Month: June 2019

The Detroit Red Wings released their 2019-2020 regular season schedule today, and several beat writers posted some of the highlights thereof.

1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted the following:

The Detroit Red Wings’ season-opener for 2019-20 will be Saturday, Oct. 5 at Nashville at 7 p.m.

As previously reported, the Wings’ home opener will be Sunday, Oct. 6 against Dallas, also at 7 p.m.

Regular-season schedules were released Tuesday for all 31 NHL teams.

The Wings’ traditional New Year’s Eve home game is against San Jose at 7:30 p.m.

The Wings close the season on Saturday, April 4 at home against Tampa Bay at 7 p.m.

2. Among MLive’s Ansar Khan’s schedule notes:

Oct. 6 vs. Dallas: The home opener art Little Caesars Arena.

Oct. 18 at Edmonton: First game against the Oilers and their new general manager, Ken Holland, who held the position in Detroit since 1997.

Oct. 27 vs. St. Louis: The Stanley Cup champion Blues make their lone appearance in Detroit.

Oct. 29 vs. Edmonton: Holland’s homecoming.

3. And, from the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

The All-Star break/bye week falls Jan. 23-30. The Wings close out the season April 4 at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Their exhibition season starts Sept. 17 with hosting the Chicago Blackhawks at Little Caesars Arena. The teams meet again the next night at United Center. Other home games fall September 20 against the New York Islanders, Sept. 22 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Sept. 27 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Road games have the Wings at the Islanders on Sept. 23, at Pittsburgh on Sept. 25, and the finale, Sept. 28 at Toronto. The schedule also features a game against the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues Sept. 26 in Calumet (ticket information for that event has yet to be released).

Downtown Publications’ Kevin Elliott posted a profile of Fox Sports Detroit analyst Larry Murphy, and Murphy discusses the effects of winning two Stanley Cups with the Wings (1997 and 1998), as well as his job analyzing hockey games:

“Winning the Cup here in Detroit after the team had such a long dry spell, that was exciting for the city when we won. It’s ingrained in the fabric of the city. You only get that in an Original Six city,” Murphy said, referring to the six original NHL teams –Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Montreal, New York and Toronto – from 1942 to 1967.

After retiring from the NHL in 2001, Murphy began providing color commentary for a portion of Detroit’s West Coast road games for Fox Sports Detroit, along with former Wing Pat Verbeek. His duties expanded with the network until 2013, when he and the sports provider parted ways. This past Valentine’s Day, the network announced Murphy was returning to Fox Sports Detroit for the 2018-19 season. He said they are now in contract talks for the upcoming season.

“It’s a job that takes a lot out of you. I spend more time prepping than on the air. It’s a lot to know what’s going on in the league. Reading, watching and observing – that’s the biggest, most time consuming part of the job,” Murphy said. “You have to be aware of the players in the system and what they are doing. You have to be ready to go three or four questions deep on every player in the system.

“Watching is the easiest part. I enjoy watching the Wings play. That’s the easiest part of the job.”

Continued

Per MLive’s Ansar Khan:

#RedWings have made qualifying offers to RFAs Joe Hicketts, Patrik Rybar and Dominic Turgeon, retaining their rights. They did not qualify Martin Frk, Dylan Sadowy, Libor Sulak and Axel Holmstrom, the latter two who have returned to play in Europe. Deadline is today.— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) June 25, 2019

From development camp, here comes the Red Wings’ 2019-2020 season schedule:

2019-20 regular season schedule announced

94th season begins on Saturday, Oct. 5 in Nashville; twenty-two weekend dates among 41 home games in 2019-20

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today released their schedule for the 2019-20 season and the team’s 94th overall in the National Hockey League. The Red Wings will open the campaign on the road on Saturday, Oct. 5 against the Nashville Predators before hosting the Dallas Stars for the Home Opener on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 7:00 p.m. Little Caesars Arena will host 22 weekend home games (five Fridays, seven Saturdays and 10 Sundays), including the regular-season finale on Saturday, April 4 versus the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Continue reading Here’s the Red Wings’ 2019-2020 regular season schedule

Via Kukla’s Korner, the Red Wings are going to be streaming part of Tuesday’s development camp drills, starting at 11:30 AM this morning, on their YouTube page:

Update: The Wings are broadcasting on Twitter as well:

We’re live at day 1 of #RedWings Development Camp at the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena. #DRWDC #LGRW https://t.co/tKdf1vOlyM— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 25, 2019

