Month: August 2019

THN’s Larkin talks Osgood in the Hall and exclusivity

The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin answers a reader question regarding the Hockey Hall of Fame candidacies of Curtis Joseph, Chris Osgood and Daniel Alfredsson in part with a staid answer regarding Osgood’s case for the Hall of Fame…

Osgood has the weakest case of the three. He was a dependable caretaker goaltender on a collection of powerhouse Detroit Red Wing teams that were peppered with Hall of Famers. He didn’t receive a single Vezina vote in 13 of his 17 seasons. It’s fair to call him underrated, as he posted some outstanding numbers during his best years with Detroit, but it was also the equivalent of piling up home runs during the steroid era. Many goalies had ridiculous numbers during the Dead Puck years, so Osgood’s stats stand out less when you juxtapose them with those of his peers. He was a good goalie but, even at his best, he was closer to top-10 in the league than top-five.

(For better or worse, Osgood won 3 Stanley Cups, too)

And I honestly disagree far more vehemently with Larkin regarding this point than I do regarding his take on Osgood’s career:

If I had my way, I’m not sure I’d put any of these guys in the Hall. I think the Hockey Hall of Fame is too lenient and should be reserved for players who were considered among the most dominant at their positions for half a decade or more. That’s why I prefer seeing a shooting-star career like Eric Lindros’ earn Hall recognition than someone who was merely “quite good for a long time.”

I’m fine with the Hockey Hall of Fame being for both “shooting stars” and players who were “really good for a long time.” As far as I’m concerned, the company is too exclusive for its own good, and the Selection Committee has, in my opinion, done a shitty job of honoring international pioneers, women players who were stalwarts at their position but didn’t win awards over extended careers.

The Hockey Hall of Fame is supposed to be a Hall of fame, and it’s too often an exclusive wing thereof. I’d love to see more players added, not fewer players.

Calumet Colosseum’s Kraft Hockeyville win means more than hosting an NHL preseason game

UPMatters.com’s Peter Curi spoke with the spokesman for the Calumet Colosseum, which won this year’s Kraft Hockeyville USA competition.

The small arena in the Keweenaw Peninsula earned a $150,000 prize from Kraft, affording the rink extensive renovations. The rink will also host an exhibition game between the Red Wings and St. Louis Blues on September 26th:

“Well short term, the community is going to get national coverage like the community has never seen before,” said John Carroll, Spokesman, Calumet Colosseum. “Long term winning an award like this, with the kind of improvements we’re making here in the building, in the future when teams come up here from downstate to play us, they’re going to enjoy the benefits of all of the work we have put into the building,” said Carroll. “The new ice plants, sound system, heaters, and everything that goes along with that. It’ll be an incredible facility.”

The prize money will not cover all the Colosseum’s expenses. So they need your help.

“We’re making a lot of improvements to the building and it’s more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000), it’s more than what we won from Kraft, and that’s why we’re doing the fundraising, that’s why we have the merchandise and that’s why we’re selling the raffle tickets and the prize is a fifteen-thousand dollar ($15,000) gift certificate for John Deere products and the winner can pick up whatever they want. But all the money that we raise from the merchandise, all the money we raise from the raffle tickets, all of that goes right back to the Colosseum,” said Carroll.

Continued; here’s UPMatters.com’s video report:

Continue reading Calumet Colosseum’s Kraft Hockeyville win means more than hosting an NHL preseason game

Wakiji recaps Red Wings night at Comerica Park

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji recaps Red Wings Night at last night’s Detroit Tigers game, and she notes that Dylan Larkin is not unaware of the “perks of the job”:

Wings alternate captain and Michigan native Dylan Larkin was there to throw out the first pitch before the Tigers took on the Central Division-leading Minnesota Twins.

Before that, Larkin had the chance to meet Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire, the former Twins manager, in his office.

Even though it was his second time doing so, it was still a special thing for Larkin to be able to take the mound at a place he visited as a kid.

“For myself to be out there and throwing a pitch at Comerica Park before an MLB game is pretty surreal,” Larkin said. “It’s just another cool perk of being here and playing in Detroit. The sports teams, we’re all united and we have a great sense of unity and pride of representing our city and it’s just cool for myself and my family to come out here and enjoy this.”

Continued, and here”s Larkin’s first pitch:

Three things: On prospect tournament rosters, Magnus Paajarvi and Kraft Hockeyville done well

Of various levels of Red Wings-related note this evening:

  1. Six of the eight teams taking part in next week’s prospect tournament have already released their rosters for the tournament, and, as usual, The Left Wing Lock’s Sarah Lindenau is on top of the latest developments and top prospects representing each team. She’s posted rosters for the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Dallas Stars also released their prospect tournament roster today.

