Month: September 2019

Cup of Khan: discussing the shape of the Kronwall-less Red Wings defense

MLive’s Ansar Khan bids us “good morning” with a column discussing the state of the Red Wings’ Niklas Kronwall-less defense:

Green, Danny DeKeyser, Patrik Nemeth and Filip Hronek are expected to form the top two pairs, providing the team with two lefty-righty combinations, an offensive-minded player with a stay-at-home type.

Green, who missed the start and the end of the season due to a virus, and DeKeyser likely will form the top pairing, having played some together.

Nemeth, signed to a two-year, $6 million contract on July 1, figures to join young Hronek on the second pair. Nemeth (6-3, 219) was described by general manager Steve Yzerman as “a big, strong, solid, defensive defenseman,” shoots left and could complement the more offensive-minded right-shooting Hronek, who struggled defensively at the start of his rookie season, getting sent back to the Grand Rapids Griffins, but improved significantly after being recalled in February.

Ericsson and Daley, who played together last season, likely will comprise the third pairing. Young Madison Bowey, acquired in the Nick Jensen trade, could be the seventh defenseman and will compete for a lineup spot.

Rookie free agent Oliwer Kaski, 23, will be pushing for a job. The 6-3, 190-pound right-handed shooter was the MVP of the Finnish League (SM-liiga), leading the Pelicans in goals (19) and points (51) in 59 games.

Continued; I agree with Khan that Dennis Cholowski is most likely to start the season in Grand Rapids, and I just don’t see Moritz Seider cracking a crowded Griffins blueline unless he blows away the competition at the prospect tournament.

Roughly translated: Nicklas Lidstrom praises Niklas Kronwall’s presence, character

SVT Sport asked Nicklas Lidstrom to weigh in regarding Niklas Kronwall’s retirement, and Lidstrom sent a text message to SVT. Here’s a rough translation of what he had to say:

“He had a fantastic career with the Red Wings, and has been a leader and role model for many years. He was a tough player to meet, and opponents always had to keep track of when he was on the ice,” writes “Lidas” in a text message to SVT Sport.

Lidstrom and Kronwall played together in Detroit for 13 seasons, several of them on the same defensive pair. In 2008, they won the Stanley Cup together.

“He had a professional attitude and strong character. He struggled with bad knees for several years, but he never complained,” Lidstrom recalled.

Kronwall will remain in Detroit as an advisor to the team’s general manager, Steve Yzerman.

“It’s cool that he’ll stay in the organization as an advisor.”

Mike Green’s ‘aww’ moment via Russian Machine Never Breaks

Russian Machine Never Breaks’ Brendin Weiswerda posted a clip of Red Wings defenseman Mike Green giving his son, Axel, a skating lesson, per Green’s wife on Instagram:

There are more clips on RMNB…Consider me a CParrie follower on Instagram now!

Rounding up today’s Niklas Kronwall articles

While I was grocery shopping in preparation for being gone from the mom and aunt for two weeks and/or preparing for the Traverse City trip, the Red Wings’ media corps–and a few others–paid tribute to Niklas Kronwall.

Here’s a summary thereof:

  1. The Hockey News’s Jared Clinton did a really good job of framing Kronwall’s career in both team-based and history-based contexts:

By his fourth season in Detroit in 2007-08, under the guidance of defenders such as Niklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski, Kronwall had grown into a legitimate top-pairing defenseman in the league, one that any number of teams throughout the NHL would have fallen over themselves to add to their own blueline. Offensively, he could contribute. He averaged upwards of half a point per game from 2007-08 on through to 2015-16, and often overlooked was his ability to patrol the blueline on the power play. Across the aforementioned nine-season span, only 18 defensemen registered more power play goals than Kronwall’s 29 and only 15 defensemen compiled more points than his 143 with the man advantage.

Across those same nine seasons, and particularly after Lidstrom’s departure in 2011-12, Kronwall became the cornerstone of the blueline. By 2007-08, he had graduated into a role in which he played upwards of 21 minutes per game for nine consecutive campaigns, and during that time he ranked 20th among all NHL rearguards in time on the penalty kill. This is to say nothing of his 5-on-5 efforts, either. Among the 151 defensemen who played at least 5,000 minutes throughout that nine-season span, Kronwall ranked 16th in Corsi percentage (53.4).

But be it in Detroit or on a league-wide scale, Kronwall was often overshadowed. Skating on a Red Wings blueline led by Lidstrom meant Kronwall spent the first half of his career playing behind one of the greatest defensemen to ever play the game. And even once Lidstrom departed, Kronwall still played something of a second fiddle to the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and even a young Dylan Larkin. Kronwall didn’t win a single major award, never once played in an All-Star Game, nor did he earn entry onto an end-of-season all-star team.

