Month: September 2019

The Gaylord Herald-Times’ Brandon Folsom reports that former Red Wings forward Darren McCarty is going to be raising funds for Otsego County’s amateur hockey association while entertaining a crowd:

Belle Iron Grille, located at 4029 Old 27 South in Gaylord, is hosting the “Grindtime with Darren McCarty Show” from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday.

General admission tickets cost $25 each, which includes Grindtime Comedy Tour performances at 6 p.m., a showing of the “The Russian Five” documentary produced by Keith Gave (as well as a question-and-answer session about the film with McCarty) at 7:45 p.m. and then the Grinder Reunion Concert starting at 10:30 p.m.

Part of the proceeds will go to OCHA to make youth hockey more affordable for area players. A raffle and a silent auction will also take place to raise funds for the organization.

“This is a great way to raise money for a local program, and I’m proud to kick off the hockey season,” McCarty said earlier this month. “I always believed that you can have a great time with great people. I’m stoked to put all my talents – or lack thereof – on display for the kids.

“I look forward to a great night at Belle Iron Grille!”

Continued

The Red Wings’ community tour stopped in Flint on Tuesday, visiting the Flint Fire Department and donating $5,000 to the Flint Inner City Youth Hockey program. Fox Sports Detroit chronicled the Wings’ visit to Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award winner Rico Phillips and his fellow firefighters:

Here’s a little clip of Joe Veleno speaking with the media after the Red Wings won the prospect tournament championship, via the Hockey News:

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff penned a column for DetroitRedWings.com in which Duff discusses Wings prospects Ryan Kuffner, Taro Hirose and Kaden Fulcher. It’s Fulcher’s comments that I find most interesting:

Last season was his first as a pro, and Fulcher saw action at three different levels — with the ECHL Toledo Walleye, at AHL Grand Rapids and finally, part of one game between the pipes for the Wings.

“(The NHL) really wasn’t something you expected in your first year at all, even the call-up to Grand Rapids,” Fulcher admitted.

All of the advice he received about what to expect at the NHL level, it may sound like cliches, but Fulcher’s here to tell you every bit of it is fact.

“I think the speed and the shot speed was definitely going be something to get used to, and I think that has been. I think being better with your hand-eye and your hands is one of the biggest things I’ve had to work on this year to kind of make sure I’m seeing those shots and reacting well to them and putting them in good places.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has posted 10 questions regarding the storylines headed into training camp this weekend in Traverse City. Among his more pertinent topics:

4. What’s the health of the defensemen?

Trevor Daley, Jonathan Ericsson and Mike Green all missed substantial playing time last season, especially during the final months.

All three veterans on the final years of their contracts and could be dealt by the February trade deadline.

Still, seeing all three healthy, in the lineup, and contributing to a position group that is quite inexperienced behind them, will be important this month.

…

6. How does Svechnikov look?

Evgeny Svechnikov, the 2015 first-round forward, missed all last season to knee surgery.

Svechnikov has been unable to secure a full-time NHL job, and it wasn’t definite he was last September before he tore his knee.

Svechnikov will be 23 on Oct. 31. There are recently drafted forwards on their way into the Wings’ organization.

This could be a defining camp, and regular season, for Svechnikov in terms of his standing in the organization.

Continued

Via Abel to Yzerman, The Score’s John Matisz posted an article discussing Arizona Coyotes prospect Jalen Smereck, who’s a Detroit-born-and-bred player:

It’s early August, and the sun is beating down on Clark Park, a multipurpose community center just west of the bridge connecting Michigan and Ontario. Local pro Jalen Smereck moves through a scattered group of ball hockey players, striking up casual conversations.

Smereck grew up 12 miles from Clark Park. This is his community, and he sees himself in these kids. One mom asks if Smereck minds taking a photo with her shy 12-year-old son, a black hockey player who is new to the sport. She also has a question: What kind of advice does Smereck have for him?

“It was crazy because when I was with my black friends, I was a white boy, but when I was with my white friends, I was a black boy,” he replies. “So, it was kind of weird … “

Poke your head into arenas across the continent and it’s not hard to see that hockey is a predominantly white, affluent sport. In Detroit’s core, there isn’t much in the way of money, and less than 15% of Detroit residents are white (Smereck’s dad, Gary, is one of them). While the home of the Red Wings might be nicknamed Hockeytown, it’s decidedly a basketball, baseball, and football city.

This is the environment in which Smereck came of age and, as the 2019-20 hockey season begins, still grapples with. Nothing’s ever been easy, the 22-year-old Arizona Coyotes prospect said in a recent interview, but these are the cards he’s been dealt. There’s plenty of work – on and off the ice, for his community and for himself – left to be done.

Continued

The Athletic’s Max Bultman has issued 11 observations from the Red Wings’ prospect tournament. Among them:

How do you start with anyone but Joe Veleno, after the Red Wings’ 2018 30th overall pick scored two crucial late goals to tie and then take the lead against Dallas in Tuesday’s final, then sprung a lead pass to Givani Smith on an insurance goal that became the eventual game-winner.

