Sales of the seats from to-be-demolished Joe Louis Arena have reached into the “low thousands” since the online auction went live Tuesday.
The sale is limited for now to Detroit Red Wings season ticket holders, who can request their former seats at the arena. The general public can buy seats beginning May 12, and about 16,000 seats in total are being made available ranging in price from $150 to $350.
City-owned Joe Louis Arena was home to the Wings from 1979 until last year, when the team relocated to new Little Caesars Arena. The old arena will be razed and the site redeveloped.
Detroit’s building authority hired Byron Center-based appraisal and auction firm Miedema Asset Management Group Inc. and Bloomfield Hills-based industrial asset auctioneer Robert Levy Associates LLC to handle the direct sale of the seats and fixtures.
Levy estimated that the Red Wings had about 7,000 season ticket holders eligible to buy seats. He didn’t have a specific seat sale total as of Friday morning.
“Seat sales are above expectations. We’re very pleased,” Levy said. “I’m hopeful we’re going to sell them all.”
[T]he Americans were fortunate to get to the shootout. The five-minute overtime was dominated by Canada, which won all five faceoffs and controlled the puck virtually from start to finish. Connor McDavid, the best player on the ice, created several chances and drew a penalty, but he couldn’t create the winning goal.
Then, with only a few seconds left, he incurred a penalty, thus eliminating himself from the shootout.
As in the entire game, the Americans proved resilient. They improved after a terrible first period to rally, then take the lead twice. Goalie Keith Kinkaid was by turns excellent and reliable.
“Early in the gave wasn’t so great,” offered winning coach Jeff Blashill. “Keith (Kincaid) kept us in the game. I thought we got better as the time went along. Taking nothing away from our other guys, I thought in the end Keith was our best player.”
“This was a great way to kick off the tournament,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team. “We started a little slow, but I think once we got our feet under us we proved we could compete. There were some great performances by our guys tonight and we’ll look to build on this as we move forward.”
The U.S. will return to action tomorrow (May 5) against Denmark at 8:15 p.m. local time /2:15 p.m. ET. That game, along with all U.S. Men’s World Championship games, will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
USA Hockey’s website also posted a highlight clip and an interview clip:
Canada blew an early 2-0 lead. Pierre-Luc Dubois didn’t waste time and swept the puck high past goalie Keith Kinkaid 47 seconds into the first period.
Ryan O’Reilly doubled the lead with 7:37 left in the period, then Andres Lee pulled one back for the U.S. with a wristed shot.
Larkin tied the score 43 seconds into the second, knocking in a backhand pass from Chris Kreider.
“We had a sloppy first period but Keith was unbelievable tonight,” Larkin said. “We’re gonna need him through the tournament to play like that.”
Kinkaid made 40 saves as Canada outshot the U.S. 44-25.
“After the first, we settled in and it was nice to get tied up and to get a lead. And he did the rest,” Larkin said.
Midway through the second, forward Johnny Gaudreau scored after Kane fed him a cross to put the U.S. 3-2 ahead. Anthony Beauvillier answered for Canada on a rebound.
Larkin added his second 3:27 into the final period for the 4-3 lead.
Larkin snapped a 3-3 tie Friday at 3 minutes 27 seconds of the third period, his second goal of the game. Chris Kreider made a nice backhand pass to Larkin driving to the net, and Larkin beat Canadian goalie Darcy Kuemper blocker side.
Larkin tied the game at 2 in the second period, with Kreider and Jordan Oesterle (Dearborn Heights/Chicago Blackhawks) assisting.
Kreider found Larkin alone near the post during a scramble, and Larkin tapped the puck past a sprawling Kuemper 43 seconds into the period.
Johnny Gaudreau and Anders Lee had the other USA goals, while Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills/Blackhawks) had an assist.
Pierre-Luc DuBois, Ryan O’Reilly, Anthony Beauvillier and Colton Parayko had Canada goals.
Larkin pulled the U.S. even at 2 midway through the second period, and gave the U.S. a 4-3 lead early in the third period of the game at Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark.
Jeff Blashill, head coach of the Red Wings and making his second appearance as head coach of the U.S. at worlds, tapped Larkin to go in round five of the shootout, but Larkin’s attempt was saved by goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
Larkin already has as many goals as he did in eight games at the 2017 World Championship.
