Month: August 2019

Roughly translated: Patrik Nemeth speaks with HockeyNews.se

New Red Wings defenseman Patrik Nemeth engaged in a lengthy conversation with HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek, and here’s a rough translation of the Swedish interview:

Meeting crucial for NHL Swede’s team decision: “They want to change things”

Stockholm. After making the playoffs for 25 consecutive years, and winning four Stanley Cup titles during that time, the Detroit Red Wings have missed the playoffs for three consecutive years.

For new defenseman Patrik Nemeth, a meeting with new general manager Steve Yzerman became crucial to his decision to sign with the NHL team in the middle of its transformation.

“As soon as the new GM or new coach comes in, there is a new focus. They want to see some other things, maybe, change some things,” Nemeth tells HockeyNews.se.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Patrik Nemeth speaks with HockeyNews.se

Three things: Hated Detroit sports nemeses; on Frans Nielsen’s ‘numbers’ and ‘most important players’

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

  1. WDIV’s Jason Colthorp, David Bartkowiak Jr. and Derek Hutchinson have created a bracketed set of the most despised athletes in Detroit sports, and their list of Red Wings nemeses include eight hated players, including a Wings alumnus:

2. DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner examines Frans Nielsen’s 2018-2019 season “By the Numbers” this morning…

100 – On Jan. 18 in Calgary, Nielsen notched his 100th career point as a Red Wing when he drew the second assist on Mike Green‘s goal at 4:16 of the third period in Detroit’s 6-4 loss to the Flames. Thomas Vanek picked up the primary assist.

200 – Nielsen reached another Red Wings milestone on Jan. 11 when he played his 200th game as a Wing against the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg. In Detroit’s 4-2 loss, he had an assist on Dennis Cholowski’s power-play goal at of 6:50 of the third period. In 230 games with Detroit, Nielsen has 109 points (43-66-109) is minus-25, has been assessed 46 penalty minutes with an average ice time of 16:33 per game. His face-off percentage is 49.9 percent and he has notched seven game-winning goals.

3. And Bob Duff penned a list of the Red Wings’ “most important players” for Featurd, and he chooses Andreas Athanasiou, Filip Hronek and Jimmy Howard as the Wings’ most pivotal players at forward, defense and in goal.

Here’s ESPN’s ‘All-Decade’ Red Wings team

ESPN has posted 31 sets of “All-Decade Teams” representing the best that each and every one of the NHL’s franchises has to offer, and here’s who they picked to represent the Red Wings from 2010-2019:

C: Henrik Zetterberg (154 G, 401 A, 0.85 PPG)
LW: Justin Abdelkader (106 G, 143 A, 0.36 PPG)
RW: Johan Franzen (104 G, 123 A, 0.73 PPG)
D: Nicklas Lidstrom (36 G, 109 A, 0.62 PPG)
D: Niklas Kronwall (67 G, 243 A, 0.45 PPG)
G: Jimmy Howard (243-168-68, .914 SV%, 2.54 GAA)

Coach: Mike Babcock (245-170-67)

The past decade has consisted of two starkly different eras for the Red Wings. It began after a Stanley Cup Final loss to Pittsburgh in 2009, in the midst of a playoff streak that would last 25 seasons. Gaze upon the talent on that roster: Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Marian Hossa, Franzen, Brian Rafalski, Tomas Holmstrom, Chris Osgood and so on. That was 10 years ago. It might as well feel like 90, with how the team has fared since.

As for the team selected above — look, Justin Abdelkader isn’t everyone’s bucket of octopi. You could easily make the case for Tomas Tatar here considering he had better numbers and is a better player. But outside of Kronwall’s 693 games, no one played more than Abdelkader’s 686 for the Red Wings in the decade. If you’re looking to define the past decade for the Red Wings, Justin Abdelkader is part of that definition (for better or worse).

