Month: September 2018

NHL.com talks Red Wings and playoffs in the theoretical sense

NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman penned a lengthy column discussing the ways in which the 8 Eastern Conference teams that didn’t make the playoffs can do so this time around. Here’s what Kimelman has to say about the Red Wings:

Why they could get in: A rich crop of prospects, led by [Filip] Zadina and 6-foot-6, 221-pound center Michael Rasmussen, has the Red Wings feeling good about the future. But their present looks good as well, even if Zetterberg isn’t available. Forward Dylan Larkin is an elite playmaker, and forward Anthony Mantha scored a Red Wings-high 24 goals last season at age 23. Forward Gustav Nyquist is a three-time 20-goal scorer and Andreas Athanasiou, who could slide to center in Zetterberg’s absence, is among the fastest skaters in the NHL. Jimmy Howard was solid in goal and the addition of Jonathan Bernier further strengthens the position. The Red Wings play a smart style, can score, and could push for one of the wild card spots in the conference.

Continued

The Hockey News’s Kennedy talks prospect tournament stand-outs

The Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy penned a “prospect need to know” article highlighting the best prospects of the teams that participated in the Red Wings’ prospect tournament:

Filip Zadina: High-end puck touches and off-the-charts creativity/offensive IQ. The sixth overall pick in 2018 showed off a lot of elite skill and played the point on the power play. Showed off nice chemistry with Michael Rasmussen. He’ll get a chance to jump straight to the NHL this fall.

Vili Saarijarvi: The Finnish defenseman can really turn on the jets when he’s rushing the puck up the ice. Has an active stick on ‘D’, but still loses battles due to his size. Spent some time in the ECHL last year, but look for him to play a bigger role in AHL Grand Rapids this season.

Joe Veleno: Does everything at a high pace and will take a hit in order to make a play. The 2018 first-rounder was promoted to the top line for Game 2, joining Zadina and Michael Rasmussen and pushing the pace. He’ll go back to a strong Drummondville squad in the QMJHL.

Michael Rasmussen: Has a quick shot and looked faster than before. Played on the top line with Zadina and was very effective. The Red Wings also experimented with putting Rasmussen on the wing in Game 2 and there’s the possibility that the big two-way center starts his NHL career there, just like Dylan Larkin did in Detroit.

Continued

 

Impressions from the Red Wings’ 7-3 loss to Columbus at the prospect tournament ’18

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects had a difficult game in their championship match-up vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets. The prospects really came apart in a 3rd period they led 3-2, surrendering 5 goals en route to a 7-3 loss.

It was a disappointing finish to a solid prospect tournament, a tournament in which the Wings went 2-and-2, rebounding from a tough loss to Minnesota with strong performances against Dallas and New York.

As someone who has partisan feelings for the team I cover, this one was really hard to cover, and this is going to be a hard couple of hours trying to evaluate the Wings prospects’ performances.

The ugly plus-minuses of Dennis Cholowski, Michael Rasmussen and Joe Veleno don’t reflect their prospect tournament performances–they reflect one really horrific period–and I’m not about to consign Filip Zadina (who is fine after getting smoked in the head cutting across the blueline, yielding little more than a slight wrist sprain) to the scrap-heap because he found himself in over his head trying to play Major Junior hockey against professional competition, nor am I going to bash Kaden Fulcher for one shitty game–but they had hiccups in a championship game.

Here’s MLive’s Ansar Khan’s concise recap of the game…

Continue reading Impressions from the Red Wings’ 7-3 loss to Columbus at the prospect tournament ’18

Kulfan speaks with Evgeny Svechnikov about making the Wings’ roster, take two

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan penned a story about Evgeny Svechnikov, who spent some of his weekend in Traverse City, watching his brother Andrei play for the Carolina Hurricanes in the prospect tournament. Svechnikov hopes to make the Wings’ roster on a full-time basis after playing 14 games with the Wings last year:

“There’s more expectation,” Svechnikov said after an informal workout at Little Caesars Arena. “(But) I had, last year, a lot of expectations for myself.”

Svechnikov has the size at 6-foot-3, 212 pounds, and has shown a knack for playing in tight areas, using his strength and instincts. But his struggles defensively, lack of top-end speed, and self-doubt have held him back in the brief NHL auditions.

“I want to show I can play really good defensively and be strong in the zone, cycle the puck and make less mistakes,” Svechnikov said.

Svechnikov did a lot of power skating work in the summer and worked out extensively with younger brother Andrei, who was picked No. 2 overall in June’s draft by Carolina.

“I did a lot of skating, a lot of running,” Svechnikov said. “It was lot of long of runs. It was hard, really hard. I did it for two months, three days a week.”