ESPN’s Dmitri Filipovic penned an article discussing the free agency plans which he believes would best benefit the NHL’s Atlantic Division teams, and here’s what Filipovic had to say about the Red Wings:

It would behoove the Red Wings to avoid taking on any bad future money. Everything that’s not completely bolted down for the long haul should be in play, and every free-agent contract they hand out should be of the shorter-term variety. They should use this as an opportunity to figure out what they truly have in all of their young players, giving them a chance to play through growing pains and get the necessary reps at this level. If there are any veterans that either don’t have other obvious landing spots or are looking to rebuild their value on the fly, they can offer them prime scoring minutes and the promise that they’ll be moved to a contender at the deadline should they produce. They’ve made at least 10 picks over the past three drafts — 32 total, although the 2017 class was disastrous, with five of their picks not even being signed as of this writing — and already own nine picks in 2020, a number that’ll only grow between now and the trade deadline.

The good news is that new GM Steve Yzerman comes in with a blank slate and a long leash, allowing the Red Wings to see this rebuild through properly without any real desperation to misguidedly fast track things with quick fixes. Missing the playoffs for three seasons in a row and counting is an especially bitter new reality for an organization that prided itself on the 25-year stretch that came before it, but at least there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel in Detroit. That’s something that couldn’t be said a couple of years ago, when they were bad but also stuck with no cards to play.

Continued

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a superb profile of Red Wings draft pick Ethan Phillips, who was selected with the 97th overall pick in Vancouver this past weekend. Phillips is all of 5’9″ and 146 pounds, but the plucky forward believes that he can buck the odds–as do the Red Wings:

No draftee is guaranteed a path to NHL, and while the fourth round still annually yields players to hockey’s highest level, making it from that draft slot can require every bit of that focus, preparation and businesslike approach Owens cited.

With the way the modern game has evolved to accommodate smaller players, making the most of those traits — plus a healthy bit of work in the gym — could go a long way toward letting his skill shine through.

“He’s undersized but he’s a very fast skater, he’s got very good hockey sense, he’s got very good skill,” Red Wings director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright said. “We just thought at the value of where he was at — he’s going to go to college, we’ve got a little bit more time to develop him with going to college for four years. He’s gotta get stronger, obviously. I hope he grows, but that’s not really — I mean, I think if you look at the National Hockey League, I think there’s more and more small players playing, but you’ve gotta be fast, you’ve gotta be quick, you’ve gotta have skill. He fit all those bills for us, and that’s why we took him.”

Continued (paywall)…

The Detroit Red Wings’ summer development camp begins today at Little Caesars Arena, and MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a list of 10 players to watch this week. I will be watching these two turning-pro players very closely:

Filip Larsson, goaltender: Detroit’s top goaltending prospect will be starting his pro career in Grand Rapids following a strong college season at Denver (1.95 goals-against average, .932 save percentage, four shutouts in 22 games) that was hampered by a preseason ankle injury.

Gustav Lindstrom, defenseman: Poised, smart, physical puck-moving defenseman who is set to play for the Griffinsfollowing a strong season with Frolunda, one of the top teams in Sweden. The Red Wings’ second pick in 2017 (38th) might see some time in Detroit this season and surely will challenge for a regular spot in 2020-21.

Continued

This morning, DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji joins the fray of media members who’ve spoken with Dylan Larkin at his hockey school in Waterford, MI.

Wakiji discusses the Larkin Hockey School, Evgeny Svechnikov’s presence at the school, and Larkin’s take on the Wings’ draft class:

“I do love the kids,” Larkin said after Monday’s morning session. “It’s fun for us. They’re mouthy, sometimes they don’t pay attention and I catch myself maybe getting a little upset and then I just laugh. How could you not? You just take a step back. The kids, they have a mind of their own, you just let them go and be themselves and they all have personalities, they all love hockey – maybe not love listening or skating drills but they definitely love the scrimmaging and being around and lunchtime and being with their buddies.”

There are plenty of other things the Larkins could be doing this summer — training for their own upcoming hockey seasons, seeing the latest movies or just relaxing in the sunshine — but they make sure they keep their priorities in order.

Wakiji continues…

On Monday, DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner sat engaged in a sit-down interview with Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin at his hockey school in Waterford, MI, and WXYZ’s Brad Galli also spoke at length with Larkin, discussing several topics over the course of a 9-minute interview:

During Larkin’s interview with Galli, #71 discussed the injury he suffered at the World Championship:

Continue reading WXYZ’s Galli speaks with Dylan Larkin