Clinton continues…

2. MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of the comments made by Steve Yzerman in the official press release declaring Kronwall’s retirement…

Continue reading Rounding up today’s Niklas Kronwall articles

EA Sports issues ratings for the Red Wings’ ‘NHL 20’ alumni team

FYI, via Twitter: EA Sports has issued player ratings for its Detroit Red Wings alumni team for NHL 20:

Here’s the Red Wings’ press release regarding Niklas Kronwall’s retirement

The official word hit the wires around 4 PM:

NIKLAS KRONWALL ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
… 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Spent Entire NHL Career with Red Wings …

… Kronwall Will Join Red Wings’ Hockey Operations Staff in Advisory Role …

… Kronwall Will Be Available to Media at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday at 3 p.m. …

DETROIT – Niklas Kronwall announced today that he will retire from the National Hockey League. The long-time Detroit Red Wings defenseman concludes his 15-season NHL career as a 2008 Stanley Cup-champion and one of the most accomplished players in the 93-year history of the franchise, finishing third all-time in games played by a defenseman (and ninth overall) and fourth in points, trailing only Nicklas Lidstrom, Reed Larson and Red Kelly. Kronwall will remain with the Red Wings, joining the organization’s front-office staff as advisor to the general manager.

Kronwall played all of his 953 NHL games with the Red Wings since debuting in 2003-04. Among franchise defensemen, he ranks as an all-time leader with 83 goals (4th), 349 assists (3rd), 432 points (4th), 34 power-play goals (4th), 109 power-play points (3rd), 14 game-winning goals (T3rd) and four overtime goals (T1st). He is also near the top of the franchise’s ranks in postseason statistics by defensemen with 109 games (3rd), five goals (T10th), 42 assists (2nd), 47 points (3rd), a plus-25 rating (3th) and 25 power-play points (3rd). Since his first full NHL campaign (2006-07), Kronwall finished no lower than third in points by a Red Wings defenseman, and he led the team’s blueliners in scoring on five occasions (2011-12 to 2014-15; 2018-19).

“I’d like to congratulate Niklas on a wonderful career and thank him for exemplifying what it means to be a Red Wing for the past 15 years,” said Red Wings Governor, President and CEO Christopher Ilitch. “His impact on our organization has been immeasurable, from his stellar on-ice play which helped us win a Stanley Cup, to the legacy he built off the ice as someone who was always proud to give back to the Detroit community. It gives me great confidence in the future of the team knowing our young players have been able to learn from him, and I know that Niklas will find success in the next chapter of his career in our front office.”

Selected by the Red Wings in the first round (29th overall) of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, Kronwall remained in his native Sweden for three seasons following his draft year. He logged 45 points (12-33-45) in 166 total games with his Swedish club, Djurgardens IF, from 1999-03, which included league championships in 2000 and 2001. He crossed the pond in 2003-04, but saw two of his first three seasons in North America cut short by injury. Kronwall played just 45 games as a first-year pro, including 20 with the Red Wings, debuting on Dec. 10, 2003 at Buffalo and scoring his first NHL goal on Jan. 14, 2004 vs. Chicago. He spent the entirety of the 2004-05 season with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins due to the NHL lockout, racking up 53 points (13-40-53) in 76 games en route to winning the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s best defenseman – the first European-born player to capture that honor. His momentum into seizing a full-time NHL job in 2005-06 was halted by a preseason knee injury, though he returned in time to win a gold medal with Sweden at the 2006 Winter Olympics prior to skating in 27 regular-season games and six playoff games for Detroit.

Kronwall quickly made his reputation as a savvy two-way defenseman, posting 35-or-more points in six of his first nine full NHL seasons from 2006-07 to 2014-15 while establishing himself as one of the game’s most feared and frequent open-ice hitters, despite a 6-foot, 194-pound frame. He was a pillar on Detroit’s blueline as the team captured the 2008 Stanley Cup championship, most frequently paired with Brad Stuart to form a formidable top-four defensive corps, along with Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski. Kronwall produced 35 points (7-28-35) in 65 regular-season games and led all defensemen in playoff scoring with 15 points (0-15-15), en route to the 11th championship in franchise history. Detroit fell just short of repeating as Stanley Cup champions in 2008-09, as Kronwall produced a career-high 51 regular-season points (6-45-51) in 80 games and nine points (2-7-9) in 23 playoff games.