Veleno, after a summer of work in Detroit, arrived at the prospect tournament looking like a complete player and displayed a quick release that led him to seven goals for the tournament. Not only did that give him the tournament scoring title by a three-goal margin, it’s the most goals by a single player at the tournament since Pointstreak began tracking its stats in 2007. And that would still be true if you took away Veleno’s empty-netter on Monday against Toronto.

“We worked on trying to make his release quicker, we worked on trying to help him change the angle a little bit more and add a little bit more deception to his shot,” said Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff on Monday morning. Player development consultant Brandon Naurato “was great with that — he’s very good in those instances — and I think it showed. He scored some really nice goals here so far.

“But I think the thing I liked the most: He looks more responsible positionally. He’s realizing now that he wants to turn himself into a 200-foot player. We showed him a lot of video clips of a young Larkin and last year’s Larkin, who’s carrying a load defensively. If we’re gonna win, we need Joe Veleno to be an outstanding 200-foot player. He looks more responsible. He’s finishing more checks. He’s got good size, he’s using his body more to his advantage, he’s penalty-killing, which is nice. So I think it’s more the defensive side of the game that we’re starting to see some growth as well, which is huge.”

Continued (paywall)

From the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS RELEASE 2019 TRAINING CAMP ROSTER AND DAILY SCHEDULE
… Sixty-Seven Players Hit the Ice from Sept. 13-16 in Traverse City …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today released their training camp roster and schedule, comprised of 67 players who will hit the ice on Friday, Sept. 13 at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich., for four days of camp before returning to Detroit to begin preseason play at Little Caesars Arena against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

This season, the Red Wings will bring 37 forwards, 22 defensemen and eight goaltenders to Traverse City to participate in daily on-ice practices. Following the team’s annual Red & White Game on Sunday, Sept. 15, the Red Wings will remain in Traverse City for one more day of practice before breaking camp to begin a busy nine-game preseason slate, highlighted by home games against the Chicago Blackhawks (Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.), New York Islanders (Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m.), Pittsburgh Penguins (Sunday, Sept. 22 at 5:00 p.m.) and Toronto Maple Leafs (Friday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m.).

Continue reading Red Wings release training camp roster, schedule

MLive’s Ansar Khan examines 10 things to watch over the course of training camp and the exhibition season this morning. Among Khan’s top 10:

Can Joe Veleno make the jump from juniors to the NHL?

That’s a rare feat for anyone other than elite players, something 2018 sixth pick Filip Zadina couldn’t do last year. But Veleno could make a compelling case at the main camp and preseason, after excelling in Prospects Tournament. He’s a creative two-way center who can set-up linemates and finish. Still, he’ll need to excel in camp, coupled with an injury to a veteran center – Frans Nielsen or Valtteri Filppula – to have a realistic chance. It’s probably better to start him in Grand Rapids and promote him if things go well rather than start him in Detroit and demote him if he’s not ready.

…

Where will Moritz Seider play in 2019-20?

Grand Rapids most likely. The big, mobile, puck-moving defenseman drafted sixth overall this year looked good in development camp and in the Prospects Tournament but he’s not likely to crack the NHL roster at age 18. The Red Wings previously said they will decide after the preseason whether he’s better off playing another season with Adler Mannheim in Germany or if he should get acclimated to North America in Grand Rapids, where the organization would be able to keep closer tabs on his development. But Seider said during the Prospects Tournament that he’s likely done playing in Germany and would like to remain in North America.

…

Does Oliwer Kaski have a good chance to make the Red Wings roster?

The 2018-19 Finnish League MVP has size (6-3, 190) and offensive skills, but will that translate to the NHL? If he performs well in the preseason, moving the puck to forwards efficiently and limiting defensive mistakes, he could step into the lineup if one of the projected top six is injured or falters. Otherwise, he figures to start in the AHL, since he’s waiver-exempt and Madison Bowey is not.

Continued; I’m not expecting any of Veleno, Seider or Kaski to make the team, but the Red Wings’ prospect tournament afforded Veleno and Seider the opportunity to show that both are top-shelf prospects with great potential;

As far as Kaski is concerned, it may be best for the 24-year-old to start in the AHL to acclimate to North American ice and the North American pro pace of play, but he’s probably headed back to Finland if he doesn’t crack the Wings’ roster by the end of the 2019-2020 campaign.

ESPN’s Chris Peters posted a massive article which ranks the prospect pools of each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams, and, according to Peters, the Red Wings sit exactly in the middle of the pack in terms of their prospect pipeline:

15. Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings have been doing some significant work on their prospect system over the past two drafts and in the free-agent market. The top of the system is loaded with talent and players who have room to develop and grow. Jared McIsaac and Alec Regula, in particular, took big steps forward last season and UFA signing Taro Hirose was a breath of fresh air at the end of the season as he showcased NHL abilities after a standout collegiate season.

Now the team needs to see Filip Zadina make the jump to the NHL, along with continued improvement from Joseph Veleno and surprise 2019 top pick Moritz Seider. The German defenseman has a host of developmental options in front of him this year. The Wings still have more building to do, but they have some potential future core pieces here.

Breakout candidate for 2019-20: Jonatan Berggren, LW, Skelleftea (SHL)
Potential NHL impact in 2019-20: Oliwer Kaski, Taro Hirose, Filip Zadina

Continued (paywall)