Larkin scored a pair of goals Friday and Cam Atkinson (Columbus) scored twice in the shootout to lead the United States past Canada 5-4 in the tournament opener at Herning, Denmark.
U.S. goaltender Keith Kinkaid (New Jersey) was named player of the game after making 40 saves in regulation and overtime and stopping 5-of-6 shooters in the shootout.
Atkinson scored both shootout goals for the U.S., including the winner on the sixth attempt against Darcy Kuemper (Arizona).
Larkin scored his second goal of the game at 3:27 of the third period to snap a 3-3 tie. Larkin used a burst of speed to drive to the net and convert a pass from Chris Kreider (two assists).
Kotkansalo is a top 10 prospect in the Red Wings system as a defense-first guy, according to our most recent ranking, and at 19 he’s still plenty young. His BU coach David Quinn thought Kotkansalo had a good season, saying he got more comfortable and confident as the year went on, but saw plenty of room for growth going forward.
Confidence, in fact, came up as a topic at their end-of-season meeting — and Quinn views it as a major step in unlocking Kotkansalo’s potential.
“Sometimes he gets indecisive — and it’s not because he doesn’t know what to do, I just think he’s unsure of himself and he’s not as confident as he should be,” Quinn told The Athletic. “Because when he’s confident, boy, he’s a really good player. A really good player. He makes great outlet passes on breakouts, he can really shoot a puck, he’s got good poise — all the things that you want in a defenseman.
“And he’s gotta continue to work on his one-on-ones, his stick positioning needs to get better, and his balance has to get better when he plays one-on-ones, but I think part of that is all tied to his confidence. I think once that clicks for him, all the things that he needs to work on will become a lot easier for him to improve in those areas.”
Red Wings executive Kris Draper appeared on WDFN’s Matt Sheppard’s “Shep, Shower and Shave” show on Thursday morning, discussing the upcoming NHL draft from the Wings’ perspective. Draper speaks with Sheppard for 19 minutes:
Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin appeared on the NHL Now to speak about the impending start of the World Championship, which begins on Friday in Copenhagen and Herning, Denmark.
Larkin and Team USA will battle Canada at 10 AM EDT on Friday (on the NHL Network and TSN), and Larkin spoke for about five minutes regarding the Worlds and what his expectations are for this year’s tournament:
On the competition of the World Championships vs. the perception it’s just a fun getaway for players: “It’s really competitive. It’s a fast game, it’s big ice. It’s not as physical as the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the speed and the skill is certainly right there. These teams are hard-working teams, and they’ve been training for a while, getting ready for this tournament. They’re really structured and well-coached. They work hard and they’re tough to play against. It makes for some fun hockey.”
On Jeff Blashill: “He’s the same as me, just getting experience and wants to win really bad. We both had a bitter taste in our mouths about not making the playoffs, and we wanted to come over here and gain some experience and try to win this thing.”
On the gameplan to try to slow down Team Canada: “It’s gonna be a good game. I like playing Canada first. It’s an easy game to get up for, and get it out of the game. Gonna have to try to slow down Connor McDavid on the big ice. That won’t be fun, but we’ll find a way.”
“Dylan’s going to be a big part of our team, and just building that time together last year was probably the first year where Dylan got to really be a go-to guy with me,” Blashill said. “Maybe a little that year in the Calder Cup (2013 in Grand Rapids) when he came out of Michigan, but last year was certainly the first time.
“I mean a real go-to guy up the middle and we can just build upon that. He’s been in that moment a lot this year, he’s been a go-to guy for us (the Wings) a lot.
“Hopefully this can continue to build upon our relationship.”
The fact Larkin wanted more responsibility and was so self-accountable throughout this season was a good sign for Blashill.
“Anytime you get to put the team on your shoulders and you win or lose, it can help you,” Blashill said. “It can really help you either way. If you lose, you can learn from it and if you win, it gives you confidence that you can put the team on your shoulders and win.”
USA Hockey does an excellent job of covering their World Championship team, and ahead of Friday’s Worlds opener vs. Canada (10 AM EDT on the NHL Network), Team USA posted a video in which Dylan Larkin and Jeff Blashill (among others) discuss the Americans’ tasks at hand…
“I think we proved to ourselves last year we were good enough to win this tournament,” said Blashill, who just completed his third season as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. “We were in a great position and unfortunately we lost the wrong game.”
