Month: October 2018

Tweets from Red Wings practice: Kronwall skates (and Cholowski does not) as Wings prepare for Toronto

The Detroit Red Wings are preparing for a busy schedule which begins with a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, and MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that one member of the Wings’ injured defense made an appearance at Wednesday’s practice:

Big update from Khan at 11:30 AM:

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa said, “Hello”…

Continue reading Tweets from Red Wings practice: Kronwall skates (and Cholowski does not) as Wings prepare for Toronto

Red Wings to distribute Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond bobblehead to charitable ticket-buyers

From the Red Wings:

Ken Daniels & Mickey Redmond Bobblehead Night set for Dec. 2

To receive talking bobblehead, fans must purchase a special fundraising ticket with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Jamie Daniels Foundation

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today announced the details for a Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond special-edition talking bobblehead on Sunday, Dec. 2 when the Red Wings take on the Colorado Avalanche at 7:00 p.m. at the award-winning Little Caesars Arena.

Fans can secure the one-of-a-kind bobblehead by purchasing a special fundraising ticket package, which was established to celebrate the life of Ken Daniels’ son, Jamie, who lost his life too early due to an accidental drug overdose. As part of the Red Wings’ “Hockeytown Cares” community impact platform, the team has joined together with the Jamie Daniels Foundation and the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation to honor Jamie Daniels and promote awareness of the opioid epidemic with the limited-edition bobblehead, presented by the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Proceeds from each group ticket purchased benefits the Jamie Daniels Foundation.

The Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond talking bobblehead will NOT be distributed to fans as they enter Little Caesars Arena. To guarantee a bobblehead, Red Wings fans must purchase tickets as part of the special fundraising offer by clicking HERE. Fans who purchase through the ticket offer will receive a voucher which can be redeemed for the bobblehead during the Dec. 2 game. 

Two ticketing options are available to guarantee a Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond bobblehead. For $56 per ticket, fans will receive an upper-level ticket and a bobblehead. A VIP package is also available for $95 per ticket, featuring a lower-level ticket and a Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond autographed bobblehead.

The Jamie Daniels Foundation was established by FOX Sports Detroit play-by-play broadcaster Ken Daniels and his family in honor of his late son, Jamie, to provide education, resources, guidance and financial support to people battling drug addiction so lives can be saved and healing can be created within families. The Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation is dedicated to advancing the health and wellness of children and families. With an area of focus on mental health, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation is collaborating with the Jamie Daniels Foundation to lead children and families on a path to a happier, healthier future. To donate to the Jamie Daniels Foundation, visit www.jamiedanielsfoundation.org.

For additional information on the Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond bobblehead, visit www.DetroitRedWings.com/JamieDanielsFoundation.

Free Press’s Seidel meets Joe Murphy

This one is hard to read, but necessary: the Free Press’s Jeff Seidel traveled to Kenora, Ontario to meet former Red Wing Joe Murphy, who is homeless and struggling:

Murphy is good at being homeless, just as he was good at playing hockey. It took a certain amount of practice, but he has mastered it. He has learned how to bounce between different shelters and churches, always finding a way to get a meal and clean set of clothes.

He has learned to be industrious, ripping apart a plastic lid at McDonald’s, forming it into a sharp triangle and turning it into a toothpick. He has learned how ATM machines give off heat in the winter, and how to burrow inside industrial-sized garbage containers.

“Those things are like condos,” he says, with a certain amount of yearning. “I’m not kidding you. But you have to deck it out. You just flatten cardboard boxes on the floor. Put stuff on the walls. Throw down some blankets. Lay down. Put on some candles. Get your stuff going. I was, ‘Moving on up, to the east side.’ I was George Jefferson in this. Man, I had everything. You remember that one? It was everything to me. I’m living the high life and I was. The only thing missing was that white butler. It was unbelievable. I had a great time.”

Murphy prefers living on his own.

He doesn’t like to deal with large groups in the shelters.

“You are right side by side,” he says. “Now, they are snoring and all kinds of stuff going on and some guys sleep walking and I get uncomfortable.”

Continued

Evening news: Five Wings will be Upper Deck ‘Young Guns’; Kulfan on the road trip; Walleye Teddy Bear Toss scheduled for December 1st; Abdelkader, Knuble partner with MI health organizations

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. According to Beckett’s Ryan Cracknell, four five Red Wings will be featured in Upper Deck’s 2018-19 Series One hockey set, with Filip Hronek (#214), Michael Rasmussen (#226), Libor Sulak (#227), Dennis Cholowski (#231) and Christoffer Ehn (#234) making their cardboard debuts as short-printed Young Guns;

2. Among the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan’s off-day Wings reflections:

Continue reading Evening news: Five Wings will be Upper Deck ‘Young Guns’; Kulfan on the road trip; Walleye Teddy Bear Toss scheduled for December 1st; Abdelkader, Knuble partner with MI health organizations

The Guardian weighs in on the unfulfilled promises in the District Detroit

This is not a good day or good time to post this article…

But the Guardian’s Tom Perkins wrote a thorough article discussing the fact that development around Little Caesars Arena has either stalled or has resulted in the establishment of parking lots instead of thriving retail-and-or-residential neighborhoods in the “District Detroit,” and that’s a problem:

Along the streets leading to Detroit’s recently minted Little Caesars Arena, colorful banners hang from temporary fencing, informing visitors they have arrived in the District Detroit. The neighborhood holds “a dynamic mix of shopping and dining” with “places to live in the heart of the action”, the signage reads. The banners depict a thriving urban core with smiling families holding hands while well-dressed people drink under patio lights.

Beyond the fencing, the landscape isn’t quite so lively. There are few places to live in the District, and little to eat. Vacant, decaying buildings make up entire city blocks. There are almost no lights, save for those illuminating surface lots and parking garages.

The arena, the Red Wings ice hockey team that plays there, and almost all the blighted property in the District share the same owner: Detroit’s billionaire Ilitch family. Their company hung the banners, but there’s growing frustration among many Detroiters over the discrepancy between the Ilitches’ imaginative marketing and the neighborhood’s stark reality.

Just down the street from LCA, Sean Swierkosz, general manager of the longstanding sports bar Harry’s, watched the Ilitches make progress, “but then it stalled”, he said. “I feel like I’m looking over the fence at my neighbor’s yard at his half-finished project or garage.”

Continued, and I truly and sincerely hope that in 5-10 years, the District Detroit will look like those thriving neighborhoods we were promised as part of $200 million in development to take place around the arena. I understand that that kind of investment takes time and takes effort, and I don’t fault the Ilitches for putting up parking lots in the interim…

But it doesn’t look good, and should the promises Olympia Entertainment made to secure public funding for the arena go unfulfilled, they need to be held accountable for inaction.

The Athletic posts superb article about the Brothers Svechnikov

This isn’t Red Wings-related per se, but The Athletic’s Sara Civian penned an excellent article about the relationship between Red Wings forward Evgeny Svechnikov and his more-heralded brother, Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov:

Since Evgeny was 3 and a half  years old and his little brother was born, they’d always had each other. And since as long as they can remember, they’ve held onto the idea of someday playing together in the National Hockey League.

No one in Andrei Svechnikov’s camp is surprised that the versatile No. 2 overall pick scored his first goal in his third NHL game. No one’s even surprised that it was the first stolen lead in an 8-5 thriller, or that Andrei had logged a handful of assists before he did the damn thing.

“I had no doubt,” Evgeny said. “I had no doubt he was gonna do it.”

As fast as this league moves, as bonkers as the rest of the Hurricanes’ Sunday win was, the Svechnikovs aren’t letting this particular goal go uncelly’d.

“I’ve waited for this my whole life,” Andrei said, sweat still dripping. “It’s my dream. My dream came true.”

“It’s huge,” Evgeny said of both the goal and their relationship. “It’s everything.”

Continued

Little Caesars’ seat…renovations…at least means more work for Grand Rapids’ Irwin Seating Company

As WOOD TV8 notes, the news that Little Caesars Arena will be replacing its red seats with black ones isn’t all bad news:

A Grand Rapids company will be replacing over 18,000 seats in the home of the Detroit Pistons and Red Wings.

Little Caesars Arena announced Monday that it will begin swapping out its 18,600 red seats with black ones in December.

Crain’s Detroit reported Tuesday that Irwin Seating Co. will be the company doing the job. Irwin also installed the original red seating.

The venue began using black seat covers last season after the empty red seats drew attention on telecasts. Covers will remain on the seats until the changeover process begins.

Tuesday morning Tweets of note: An alumni game set-up, Wings and Walleye stuff and an ironic birthday

Of Twitter-related note this morning:

Continue reading Tuesday morning Tweets of note: An alumni game set-up, Wings and Walleye stuff and an ironic birthday

Prospect round-up: Catching up with a busy weekend

Of prospect-related note from the time in which I was sidelined:

On Saturday, in the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins were shut out 4-0 by the San Antonio Rampage. The Griffins’ website posted a recap and photo gallery from the game; the Rampage’s website posted a recap.

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye beat the Kalmazoo K-Wings 8-5 in an exhibition game held at the Huntington Center. The Walleye’s website posted a recap, as did the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe; Toledo and Grand Rapids both open their regular seasons on Friday, October 12th. Continue reading Prospect round-up: Catching up with a busy weekend

Two Things: FSD goes inside the locker room; St. James on the ‘learning’ Wings

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. Fox Sports Detroit posted its inside-the-locker-room video from the 1st intermission of Monday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to Anaheim:

2. The Free Press’s Helene St. James wrote a recap discussing the state of the Red Wings as the team returns home for a single game, and then heads on the road for four:

 Three close games, three losses, lots of learning.

The Detroit Red Wings return home still in search of their first victory of the season, but while they stagnate in the standings their young players are enriched. Rookie defensemen Dennis Cholowski, Libor Sulak and Filip Hronek are playing big minutes to offset the absence of veterans. Rookie forward Michael Rasmussen made a nice pass to earn his first NHL point. Second-year forward Tyler Bertuzzi already has two goals. Rookie Christoffer Ehn looks like a solid grinder-type.

That’s what needs to be the focus as the Wings nurse an 0-1-2 record despite playing well in back-to-back games at Los Angeles and Anaheim.

“We know where we are at in terms of having a young team, and we are looking towards a number of these guys to be the future of the Detroit Red Wings,” coach Jeff Blashill said after Monday’s 3-2 shootout loss at Honda Center. “I think as they continue to show improvement, that’s a positive for the organization. In the meantime, we’re working like crazy to win games and there are areas where we can be a little bit better.”

Continued