“I had the pleasure of playing with Niklas early in his career, and it was evident from his first season what a special player and person he would become,” said Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman. “He was among the NHL’s best two-way defensemen of his era and will go down as one of the greatest at his position in Red Wings history. Niklas has a sharp hockey mind and is highly respected in the hockey world. He has the makeup and work ethic of someone who will have a very successful career in management, and I am thrilled that he will remain with the franchise on the hockey operations staff.”

A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Kronwall joined the exclusive Triple Gold Club in 2008, with a Stanley Cup championship to go along with gold medals at the Olympics and IIHF World Championship in 2006. Kronwall represented Sweden three times at the Olympics (2006, 2010, 2014) and picked up a silver medal in 2014, and also participated in the World Championship on five occasions (2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012). In 42 games of combined international play, Kronwall registered 21 points (6-15-21), a plus-18 rating and 42 penalty minutes. Among Swedish-born NHL defensemen, Kronwall ranks sixth all-time in games played, assists and points.

Kronwall produced back-to-back seasons of double-digit goals in 2010-11 and 2011-12, setting a career best with 15 goals among his 36 points, which made him one of three defensemen (along with Nicklas Lidstrom and Mathieu Schneider) to score 15-or-more goals in a single season for the Red Wings since 1985-86. He was named an alternate captain for the Red Wings prior to the 2011-12 season, which marked the first of back-to-back seasons in which he skated in every game. Kronwall also tied for the team scoring lead in the 2013-14 campaign for the first time, matching Daniel Alfredsson for the team lead with 49 points (8-41-49) in 79 games, which marked the second-highest point total of his career. He also appeared in the postseason for nine-consecutive years from 2007-08 to 2015-16, part of Detroit’s streak of 25-straight years of qualifying for the playoffs, the third-longest such streak in NHL history. Despite battling chronic knee issues, Kronwall proved to be one of the most durable Red Wings over his final two NHL seasons, missing a combined six games over that span and leading Detroit with 79 games played in 2018-19.

Grand Rapids Griffins announce ’90’s jersey’ contest winner

Via a heads-up from WZZM 13’s Steve Marowski:

Khan scouts Ryan Kuffner

MLive’s Ansar Khan issues a 2019-2020 season outlook for Red Wings rookie Ryan Kuffner:

Kuffner is a strong skater with a good shot, someone the Red Wings projected as a potential scoring winger in the NHL. But unlike fellow college free agent Taro Hirose, Kuffner did not make an impact during his late-season audition.

He’ll need to compete for a job in training camp and preseason, likely in a third- or fourth-line capacity. He’s not a penalty killer and defense isn’t his forte, so that doesn’t bode well for him. He’ll be competing with the likes of Christoffer Ehn and Jacob de la Rose, whose defensive aptitudes give them the edge, and Michael Rasmussen, whose size and ability to play a net-front role gives him an advantage.

Kuffner isn’t going to stick around as the 13th forward when he could be playing regularly and further developing in Grand Rapids. So, he’ll need to earn a regular spot in the lineup to stick with the Red Wings.

Kuffner was focused this summer on improving his lower-body strength to be better-prepared to win battles in the corners.

Continued

Bultman ponders the Wings’ ‘glass fullness’

The Athletic’s Max Bultman issued a set of “Glass Half-Empty and Half-Full Outlooks” for this year’s Red Wings team earlier this morning, and if things go well…

Look, there’s nothing rosy about this season’s outlook, but not everything needs to be doom and gloom, either. Yes, it seems pretty inevitable the Red Wings are heading for an early-April locker clean-out again. Yes, the contract situation up front is more than a year from resolving itself. And no, it’s not going to be easy for many of this team’s prospects to start the season in Detroit.

But things do continue to move in the right direction. This is the final year of contracts for Green, Ericsson and Daley, and while two of those three may be cause for consternation throughout the year, there will soon be all kinds of space for Dennis Cholowski (who showed heaps of promise last year), Oliwer Kaski and more — and, recalling last season’s injury-riddled blueline, it may not even take a year to materialize.

As for the idea of Mantha, Larkin, Athanasiou and Bertuzzi improving in vain — or worse, not at all — much of that could depend on context. Last season, long drawn-out losing streaks plagued with bad mistakes and bad bounces seemed to have compound effects on morale. There seemed to be a tangible confidence benefit to that long winning streak down the stretch, but if those wins could be more evenly distributed throughout the year, the team wouldn’t necessarily have to go a week (or two) without winning. It might sound like semantics, but keeping those reward signals firing regularly in the players’ brains is one way to help curb the devastation of losing.

Continued

Niklas Kronwall retires

The Red Wings posted a video this morning announcing that Niklas Kronwall will retire and join the Red Wings’ front office as an advisor to the GM:

Here’s the YouTube version:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a report regarding Kronwall’s retirement:

Continue reading Niklas Kronwall retires