From the Detroit Red Wings comes a press release declaring an annual tradition:
Details Announced for Hockeytown Cares Community Tour presented by ITC
Hockeytown Cares Community Tour spans three days, donating time and resources to organizations across Michigan leading up to the start of Red Wings Training Camp in Traverse City
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today announced the itinerary for the Hockeytown Cares Community Tour, presented by ITC Holdings Corp. The 11th annual tour will cover three days of community outreach throughout the state of Michigan and will engage Red Wings prospects, current players and management leading up to Training Camp in Traverse City, Mich.
More than $17,000 in donations will be awarded during this year’s Hockeytown Cares Community Tour, courtesy of ITC and the Detroit Red Wings. Last season, the Red Wings organization was proud to represent more than $2 million in combined community support across Michigan.
Kaden Fulcher, goaltender (6-3, 182): He went 15-7-6, with a 3.00 goals-against average and .899 save percentage in his first pro season with the ECHL Toledo Walleye. He played 27 minutes in relief for the Red Wings in their season finale. He’s a former free agent invitee who earned a contract with Detroit prior to the 2017-18 season after a strong showing at development camp and training camp.
Kaden Fulcher was pretty close to being called the Red Wings’ “goalie of the future” while Filip Larsson was still playing overseas, but Fulcher’s OK ECHL season and Larsson’s ascent seem to leave Fulcher in limbo behind Calvin Pickard in GR and Pat Nagle in Toledo. Fulcher needs to have an excellent year, and there’s no time like the present to start…
Gustav Lindstrom, defenseman (6-2, 187): A poised puck-mover who plays a physical game, Lindstrom might be the organization’s most NHL-ready defense prospect. He was part of Frolunda’s Swedish Hockey League championship team last season and will begin his North American pro career, likely in Grand Rapids. He might see some games in Detroit this season and will challenge for a roster spot in 2020-21.
Lindstrom is highly-regarded as an offensive defenseman in the making, but he didn’t put up big numbers in his first full pro season, and he looked under-powered during the summer development camp. He’s got a lot of promise, and he’s got to show that it’s real.
Chase Pearson, center (6-2, 200): The former two-year captain at Maine, a fifth-round pick in 2015 (140th overall), got a feel for pro hockey late last season with the Griffins, appearing in 10 games and scoring a pair of goals.
Pearson intrigues me because he’s got the strength, speed and professionalism to stand apart from the Wings’ litany of smart checking forwards. The better he looks among his peers, the more he stands out from the pack.
Givani Smith, right wing (6-2, 206): The big, abrasive forward, Detroit’s second pick in 2016 (46th overall), struggled in his pro debut with Grand Rapids (six goals, seven assists, 86 penalty minutes in 64 games). Projected as a physical player who can forecheck hard and provide a net presence, he’ll probably need a couple of more AHL seasons to develop.
What does Givani Smith bring to the table? Is he an agitator, an enforcer, a 4th-line glue guy, or something more? Smith remains something of an unknown quantity after his first AHL season, and he’s going to have to step things up if he is to become the next Tyler Bertuzzi.
Detroit’s roster is highlighted by its three most-recent first-round picks in forwards Filip Zadina (sixth overall, 2018) and Joe Veleno (30th overall, 2018) and defenseman Moritz Seider (sixth overall, 2019). #DRWPTpic.twitter.com/HpRd9kaA9f— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 5, 2019
Red Wings release 2019 NHL Prospect Tournament roster
Recent first-rounders Seider, Zadina and Veleno set for tournament play
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today released their 2019 NHL Prospect Tournament roster, a team consisting of 27 recent draft picks, free agent signees and tryouts who will battle against seven other NHL prospect teams for the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup from Friday, Sept. 6 to Tuesday, Sept. 10 at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich.
Detroit’s roster is highlighted by its three most-recent first-round picks in forwards Filip Zadina (sixth overall, 2018) and Joe Veleno (30th overall, 2018) and defenseman Moritz Seider (sixth overall, 2019). In 2018-19, Zadina finished sixth overall in points for the Grand Rapids Griffins as the second-youngest player in the American Hockey League, also tallying one goal and two assists in nine games in his first NHL stint with the Red Wings. Veleno starred in his final season of major-junior hockey, racking up 104 points (42-62-104) in 59 games with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, posting the second-best points-per-game average (1.72) in the league and finishing as a finalist for QMJHL MVP, as well as a spot on the QMJHL First All-Star Team. Seider, who is one of three 2019 Red Wings draft picks attending the NHL Prospect Tournament, was the Deutsch Eishockey Liga Rookie of the Year and helped his club capture a league championship, while representing his country at the IIHF World Junior Championship Division 1 and the IIHF World Championship, becoming the first defenseman aged 18-or-younger to record a point during the tournament since 1982.
Also highlighting Detroit’s roster are a number of collegiate players entering their first full professional seasons after starring at the NCAA level. Taro Hirose tied for the NCAA scoring lead with Michigan State and made an immediate NHL impact for Detroit, picking up seven points (1-6-7) in 10 games. Ryan Kuffner also debuted with the Red Wings after finishing his career at Princeton University as the school’s all-time leading goalscorer. Chase Pearson, a 2015 fifth-round pick of Detroit, had a taste of professional hockey after signing with the Red Wings following his junior season at Maine, where he served as a captain for back-to-back seasons.
