted out yet.

I’m not suggesting that the Red Wings deserve some sort of grace period, but they deserve some acknowledgment of the fact that this team is still a set of disparate parts, having turned over somewhere around a quarter to a third of the roster, and the reality of the situation is that the team’s probably going to be better later than it is earlier.

There are kinks to be ironed out and disparate players to be integrated into the roster, from the goal out, and it’s just going to take time to “get their reps” in and gel as a team, especially with a rough October schedule.

Ideally, the Wings get back to work tomorrow, they split the series with the Rangers on Thursday, they get at least a point in Nashville, and they roll from there. There are going to be hiccups and there are going to be bumps and bruises, and how the team–coaches and players alike–reacts to those problems will tell the tale.

The bar is rightfully set high for the Red Wings. They haven’t met their expectations yet. It’s up for them to get ‘er done, even if it comes in fits and spurts until the team hits its stride.

Prospect round-up: ASP 1A, MBN 19:56 played in Champions Hockey League win

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the Champions Hockey League, Skelleftea AIK won a 3-2 overtime decision over the Pinguins Bremerhaven. Skelleftea has already clinched a playoff spot, and they’ll play in the “round of 16” on November 12th or 13th.

Axel Sandin Pellikka played on the 3rd defensive pairing, but he posted an assist, 4 penalty minutes, 2 shots on goal and 2 blocked shots in 16:29 played, finishing even;

And Michael Brandsegg-Nygard played on the 1st line, finishing even with 2 shots and a blocked shot in 19:56 played.

The Swedish media is really pissed off about this set of penalties called to Sandin Pellikka when he got into it with Anders Gronlund.

There’s also a lengthy interview with Brandsegg-Nygard in Expressen, but it’s stuck behind a paywall (all of it).

Later this evening, Emmitt Finnie and the Kamloops Blazers will host the Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL.

Update: Here are the highlights from Skelleftea’s win:

Kane’s hip to feeling healthy this season

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills spoke with Red Wings forward Patrick Kane, who finally feels 100% healthy a year after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery:

“Throughout camp, the hard days, they’re hard on the body but they’re not hard on the injury anymore,” Kane said after Monday’s morning skate at Madison Square Garden. “That’s the fun part obviously, no dealing with pain. That’s a huge part of where I’m at, and obviously my summer as well. Not having to rehab the whole summer and instead train, and train like an athlete. That was probably the biggest thing going into this offseason that was exciting for me.”

The last time Kane said he felt this healthy was the 2019-20 season. According to Kane, he started experiencing hip problems during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he was with the Chicago Blackhawks in the bubble in Edmonton. After battling lingering hip pain for the next three seasons (2020-23), Kane decided to undergo hip resurfacing surgery on June 1, 2023.

Following his post-procedure rehab process, Kane inked a one-year contract with Detroit on Nov. 28, 2023, and finished last season with 47 points (20 goals, 27 assists) in 50 games. Motivated to help the Red Wings build on what they accomplished in 2023-24, Kane re-signed a one-year deal on July 1.

“Going to another Original Six franchise in Detroit, jumping in midseason and being in the playoff hunt all the way to the end, with some exciting times for the team and for me personally as well, it was a fun year,” Kane said. “When you’re making your decision about where you want to play, all that stuff comes into your mind and what you want to do. I was excited to come back.”

Head coach Derek Lalonde said starting this season with a fully healthy Kane is a huge positive for Detroit. Kane has become a key part of the Red Wings’ top-six forward group, first power-play unit and veteran voice in the dressing room.

“I think he can drive us with just his ability and approach, so him being healthy helps,” Lalonde said about the 35-year-old forward. “It’s just his own mindset, too…I kind of liked our lineup coming into this year — little more true top-six, bottom-six. I feel we can check a bit better, especially in games like this where you have tough matchups throughout. Him playing at that level would be important for us.”