Continued

Khan scouts Tyler Bertuzzi

MLive’s Ansar Khan examines Tyler Bertuzzi’s 2018-2019 season stats and 2019-2020 season outlook this morning:

2019-20 outlook: Bertuzzi’s first full NHL season was a tremendous success. He showed he can be an offensive threat in addition to providing grit, physicality and abrasiveness. He has a knack for being around the puck and he goes to the hard areas, in the corners and in front of the net, making him an ideal complement on the top line with Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha.

Bertuzzi has strong hockey sense, the ability to get his stick on pucks on the forecheck and force turnovers. He gets the puck on the net and doesn’t need a high volume of shots to score goals.

A second straight healthy off-season, following two injury-plagued summers, should enable Bertuzzi to gain strength and perhaps get a little quicker.

Continued

Eying Filip Zadina from a fantasy hockey perspective

The Hockey News’s Sam McCaig penned a list of 8 NHL rookies who fantasy hockey poolies might want to take with their final pick in their team drafts, and the shine hasn’t come off Filip Zadina’s potential quite yet:

Filip Zadina, Detroit Red Wings
A big, scoring winger with the confidence to match, Zadina is another young player who started slowly last season. But it might have been a good thing. He was able to develop his game in the AHL rather than being thrown into the NHL fire. The Wings won’t rush him, but they could definitely use more scoring punch and he’s the most lethal weapon in the franchise’s prospect cupboard.
Best-case point prediction: 40-50 points

Bultman: Kris Draper named head of amateur scouting

Per the Athletic’s Max Bultman…

You can see the changes to the team’s website here.

Update: Per Michigan Hockey’s Michael Caples:

The Detroit Red Wings have added another Michigan name to the team’s management staff.

Livonia native Phil Osaer is joining Steve Yzerman’s growing team in Detroit, per an update on the Red Wings’ staff webpage.

Osaer will be the team’s head of goaltending scouting and development, having a hand both in selecting the Wings’ netminders of the future and guiding them once they’re part of the organizational depth chart.

The former Ferris State goaltender worked as a goaltending scout for Yzerman in Tampa Bay during the 2018-19 season.

Update #2: Also from Caples:

Adam Nightingale has gotten a promotion with the Detroit Red Wings, and it’s a big one.

The Cheboygan native is now an assistant coach for the Original Six franchise according to the Red Wings’ official site, moving up from the team’s video coach.

Nightingale, 39, has spent the last two seasons with the Wings under head coach Jeff Blashill, after working one season as the video coach for the Buffalo Sabres.

Here’s even more, from the Detroit News:

The Red Wings also hired two amateur chief scouts, Ryan Rezmierski and Jesse Wallin, and two additional scouts, Bryce Thoma and Rob Rassey.

Rezmierski (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan) was a scout for the past eight years with the Nashville Predators and a former director of player personnel with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

Wallin, a first-round draft pick by the Red Wings in 1996, was a scout with the Stanley Cup champion Blues for the past six years and a former head coach of the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League for five years.

DetroitHockey.net’s Clark Rasmussen summarizes the changes, although it should be noted that Brian Mahoney-Wilson is no longer listed as a goaltending coach:

This is, I believe, a full recap of all of the changes the Wings just made to the staff page on their website. Some were already known, some are frivolous. I left out the changes to some of their doctors’ names. pic.twitter.com/mcp61FLYFe— DetroitHockey.Net (@detroithockey96) August 16, 2019

Kulfan talks with a determined Evgeny Svechnikov

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Evgeny Svechnikov at this week’s Power Edge Pro camp in Plymouth. Just as Svechnikov told The Athletic’s Max Bultman that he’s attempting to push the reset button after suffering a season-ending ACL injury last season, Svechnikov tells Kulfan that he’s going to do his best to make a name for himself this fall:

“Every year you would have asked me since I was 19 it’s been a big year,” said Svechnikov this week, after completing a workout at the Power Edge Pro Camp at USA Hockey Arena. “This year is no different. But especially coming back from an injury.”

