Month: July 2018

A trio of mid-day Tweets of note

Of newsworthy note on Twitter this afternoon:

1. The Red Wings’ annual training camp Golf Classic will take place on September 13th, and Centre ICE Arena is now taking reservations for the event:

2. The Toledo Walleye’s offseason moves have been…chaotic…and I’ve tried to keep you up to date with the bigger moves, but I haven’t given them blanket coverage. The Red Wings’ ECHL affiliate has a roster tracker up, should you want to know the nitty gritty details:

3. And finally, today is Pavel Datsyuk’s 40th birthday:

 

The Athletic’s Custance estimates the Wings’ roster in 4 years, and updates Larkin’s contract negotiations

The Athletic’s Craig Custance estimated the Red Wings’ lineup for the 2021-22 season, and he prefaced his thought experiment with an update on Dylan Larkin’s contract status:

“It’s coming together. Maybe something pretty soon,” Larkin told The Athletic. “It goes back and forth. I’ve learned the business part of it. Between free agency and the draft and everything, it’s tough to get time to talk for my agent and Kenny. That’s part of summer and part of how it goes.”

His conclusion?

“I don’t think it’ll go anywhere near September,” he said, with a pause. “But that’s coming soon.”

The extension will likely be in the five- or six-year range, which would make him a rarity among Red Wings players — guys who will be under contract to start the 2021 season. The Red Wings are in the process of burning through their questionable contracts and this season marks a bit of a breakthrough on that front. For the first time during the rebuild, the Red Wings should have a ton of cap flexibility next offseason.

Custance continues at length (paywall)…

QMJHL article emphasizes Zadina, Veleno and McIsaac’s ‘Q’ ties

The QMJHL’s website posted an article discussing the Red Wings’ trio of QMJHL-playing picks from the 2018 draft in Filip Zadina (Halifax), Joe Veleno (Drummondville) and Jared McIsaac (Halifax):

Zadina’s 82 points (44-38–82) placed him seventh in QMJHL scoring this past season while Veleno, who had a mid-season change of scenery in a trade from Saint John to Drummondville, came in at 10th with 79 points (22-57–79).

“He is a good guy, so if we play together, it will be awesome,” Zadina said of his new teammate Veleno. “He is a good centre, so we could play well together. If he will pass me the puck so I can score the goals, it would be awesome.”

While Zadina and Veleno look to help Detroit offensively, Jared McIsaac was added to the depth chart at 36th overall to try and improve things on the back end. The 18-year-old from Truro, Nova Scotia put up 47 points (9-38–47) in 65 games alongside Zadina in Halifax last season and has an extensive international resume with Hockey Canada.

“Obviously Filip’s a generational talent,” McIsaac said of his teammate. “There’s not many goal scorers like him. I’m very happy to see him go and very happy to be drafted by the same team.”

While Zadina was the star in Halifax this past season, McIsaac is a known QMJHL commodity, being selected second overall in the 2016 QMJHL Draft before earning a reputation as one of the CHL’s top two-way defenders.

Continued

Khan profiles Gustav Lindstrom

MLive’s Ansar Khan profiles Red Wings prospect Gustav Lindstrom this morning. Lindstrom is a defenseman who’s trying to break into the SHL after several strong seasons in the Swedish under-20 league:

After two seasons with Almtuna, in Sweden’s second-highest league, Lindstrom is joining Frolunda, a premier program in the Swedish Elite League which featured Rasmus Dahlin, the top pick in this year’s draft.

“They have improved a lot of players,” Lindstrom said. “It’s long days at the rink, with hard training, on ice and off ice. That’s a good place to be.”

Jiri Fischer, Detroit’s director of player evaluation, said of Frolunda: “They’re known for developing players the right way — playing faster, moving the puck quick, not getting rid of the puck.”

Fischer said Lindstrom “definitely has a good future ahead of him.”

“This is going to be a big year,” Fischer said. “He needs to get really established at the elite level in men’s hockey in Sweden, and potentially at the end of the year start knocking on the door of the big national team when they bring extra players for the World Championship.”