Other roster highlights include right wing Givani Smith, a second-round pick (46th overall) in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft who joins Zadina in returning to the NHL Prospect Tournament after spending a full season in Grand Rapids; defenseman Gustav Lindstrom, who is slated to play in North America this season after capturing a championship in the Swedish Hockey League with Frolunda in 2018-19; a pair of 2019 Swedish sixth-round picks in 6-foot-7 forward Elmer Soderblom and defenseman Gustav Berglund; and Kaden Fulcher, a former free agent invitee who earned a contract with the Red Wings prior to the 2017-18 season after a strong showing at the team’s development camp and training camp and made his NHL debut in a relief appearance in Detroit’s 2018-19 regular-season finale.
Twenty-three players who skated for the Red Wings during the 2018-19 season previously participated in the tournament, while 639 total players have played in the tournament and moved on to skate in at least one NHL game during its 20-year history. Prospects from the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs will also be competing in this year’s tournament.
Tickets are available for $10 per day and can be purchased at Centre Ice Arena or at www.centreice.org. Each ticket is good for all four games per day. Teams are divided into two divisions and will play each team within their division once during the round robin before a crossover on the final day of the tournament, with the first-place finishers in each division meeting for the championship on Tuesday, Sept. 10. For more information and a complete tournament schedule, visit www.centreice.org.
Seider, Zadina and Veleno are among the top prospects in the organization, and they’re expected to play major roles as the Wings try to regain competitiveness. While front-office personnel will evaluate the prospects’ performances during the tournament, the real auditioning for NHL jobs will happen during exhibition play later this month, when the players compete against NHLers. (The Wings’ first preseason game is Sept. 17 at Little Caesars Arena.)
Seven other players on the Wings’ prospect roster are recent draft picks, including defenseman Gustav Lindstrom (38th, 2017), forward Givani Smith (46th, 2016), defenseman Gustav Berglund (177th, 2019), forward Elmer Soderblom (159th, 2019) and goaltender Filip Larsson (167, 2016). Larsson is the top goaltending prospect in the organization. He and Lindstrom are just starting their pro careers.
Teams are divided into two divisions and will play the teams in their division in a round-robin format. The winner of each division then will play for the championship.
My heart sank this morning when I saw the Paypal receipt for the first half of my hotel bill–$893.00 for seven nights at the Comfort Inn (made more difficult by a $17-a-night tourism tax. I’ll pay the tax, I want TC to thrive, but it sure is annoying).
I thought, “Well, time to bust out that $50 gift card and go grocery shopping on the cheap today…”
But, thanks to a gazillion generous donations, I have a couple hundred bucks in my account after spending about $75 to get up here, which is amazing.
I want to thank you all very, very much for getting me up here. We’re about halfway to the fundraising goal after two weeks, which is astonishing. :O
At the same time, I’m only halfway to being able to leave Traverse City without having to take a job at the Comfort Inn to pay off the next $893 (ha), so I’m still going to push the fundraising drive on. If you’re at all willing to lend a hand, I’m accepting $5’s, $10’s, $20’s, whatever you’ve got via PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport and via check if you wish by emailing me at rtxg@yahoo.com for my address (or another means if necessary/preferred).
As per usual, I hope to take some reader input and jam it into my prospect coverage. If you have questions regarding specific prospects, questions regarding questions or any other comments, please let me know via the comments section and/or emailing me directly at rtxg@yahoo.com (sometimes the latter is better).
Many thanks from a blogger who is grateful for your time, readership and support.
Red Wings advisor to the GM Niklas Kronwall appeared on WDFN’s Sean Baligian’s “X’s and BrO’s” this morning, speaking at the 26:00 mark of the following clip:
Ahead of this Saturday’s Celebrity Roast of Mickey Redmond, which will benefit the Jamie Daniels foundation, Mr. Redmond appeared on The Athletic’s “The Full 60” podcast, speaking with Craig Custance for over 57 minutes regarding a host of topics. I can’t post the MP3, but I can post a link to The Athletic’s podcast page:
The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa posted a bummer of a Tweet from WWJ Newsradio 950’s Mike Campbell this morning, revealing that Joe Louis Arena’s demolition has progressed in a big way:
right next door to me, and i have been too melancholy about the loss of an old friend to tweet any pix.
but, mike does a nice job, here.
media entrance still standing, on yzerman drive (atwater).
JLA demo update: Workers move to roof, interior columns and walls. 40-year-old steel spine still stands but siding, seats, etc. are gone. $10-million tear-down of “The Joe” is expected to finish in the first quarter of 2020. @WWJ950, https://t.co/NcwIrwPs9B, wwjnewsradio950 pic.twitter.com/AZLmlsGxJj
The NHL Network posted a 2-minute video discussing the Red Wings’ defense in the post-Niklas Kronwall era. Brian Lawton suggests that it will take a couple of years to “turn the roster over.”
Of brief and mostly Red Wings-related note this morning:
You’re going to want to bookmark this page. Fox Sports Southwest posted Permalinks to the Fox Sports GO broadcasts of every single game to be played at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament. It appears that between the Red Wings’ website and FS GO, every Wings game will be streamed online;