It’s coming back from that injury, having gone through the long, tedious rehabilitation, that’s pushing and motivating Svechnikov.

Hearing the doubters say that maybe Svechnkov will not be able to come all the way back, maybe will not ever be the same player again – that’s what stirring him.

“I just want to go out there and show my name,” Svechnikov said. “I’m Evgeny Svechnikov, I was drafted for a reason and I’m here for a reason. I want to be part of the future, and I want to do that for myself and the fans and for everybody.

“I’m looking forward to doing it.”

Kulfan continues…

Tweet of note: Play With Purpose game to be held tonight in Plymouth

From Michigan Hockey:

The third annual Play With Purpose Charity Game takes place TONIGHT at 7 p.m. inside @USAHockeyArena in Plymouth.

Check out the rosters and find out more info about the event here: https://t.co/rR4Y8nkJgn pic.twitter.com/SvPKGRAGb9— MiHockey (@MiHockeyNow) August 16, 2019

RotoWorld previews the Red Wings

RotoWorld’s Corey Abbott examines the Red Wings’ 2019-2020 campaign outlook while focusing on the fantasy hockey-applicable aspects of the Wings’ 18-19 campaign:

Detroit Red Wings 

2018-19 Finish: 32-40-10 record, 14th in the Eastern Conference 

Noteworthy Gains: Valtteri Filppula, Patrik Nemeth, Calvin Pickard, Adam Erne

Noteworthy Losses: Thomas Vanek

Strengths: Dylan Larkin has emerged as a stud center and offensive catalyst for the Red Wings.  Anthony Mantha displayed plenty of promise and expectations are higher for Tyler Bertuzzi following his hot finish to the 2018-19 campaign.  They could form a productive trio for Detroit in 2019-20.  Andreas Athanasiou, who was a 30-goal scorer, can contribute secondary scoring, but the team needs other players to step up.  Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno and Taro Hirose should see NHL action this season because they all possess offensive upside.   

Weaknesses: Detroit ranked 27th in the league with 3.32 goals against per game.  Jimmy Howard had a rough year between the pipes and the defense corps was in shambles for most of the year due to injuries.  Detroit posted a .901 save percentage, which tied the team with Buffalo for 22nd in the league.  The Red Wings also had trouble holding onto leads in 2018-19.  The club led the league with nine losses when leading after the first period and had the second-most overtime defeats (six) when leading after the first period. 

Player to Watch: Filip Hronek is poised for a larger role with the Red Wings in 2019-20 after he left a very good first impression with the team last year.  He collected five goals, 23 points, 73 shots and 66 hits in 46 games with Detroit.  Hronek may have to compete with Mike Green for power-play action, but Green has been bothered by injuries and could be traded at some point.   

Continued, and here’s part one of RotoWorld’s NHL season preview.

Reminder: the Joe Kocur Foundation’s charity softball game takes place on August 24th

Hometown Life’s Colin Gay issues a timely reminder:

The Joe Kocur Foundation for Children will hold its 11th annual Celebrity Softball Series at Duck Lake Pines Park in Highland on Saturday, Aug. 24. 

The series will consist of three softball games featuring alumni of the Detroit Red Wings, such as former goaltender Chris Osgood and right wing Kirk Maltby, and local Detroit celebrities, like former Detroit Lions quarterback Eric Hipple and actor Jeff Daniels. 

Kocur, who played for the Red Wings for nine seasons as a right wing, began his foundation in 2009. Its main priority is to assist local charities that focus on children and local families in the greater Detroit area. 

The proceeds from the softball series will benefit organizations like Wings of Mercy East Michigan, FAR Therapeutic Arts and Recreation, Huron Valley Special Olympics and the Play Like Jackson Foundation. 

Tickets for the softball series are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Gates for the event open at 11 a.m. on Aug. 24, with games beginning at 12:15 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.