2. This one comes via a Twitter heads-up from Winging It in Motown’s Kyle McIlmurray, and then Expressen’s Johan Svensson, a.k.a. Mr. Madhawk: Henrik Zetterberg’s former agent, Gunnar Svensson, is also the father of Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, and Gunnar Tweeted this today:

Translated into English, that’s, “My son Magnus has received some invitations from the Red Wings. Will these become concrete?”

Long Mr. Madhawk story short, Paajarvi is a 28-year-old free agent who was picked 10th overall in 2009 by the Edmonton Oilers. He’s played for the Oilers, Blues and Senators (last season), but he’s never panned out as a scorer at the NHL level, posting a career-high 34 points in 2010-2011.

He’s skating with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks presently, and after posting 19 points in the NHL last season, he might earn a pro try-out with some team looking for a little depth. Whether that’s the Red Wings remains to be seen.

3. Finally, in tangentially-Red Wings-related news, Marquette’s TV 6 reports that every full-time figure skater and hockey player who participated in the Calumet Coliseum’s youth programs will get tickets to the Red Wings-St. Louis Blues preseason game scheduled for September 26th at the Kraft Hockeyville USA-winning Calumet Colosseum.

It’s good to know that the extremely limited tickets to the tiny venue’s preseason game are going to the right people.

Via A2Y: Streaming?

Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman noted this Tweet from Ken Kal earlier today, and it’s encouraging given that the Red Wings have been streaming prospect tournament games over the last couple of seasons:

Fundraising continues

I’ve raised approximately $600 toward server fees and the cost of the hotel stay for Traverse City, which is fantastic, but having no savings due to mom’s illness + paying for dry cleaning, the oil change and the server = the server fees have pretty much wiped me out.

I need your help to get me up to Traverse City, so I’m asking that you please lend a hand if you are able. I’ll take anything from a couple-hundred-dollar donation down to a couple of bucks as it all paves the road to Traverse City, where I’ll be heading for two full weeks to cover the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and main training camp.

The hotel costs about $1,800, and add gas and groceries and I’m looking to raise over $2,000 for the trip.

I’m working with Paypal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport to raise funds, but I’ll happily add services if necessary to facilitate making your part of the equation easier. Email me at rtxg@yahoo.com if you want to send a check or send $ through an alternate source.

Thank you for your readership, your time and your support. We’ve got about a week to raise at least half the hotel $, and I believe that we can do it!

Khan scouts Valtteri Filppula

MLive’s Ansar Khan issues a 2019-2020 season outlook for Valtteri Filppula this morning, and Khan suggests that Filppula and Frans Nielsen will end up serving defensive roles:

Experience, versatility and familiarity were among the reasons the Red Wings brought back Filppula, whom they drafted 95th overall in 2002, for his second stint with the organization.

Andreas Athanasiou played well at center the final six weeks of the season, but his long-term future is at wing. Filppula fills a role as the second- or third-line center (with Frans Nielsen in the other slot). He’ll join the core of penalty-killing forwards led by Luke Glendening and Darren Helm and play on the power play. A strong skater with solid defensive awareness, he can match up against the opposition’s top line.

One of the biggest criticisms with Filppula in his first stint with the Red Wings was his reluctance to shoot. That hasn’t changed. In fact, he seems even less inclined to shoot now. He managed to score 17 goals last season but that will be difficult to replicate with his tendency to pass first.

Continued

Darren Pang appears on the latest ‘Red and White Authority’ podcast

St. Louis Blues color commentator and “Friend of Yzerman” Darren Pang appears on the latest edition of Arthur J. Regner’s “Red and White Authority” podcast:

A bit about Dennis Cholowski’s rookie season

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examines Dennis Cholowski’s 2018-19 campaign this morning, discussing significant figures and adding commentary of note regarding Cholowski’s rookie season:

“I also think on the defensive side of the game, not so much the thinking but I don’t think through his young career growing up, he was ever in a situation where he really had to defend. He was always relied upon to produce offense. So now all of a sudden, he leaves college and two years later, he’s in the NHL where you’ve got to defend the best players in the world every shift every single night and he gets exposed a little bit. But that’s the same thing that most young players go through. It’s the best league in the world for a reason. It’s not easy to play against the best players every night and I thought he did a good job of it. He’s learning as he goes here how to defend in the National Hockey League and we focused a lot on that in the offseason. I think you’re going to see a better defender in him this year.” — Shawn Horcoff, Red Wings director of player development/assistant director of player personnel

Continued