Four players return from last year’s National Team, including forwards Johnny Gaudreau (Salem, N.J./Calgary Flames), Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich./Detroit Red Wings) and Anders Lee (Edina, Minn./New York Islanders) and defenseman Connor Murphy (Dublin, Ohio/Chicago Blackhawks). Murphy captained Team USA while the three forwards combined for 13 goals and 29 points to fuel the U.S. effort.
With that core in place, along with a barrage of newcomers led by 2018 U.S. captain Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y./Chicago Blackhawks), Blashill believes this group has the talent to compete for gold.
“We were a talented group last year and we’re equally as talented this year,” said Blashill. “We need to believe in ourselves and build as a hockey team throughout the tournament.”
Forward Dylan Larkin is back for a second straight year, this time as an alternate captain for the U.S. Coach Jeff Blashill will be behind the bench, also for a second straight year. Defenseman Nick Jensen was named to the U.S. squad on the strength of his skating ability.
Gustav Nyquist is on Sweden’s squad. Former Wings great Nicklas Lidstrom is expected to be part of the color commentary for the Swedish games.
Frans Nielsen headlines the Danish team.
Defense prospects Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak were both named to the Czech roster.
…
Sizing up the competition
Each group has three hockey power houses – A has the Czechs, the Russians and the Swedes, and B has the Canadians, the Finns and the Americans. All six teams made it to the quarterfinals of the 2017 tournament, and are expected to do so again this year. Sweden ended up winning last year, defeating Canada in everybody’s least favorite way to end a major tournament: a shootout. Russia took bronze by beating Finland (which beat the U.S. in a quarterfinal).
Of brief but hopefully useful Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins-related note:
1. Grand Rapids Griffins coach Todd Nelson appeared on ESPN 96.1 FM’s “Big Drew and Jim” show on Wednesday afternoon, and ESPN 96.1 FM posted episode without separately posting Nelson’s interview, so: Nelson appears at the 41:48 mark of the following clip, and he speaks for 8 minutes:
2 — Coreau earned two AHL honors this season, the first as the league’s Goaltender of the Week for the period ending Feb. 18 and the second as the league’s Goaltender of the Month for February after allowing just nine goals on 185 shots while going unbeaten in six appearances. He was 4-0-2 with a 1.46 goals-against average and .951 save percentage in February. Coreau also won AHL Goaltender of the Month in Dec. 2015.
85 — With 38 this season, Coreau now has 85 regular-season wins, putting him in fourth place on Grand Rapids’ all-time goaltending list. Tom McCollum moved into first this season with 123 victories; Joey MacDonald is second with 109; Jimmy Howard is third with 93.
The Toledo Walleye saw instant impact from their returning Grand Rapids Griffins forwards on Tuesday, and the Walleye took a 2-games-to-1 lead over the Fort Wayne Komets as a result:
Dylan Sadowy scored 2 goals and Mike Borkowski had an assist as Toledo blew a 2-goal lead but managed to defeat Fort Wayne 4-3. Mike Embach and Shane Berschbach (1G, 1A) scored as well, and Pat Nagle stopped 36 shots for Toledo.
The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a locker room clean-out day article foreshadowing Dylan Larkin’s appearance in this year’s World Championship, which begins Friday in Denmark, and the Team USA forward spoke bluntly regarding his goals for the tournament:
“I’m going back this year and I want to win,” he said. “It’s experience for me. It’s not being complacent with finishing early April playing hockey. Playing hockey into May is what it is all about. I just think I am young, I have a lot of energy, got a lot of passion. I want to keep playing.”
…
Playing center at the 2017 Worlds helped Larkin succeed at that position in his third year in the NHL. He played wing his rookie year, 2015-16, and was moved back to wing after struggling at center to start the 2016-17 season. Larkin held his own at the position this season, and had a career-high 63 points. He scored seven goals the last 10 games.
That kind of growth is crucial as the Wings try to regain competitiveness. Larkin is a cornerstone of the rebuilding process, even better than the Wings hoped they were getting when they drafted him 15th overall in 2014. He has a high internal drive to be the best player he can be. Returning to the World Championship is a chance to show he can thrive in big games. Teams play seven preliminary games, and the top four teams in each group advance to quarterfinals.
“Moving forward in my career, the next step is becoming a winner,” Larkin said. “I want to have that extra factor where I take my game to another level to either hold onto a lead or try to get that goal to tie it up or win. I want to better myself.”