Continued

Griffins post weekly notebook ahead of Griffins-Moose weekend series

Here’s the Grand Rapids Griffins’ weekly notebook:

GRIFFINS WELCOME MANITOBA FOR HOME WEEKEND SERIES

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS vs. Manitoba Moose // Fri., Oct. 18 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS vs. Manitoba Moose // Sat., Oct. 19 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena 

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey (Free Saturday on @FloHockey on X & YouTube, TheAHL on Facebook)

Season Series: First and second of eight meetings overall, first and second of four at Van Andel Arena 

All-Time Series: 75-44-1-1-10 Overall, 40-19-1-1-7 Home 

NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets 

Noteworthy: Manitoba won both games last weekend against the Iowa Wild, outscoring its opponent 9-6. The Moose were the only team in the Central Division to begin the season with a 2-0-0-0 record.   

29th Season of Hockey: The Grand Rapids Griffins began the franchise’s 29th overall season of play, 24th as a member of the American Hockey League, and 23rd as the primary affiliate of the 11-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings last Friday when they defeated the Milwaukee Admirals, 3-0. The Griffins have competed in 2,135 games between the IHL and AHL and have amassed a 1,109-790-27-82-127 regular-season record (.581), to go along with 18 playoff appearances, seven division titles and two Calder Cups (2017, 2013).

Continue reading Griffins post weekly notebook ahead of Griffins-Moose weekend series

FloHockey to air Saturday’s Griffins-Moose game for free

Per FloHockey’s Chris Peters:

Red Wings assign Austin Watson and Justin Holl to Grand Rapids

With a couple of days off, the Red Wings are trying to maximize salary cap space here:

Here’s the press release:

RED WINGS ASSIGN AUSTIN WATSON AND JUSTIN HOLL TO GRAND RAPIDS

  … Watson Has Skated in 516 Games with Nashville, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Detroit Since 2012-13; Holl Has Played in 325 Games with Toronto and Detroit Since 2017-18 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today assigned forward Austin Watson and defenseman Justin Holl to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Continue reading Red Wings assign Austin Watson and Justin Holl to Grand Rapids

The Red Wings just aren’t in total recall mode yet

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood attempts to explain why the Red Wings chose to recall Austin Watson over younger players like Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson or Carter Mazur:

“I think it’s probably a fit, what we need,” Lalonde said Sunday, before Watson was called up, of the profile of who the Red Wings would most likely call up. “… Being a short term call up, it might be a more veteran guy than some of those young guys that probably need a more significant role in Grand Rapids.”

The Red Wings’ call-up considerations are this: They want to fill their needs at the NHL level with adequate players, but they also don’t want to disrupt their prospects in Grand Rapids for a minor role. They realize that Kasper, Mazur and probably Danielson too are — right now — better all-around hockey players than the likes of Watson, as well as depth forwards Sheldon Dries and Joe Snively for that matter. But the situation has to make sense to give the kids appropriate ice time. Playing 4:54 in the NHL doesn’t give them so much of a learning opportunity as playing 20-plus in the AHL.

Some of this comes down to development. Players can learn a lot in the AHL, as discussed late last week. General manager Steve Yzerman has shown patience with his prospects, forcing them to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are NHL ready and then still waiting a while longer to call them up (see: Simon Edvinsson). 

But by and large, the decision is about roles, too. Even if the trio of prospects in Grand Rapids have the 200-foot identity that Lalonde desires, one that would perform well in the bottom six, it isn’t their envisioned role to plug into depth minutes. If the trio of prospects are going to try out for an NHL job, the Red Wings would rather interview them in a role they see the players filling in the future.

Lalonde spoke to this Saturday, saying “I personally like where we’re at with some more young guys, and that we’re forwarding them the opportunity to play in Grand Rapids. I mean, you guys saw Marco (Kasper) and (Carter) Mazur. I mean, there’s three or four of those kids that can play with us tonight, but what does that look like?”