Khan continues, and he posted a video of Lindstrom speaking with the media as well:

 

Dylan Larkin speaks with WXYZ’s Galli

Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin spoke with WXYZ’s Brad Galli as Larkin’s hockey school in Waterford wrapped up on Thursday evening. Larkin didn’t wish to talk about contract negotiations with the Wings, but he did speak about the Wings’ young players, his goatee and his experiences playing at the World Championship:

 

Regner profiles Dylan Sadowy

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner profiles Red Wings prospect Dylan Sadowy this morning. As Regner notes in his “By the Numbers” assessment of Sadowy’s 2017-18 season, Sadowy has yet to sort out his game:

Quotable: “I have seen enough of him, certainly this past season and he’s still a young hockey player. You think about these kids coming out of junior, they’re 20 years old, they’ve lived with billets and now you throw them out there on their own. The Red Wings do a great job through development camp, sort of teaching them the ropes of how to be a professional away from the arena, but some of these kids, it does take a little bit longer. So the maturity aspect is coming along, whether it’s through opportunity, whether it’s a guy who is a little bit slower in his development process. Everyone develops at different speeds.

For me in Toledo, he did make strides. The biggest thing for him is he was getting opportunities to score goals, he was touching the puck quite a bit, it was on his stick at our level. In the American League when you try and make that jump, the plays that you make in the ECHL, you’ve got to make them a little quicker now, otherwise the puck is turned over and you’re sitting on the end of the bench at times. I think it’s just the case of a slower developing player. As he improves, he could be an everyday AHL player.

The biggest message for Dylan heading into this summer is go home and have a phenomenal summer, get into the gym, get stronger. If you want those net-front minutes, if you want to be on the penalty kill – because he is willing to block shots – you do have to make sure your legs are stronger, your core is strong. Be ready to compete once training camp starts and obviously with the transition period with the Wings, Grand Rapids, Toledo, he does have an opportunity to potentially make an impact there in Grand Rapids. I like to see guys progress. I like to see guys go from Toledo up to Grand Rapids and obviously the major goal to get up to Detroit. For Dylan, his sole purpose is to come in and make sure he’s ready to compete to earn his spot and earn his job in Grand Rapids.” – Dan Watson, Toledo Walleye head coach

Continued

FYI: Little Caesars Arena team store to hold summer sale on July 28th

The Detroit Red Wings announced today that their team store at Little Caesars Arena, which sells both Red Wings and Pistons merchandise, will be holding a summer sale. If you’re interested…

LITTLE CAESARS ARENA TEAM STORE SUMMER SALE SET FOR SATURDAY, JULY 28
… Discounts Available on Red Wings, Pistons and Tigers Merchandise at Official Team Store Within Little Caesars Arena on July 28 from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. …

DETROIT – The Little Caesars Arena Team Store (76 Henry St., Detroit) will hold its inaugural Summer Sale on Saturday, July 28 from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., it was announced today.

Detroit Red Wings, Pistons and Tigers fans can take advantage of discounts of up to 80 percent off clearance items and 25 percent off all full-priced merchandise. Merchandise available will feature all three franchises, including jerseys, hats, T-shirts, outerwear and more.

The sale will take place in the Little Caesars Arena Team Store and extend to the street-level Via concourse.

Offers are not valid for authentic merchandise and cannot be combined with other offers. All clearance item sales are final. Quantities are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Fans who have questions regarding the Summer Sale can call the Little Caesars Arena Team Store at 313-462-8418.

Gordie Howe earns the Free Press’s ‘Greatest of All Time’ fan vote win

The Detroit Free Press has been holding a fan vote for the last month, with fans pitting Detroit sports legends against each other in order to determine the greatest Detroit sports star of all time. Today, the Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez reports that fans picked the right “GOAT” for the job:

My faith has been restored.

You, the Detroit sports fans and Free Press readers, have restored my faith by voting Red Wings forward Gordie Howe over Tigers outfielder Ty Cobb as the best pro athlete in Detroit team history in Freep.com’s Tournament of G.O.A.T.

I’ll be honest. My faith was a little shaken for a while when I saw some upsets, and particularly 15th seed Matthew Stafford’s Cinderella run to the Lions bracket final against top seed Barry Sanders. Stafford over Joe Schmidt? Really, people?

I was worried there was going to be too much of a recency bias. I feared a Final Four of Stafford vs. Miguel Cabrera and Chauncey Billups vs. Pavel Datsyuk, with Stafford winning it all.

But our readers and voters got it right. They gave us a Final Four of Sanders vs. Cobb and Howe vs. Isiah Thomas. Cobb beat Sanders, 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent. Howe beat Thomas, 85.5 percent to 14.5 percent.

In the final, they got it right again. Mr. Hockey over the Georgia Peach in a route. The final vote total: 2,843 to 1,007, or 73.84 percent to 26.16 percent.

Monarrez continues, and I’d suggest that fans picked the right player.

Danny DeKeyser appears on ‘The Red and White Authority’

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner sat down with Danny DeKeyser for an hour-long conversation today: