Month: October 2018

A bit about Thomas Vanek’s second stint in Detroit

From the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan’s notebook comes this note regarding Thomas Vanek:

Forward Thomas Vanek brought a lot of positives to the lineup during his first tour with the Wings two seasons ago.

Having an opportunity to bring Vanek aboard again has already turned out to be a treat for Blashill.

“I don’t know if I can state clearly enough the impact he has on our younger players,” Blashill said. “One of the reasons we brought him back is how much he makes the other guys better. He’s such a smart offensive mind.”

Blashill used an example from Thursday morning. Vanek went to the coaches’ room to borrow a teaching pad to diagram face-off plays to his linemates.

“He’s a smart hockey mind,” Blashill said. “Playing with Double-A (Andreas Athanasiou), that chemistry has a chance to be real great.”

Continued

Wallner speaks with Dominic Turgeon regarding his recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome

Ahead of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ season-opener, the Grand Rapids Press’s Peter J. Wallner spoke with Dominic Turgeon regarding his recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome:

Once the initial scare and concern passed, he went through an offseason of careful recovery followed by a good training camp with the Detroit Red Wings. Now, the third-year pro is ready to put the incident behind him and focus on the opener.

Ironically, it will be back in Texas on Friday.

“Yeah, I really hadn’t even thought about that,” he said.

As for camp and recovery, Turgeon added: “Overall, I thought my camp went pretty well. It was good to just get back in the groove, get back in preseason games and get back to (playing) a lot of games in a lot of nights.

“Overall, my body’s feeling good and I’m ready to go.”

Turgeon’s offseason included blood thinner for three months, followed by light training and eventually weight lifting.

“I thought recovery went well and I did have another ultrasound, and everything looks good, looks fine,” he said. “… I had a good summer of training and I had a lot of time to do it, so I feel 100 percent and ready to go.”

Wallner continues, and he posted a video of Turgeon’s remarks:

 

 

Crain’s Detroit Business’s Shea on the revamped ‘Hockeytown’ logo/campaign

Crain’s Detroit Business’s Bill Shea examines the Red Wings’ revamped “Hockeytown” logo and advertising campaign:

The Red Wings last month trotted out the refreshed “Hockeytown” logo that re-imagines the phrase in fabric letters that matches the names on player jerseys. It will be heavily used in the team’s TV, signage, and digital marketing campaign all season, on merchandise and apparel, and will show up in many places inside Little Caesars Arena including on the dasher boards. It was removed from the ice for this season so that the iconic Winged Wheel logo could be featured alone (with four corporate advertising logos around it), the team said.

“Hockeytown” as it was felt dated, the team’s top marketing executive said.

“It was time for a refresh,” said Craig Turnbull, senior vice president for marketing and communications for the Red Wings and Olympia Entertainment. “It’ll be much more featured. We’re happy with the way it came out. The reaction from guests has been very positive.”

“Hockeytown” has been a backbone of the team’s branding since the expression was introduced by the Detroit office of ad agency Bozell Worldwide in 1996 to commemorate the Red Wings’ 70th anniversary. It’s become ingrained with the team, players, fans, and was legitimized by the team’s playoff success and six Stanley Cup appearances.

It’s also a registered trademark, along with the Winged Wheel logo. Using “Hockeytown” as a fan-base reminder of the team’s glory years and to reinvigorate their sense of community is one strategy. So is playing defense against any suggestion that anywhere else is Hockeytown.

Continued

 

Erm, ‘Dilly Dilly?’

Per MLive’s Brandon Champion:

Forget the sin bin, the Red Wings’ visiting penalty box has been re-branded.

Welcome to The Pit of Misery.

In perhaps the single greatest decision in the short history of the new downtown Detroit arena, the boards in front of the visitor’s penalty box at Little Caesars Arena now feature a “Pit of Misery” Bud Light advertisement.

WXYZ reporter Brad Galli posted a photo of the addition on Thursday, Oct. 4, just hours before the Red Wings begin their season against the Columbus Blue Jackets (7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit).

Kris Draper praises ‘Ehnner’

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji discusses Christoffer Ehn’s ascent from prospect to fourth-line wing/center, via Red Wings special assistant to the GM Kris Draper:

One of the main reasons Ehn earned a spot on the team was with his excellent defensive prowess paired with his skating ability.

Someone who knows a lot about being a contributor as a fourth-line player and penalty killer is Kris Draper, the assistant to general manager Ken Holland.

Draper spoke a little bit about the 6-foot-3, 181-pound Swedish center at the Detroit Sports Media’s Red Wings Day at Sinbad’s Restaurant on Wednesday.

“Even last year talking to (director of European scouting) Hakan Andersson, he was really high on him and high on his development, with getting a little bigger and stronger,” Draper said. “His skating, he’s an unbelievable skater. He’s a guy that’s going to get up and down the ice real fast. With the way the game is being played right now, it’s so important to be such an elite skater. That fourth line, I know Glendening is going to play with him. (Blashill is) going to have a lot of confidence in Christoffer Ehn and Glendening to play some shifts against the other teams’ top lines. They feel that there’s going to be the opportunity and the ability to create some offense. The one thing when you’re playing against another team’s top line, you want to try to make them play defense as much as possible. I think they’re going to have that mindset to be able to do that. I think it’s going to be a fun line, it’s going to be a line that Blash can trust and when you have trust in your players, as a player you feel that. I think that’s going to be something important for them.”

Wakiji continues…

A wee bit about Samuel Lidstrom joining his hockey-playing family

Of Google Garble note: According to Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist, Nicklas Lidstrom’s youngest son, Samuel, is beginning to play for Vasteras VIK’s Under-20 team, and the Google translation of Ronnqvist’s article about the young forward is OK. Let me know if you want a full translation.

Griffins to hold ‘Tip a Griffin’ event on November 19th

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Tip-A-Griffin Event Hosted by Uccello’s November 19

Griffins players and coaches will visit all six Uccello’s locations in West Michigan to serve food and wait tables, with tips and proceeds benefiting the Griffins Youth Foundation. Over its 11 previous editions, Tip-A-Griffin has raised nearly $100,000 for various local charities. Further information such as player location assignments will be announced at a later date.

There’s more information on the event here…