Continued; good analogies and explanations here. The Red Wings want to see their younger players blossom in Grand Rapids via playing in significant roles over the course of significant minutes of ice time. Playing in the NHL may be the goal for each and every one of the Red Wings’ most promising youngsters, but playing limited minutes on the fourth line is not a path toward NHL success for them.

At some point, after “the kids” have gotten into a rhythm in Grand Rapids, and are playing well in all situations, they’ll get called up to play more meaningful minutes. We just aren’t at that juncture all of 3 games into the NHL schedule and 2 games into the AHL schedule.

Tuesday fundraising

It is what it is, so let’s give ‘er a go:

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Jonatan Berggren, worker bee

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton posted his morning-after-the-game notebook after the Red Wings’ 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday night, and this is going to get overlooked, so let’s explore it:

–Berggren’s Game Growing:

One positive, albeit a relatively marginal one, from Tuesday’s action for Detroit was Jonatan Berggren.  With Christian Fischer unavailable, Berggren earned a promotion from the fourth line to the third and played a season-high 12:54.  In and of itself, that’s not the most inspiring lift, but Berggren’s coach had positive things to say about his performance, perhaps previewing a path to a bigger role moving forward.

“He’s making plays, which is good.  He made some plays on the rush, great offensive instincts.  I appreciate that he’s starting to really work on his 200-foot game.  A couple of wall battles that he won, trying to get to the inside a little more.  A lot of positives with Berggy.”

As my colleague Connor Earegood has pointed out a few times, there is something of a square peg/round hole to using Berggren in a fourth line role.  To this point, he’s yet to record a point this season, but his incisive passing has impressed on the power play, and if he can continue to build the non-scoring elements of his five-on-five game, there will be more ice time waiting for him on the other side.

Continued; Berggren’s still getting physically over-powered at times, but he’s earning some power play time, he’s slowly but surely gaining the coaches’ confidence as he plays better defensive hockey, and he’s clearly going to be bringing some scoring to either the Red Wings’ “identity line” of Rasmussen and Copp, or he, Joe Veleno and the hard-working Tyler Motte may end up bringing more offense to the mix as a checking line than anybody would have expected.

Long story long, there have been some lapses, but Berggren’s been a bottom-six bright spot.

Roughly translated: Moritz Seider tells NHL.com/de that his point totals matter less than his impact on the ice

NHL.com/de’s Robin Patzwaldt posted a very lengthy article about Moritz Seider yesterday afternoon, so my apologies for not getting to this one sooner. It’s going to be very much so a rough translation of the original German, so here we go:

“Seider: This league is very mentally and physically challenging”

Three years after his debut, the German answered the questions of NHL.com/de

Exactly three years ago, on October 14th, 2021, the NHL career of German defenseman Moritz Seider began with the Detroit Red Wings. The traditional Michigan franchise selected the talented defenseman 6th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft. Since his debut at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, the Zell-born defenseman has played in 248 games, has collected 21 goals and 115 assists, which adds up to 136 points. And at the end of his debut season, he won the Calder Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s best rookie.

After Monday’s morning skate, NHL.com/de had the opportunity to talk to Seider about his career in the NHL, and, in line with the work anniversary for Seider, also brought up current statements regarding his defenseman colleague Ben Chiarot, and Detroit coach Derek Lalonde.

“I’m currently very happy here. We started the season quite well as a team, especially on defense,” Seider said, and shied away from the attention regarding his current anniversary. Instead, he preferred to briefly explain the recipe for successes of the early season from his perspective. “It’s important to play very physically from the first game of the season. This gives you fresh self-confidence,” explained the German.

“My own point total isn’t particularly important to me. In the end, you want to be able to look in the mirror and say that you gave your best. That’s what I’m talking about to begin with. Statistics aren’t decisive for this. That’s why personal statistics don’t mean a lot to me, to be honest,” said the Red Wings defenseman.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Moritz Seider tells NHL.com/de that his point totals matter less than his impact on the ice