Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:
1. According to TSN, Gustav Nyquist will not be playing for Sweden at the World Championship, and the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation announced that Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson declined invites to join the Swedish Worlds team;
Update: But a Twitter follower says that the Nyquist situation is different:
Nyquist will play for Sweden at WC, thats confirmed by the management. This roaster is just for the tournament Sweden hockey games. When the WC starts Nyquist, Rakell and Hampus Lindholm will be added. Hopefully also Landeskog
— Niklas Fredriksson (@NFredriksson) April 23, 2018
2. The Athletic’s Brandon Naruto penned a lengthy article regarding the Red Wings’ scoring woes, and among his conclusions are the following:
Where do the Red Wings need to get better?
The No. 1 adjustment for them this summer should be to find a way to create more offensive zone possession time. Starting with their entires, they can make adjustments to enter as a unit instead of always attacking as individuals. There are far more inverted/even entries each game, so instead of trying to beat two defenders solo, the best course of action would be to delay and hit the second wave of attack or use more releases behind the net to players without the puck who are finishing their routes.
Better decisions on entry will lead to more offensive zone possession time. The alternative is turning the puck over or chipping the puck deep and having to work to go and get it back.
Naruto continues (paywall)…
3. The Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of the prospects aiding the Grand Rapids Griffins’ playoff cause…
Defenseman Joe Hicketts, a free-agent signing, has two assists. He impressed with his energetic play during five games with Detroit this past season.
Svechnikov, the Wings’ first-round draft pick from 2015, struggled in his second season of pro hockey, with 23 points in 57 games (he reached 20 goals as a rookie, among 51 points in 74 games in 2016-17). He had two goals among four points in 14 games with the Wings this season.
4. And in something of a complement to the recaps and round-ups of the Griffins’ 5-1 win over the Moose yesterday, the Griffins posted a clip of post-game interviews:
Naruto forgets this team has zero defense and that only allows them one forward to advance the puck into the offensive zone. The other forwards are supporting the woeful Defense.
Rasmussen, 2 goals/1 assist in 8-4 loss to Evert. Sorry I missed the tweets on the side. He was rated 8/9th overall in the draft last year. I was initially unimpressed due to an inordinate amount of goals vs. assists as well as the bulk of his scoring was done on the PP. But since I had never seen him play, what do I know? Unlike many others. Keep it up, kid.
My big thing is to not write anyone off right away. Different stages of development, kid was 18 at time of draft. Never know what changes are coming.
Of course, that doesn’t mean don’t have/express opinions. 🙂
Are you always going to contra everything I say. Please go back to A2Y. I ask paul to delete my account because of people like you.
…what are you even talking about? :/