Kulfan continues…

Larkin, Bertuzzi, Mantha ‘go to school’ as part of Wings’ community tour

Red Wings forwards Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha visisted Goodrich, Michigan to lend a charitable hand to Oaktree Elementary School on Tuesday, as noted by MLive’s Kaitlynn Sullivan…

Detroit Red Wings players visited Oaktree Elementary School on Tuesday, Sept. 11, to see students and make a donation to the Playworks Program. The $3,500 donation will go toward Playworks’ nation-wide initiative to help children stay active during recess through constructive play and exercise.

“The donation is going to Playworks to continue their work so other schools can have the same opportunity to improve how recess is done for other kids and hit on more than just the academics, but leadership, group collaboration, those important things that we learn on the playground and are important for the rest of our lives,” said Jasan Bryan, principal of Oaktree Elementary School.

Saginaw’s WNEM 5…

Continue reading Larkin, Bertuzzi, Mantha ‘go to school’ as part of Wings’ community tour

Surveying Yzermania

As the Wings and national media pondered what exactly to make of Steve Yzerman’s decision to step down as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s GM, ostensibly to spend more time with his family in Metro Detroit, I gravitated toward the video Sportsnet posted of the Lightning’s announcement, preferring to listen and pay attention for myself:

But Fox Sports Detroit talked about it…

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Jimmy Devellano about it…

Continue reading Surveying Yzermania

Post-game audio from the Red Wings’ 7-3 loss in the prospect tournament championship game: Smith, Zadina, Rasmussen, Veleno and coach Simon

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects had a hellish third period in a championship game they led 3-2 1:35 into the period, surrendering 5 straight goals en route to a 7-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Wings’ record in prospect tournament championships is now 1-and-2.

While Givani Smith scored 2 goals, Dennis Cholowski scored another, and Filip Zadina escaped serious injury when smoked in the head and stung in the wrist while cutting across the blueline…

Kaden Fulcher did not have a good night in goal, and his teammates in front of him were equally willing to surrender time, space and puck control to a Blue Jackets team that made the most of its 18 shots.

After the game, Givani Smith wasn’t quite sure where everything went wrong, though he was at least comforted by the fact that he gave his all…

Continue reading Post-game audio from the Red Wings’ 7-3 loss in the prospect tournament championship game: Smith, Zadina, Rasmussen, Veleno and coach Simon

Khan speaks with Jimmy Devellano regarding Yzerman’s decision to step down in Tampa Bay

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Red Wings executive Jimmy Devellano regarding the news that Steve Yzerman is stepping down as the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning to spend more time with his Metro Detroit-based family:

“I had no heads up,” Devellano said. “I was told about it today.”

Yzerman was hired by Lightning owner Jeff Vinik in 2010 and has had tremendous success building the team into a championship contender. He was named GM of the year in 2014-15, when Tampa Bay lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Cup finals.

Many Red Wings fans have been clamoring for the captain to return home.

“I know how the fans feel and I can understand their feelings,” Devellano said. “They are questions we don’t have answers for and don’t have control over. What can I say, what can Kenny say? Other than (Yzerman) has done a heck of a job in Tampa and just as he was as a player he turned out to be a good GM.”

Devellano said there doesn’t appear to be anything imminent regarding Yzerman and the Red Wings.

“It’s not like something is going to happen when we open the season with Columbus (on Oct. 4),” Devellano said. “But what about next July 1, for instance? People will clamor and speculate. I understand that.”

Continued

 

Red Wings, Wakiji set up tonight’s prospect tournament championship game

As the Detroit Red Wings’ prospects prepare for tonight’s championship game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Red Wings posted a morning skate report on Twitter…


And DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji set up tonight’s game:

“It’s good, it means progress,” said Shawn Horcoff, Red Wings director of player development. “We felt coming in here we were going to have a good team on paper. I think guys, they’ve put a lot of hard work in over the summer and I think you’re starting to see that. (Dennis) Cholowski and Ras (Michael Rasmussen) and Gio (Givani Smith). I think a big difference for us is our 18-year-olds. Our young guys have come in and in a very hard tournament, done very well. You see (Joe) Veleno, (Jared) McIsaac, (Alec) Regula, and obviously (Filip) Zadina, speaks for himself.

“I’m happy. It’s a good step forward for us. But I’ll be even happier if we can win tonight.”

Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon, in his first year as the head coach of the team, knows that a victory would be significant.

“It’s great to be in the championship game to have a chance to win something,” Simon said. “No matter what it is, if you’re on the golf course and you’re playing a buddy, you want to beat him. You want to win. If you’re playing in your backyard, you want to win. If you’re playing pickup basketball, you want to beat the other guy you’re playing against. I don’t think the philosophy or the mentality changes. If we win this tournament, I think it’s great for the organization. All these young prospects that everyone’s excited to see have success and hopefully feed off that going into camp, I think is a great thing.”

Wakiji continues…

The Yzerman press conference call leaves room for speculation, but a family decision is made

FYI from the press conference in which Steve Yzerman announced that he’s stepping down as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s GM, and will stay on as an advisor:

Update: Here’s the full press conference, from Sportsnet. Watch and decide for yourself: