Month: September 2019

Kulfan: Coach Blashill discusses his players suffering from ‘tweaks’

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan provides a training camp injury update in his daily notebook:

Dylan Larkin, Mike Green and Darren Helm didn’t participate in the scrimmage, all bothered by “minor little tweaks,” Blashill said.

“Common with training camp,” Blashill said. “We have a bunch of guys with little tweaks and what-not, the normall stuff with going 100 miles-per-hour into training camp. We’ll have to adjust our practice accordingly.”

Andreas Athanasiou, who scored a goal in the scrimmage — the Red team ultimately won 2-1, in a shootout — left the ice in the second half (they played two separate halves, rather than three periods) because of a “tweak,” Blashill said.

The Wings end the training camp portion of the schedule Monday at Centre Ice Arena, and head home to face Chicago Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena in the first of nine exhibition games.

Continued; as far as we were told today, none of the Wings’ “tweaks” are major issues.

Update: In the longer-term vein, from MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Defensemen Mike Green, Trevor Daley and Jonathan Ericsson all missed extensive time last season due to injuries. Each heads into the final year of his contract in good health.

“Green has had no ill effect from last year’s virus so I think that’s a great thing for him,” Blashill said. “He said he felt great as he started to really train hard this summer.

“In talking to Dales, same thing. Dales ultimately had a real tough year as well; every 10 games he was out of it. He’s felt great coming into training camp. I think we have a whole bunch of guys that have little tweaks and whatnot, the normal stuff that comes with going 100 miles an hour into training camp, so we’ll have to just adjust our practices accordingly, but I think overall, the health’s good.”

Fill the net, Filip Zadina

Updated at 5:48 PM: Red Wings assistant coach Jared Nightengale has consistently sprayed orange paint on the ice at Centre ICE Arena before every Red Wings practice, spraying a square that encompasses the close-to-the-net halves of the faceoff dots out to the tops of the faceoff circles, and then a square that encompasses the goal crease and the interior hash marks.

The Red Wings have Nightengale do that to send a message: 80% of NHL goals are scored within the outer perimeter, and 40% of NHL goals are scored within the inner perimeter. That’s a bit of fuzzy math thanks to the fact that the squares overlap, but the point is clear: you’ve got to get to the net to score in today’s NHL.

After today’s Red vs. White Game, Filip Zadina first spoke with the media, and then coach Jeff Blashill followed a slightly shy and demurring Zadina, with Blashill emphasizing to DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji that that Zadina is not going to earn a spot on the Red Wings posting the kinds of assist-only game that he did during the prospect tournament:

“He’s got to score. He’s a goal scorer,” Blashill said. “Now he can’t do it cheating. If you cheat for offense you don’t have any chance to win so you got to be able to score without cheating. I don’t want to put undue pressure on him. You don’t have to score every game but you gotta have opportunities to score every game and then you gotta score. That’s what he does best. He’ll have to do that while balancing being a complete player.

“If I were to say to him what would drive his performance, 40 percent of the NHL goals get scored in that little square we have drawn on the ice. I think he can score from that other square which is 80 percent of the goals get scored but he needs to get to the 40 percent in order to really score. I talked about that with Mantha a couple years ago on net-front power play, that’s where easy goals are. So get to that area, whether it’s by dragging it in yourself or most likely, getting there on rebounds and stuff like that while still being a complete player.”

Zadina told Wakiji that he believes his status as a sophomore professional player pushes him that much further ahead of where he was at the start of last season:

With a year in the American Hockey League under his belt and nine games with the Wings, Zadina gained invaluable experience that he expects to translate on the ice this coming season, whether that is back in Grand Rapids or in Detroit.

“The game is going to be a little bit slower for me this year because I know what it’s going to like,” Zadina said. “It’s about the space I guess but it’s about the patience. Then if you get a puck, you just gotta skate and that’s it I guess. Be smart and a good skater and I think the game will be easier.”

Wakiji’s notebook continues….

Update: Here’s more from MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Continue reading Fill the net, Filip Zadina

Duff on Henrik Zetterberg’s Saturday golfing adventure, and more

Former Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg spent Saturday at the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Michigan, golfing with Jack Nickalus, Kid Rock and Dierks Bentley as part of the “Celebrity Shootout.” Zetterberg also reflected on his retirement, his recent move back to Sweden and his take on the Wings’ prospect tournament:

“We made a move to Sweden this summer. I’m not really sure how it’s going to be. Obviously, we’re happy to be back with family and friends and start a new chapter in life. I came over here for a week. I’m going to come over in October for a couple of weeks. We will probably come over three or four times during the season and be around.”

After watching some of the NHL Prospects Tournament and the start of Red Wings training camp in Traverse City, Mich., Zetterberg is also of the belief that people are going to pleasantly surprised with what the team has to offer this season.

“I would say it’s a little deeper this year,” Zetterberg said. “I think if you look at the D end, I think we have some young kids that are really going to push for spots. We made some nice additions.

“Health-wise, you have to be healthy. If we’re healthy, the D’s gonna be great. And then the forwards, we all saw what the three kids (Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi) did last year — they’re not really kids anymore, are they? But they’re gonna be one more year in the league. I just hope they keep going and taking their steps.

“I think getting (center Valtteri) Filppula back is going to be real big for us. If you look at the center position all the way through, it looks real solid. I think we’re going to be better this year, definitely deeper. But we all know the league is tight. It’s a hard division. But we’re going to win more games. I can promise you that.”

Continued

Update: Also, from NHL.com’s Pat Pickens:

Nicklaus’ team won $18,000 for the United Way of Genesee County, and Zetterberg’s side earned $7,000, which he and Bentley donated to the Genesee County Habitat for Humanity. Zetterberg also accepted a $25,000 check for the Clark Park Coalition of Detroit. 

Simply playing nine holes with Nicklaus was a thrill for the 2008 Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

“It’s obviously an opportunity that I could never turn down,” Zetterberg told the Red Wings website. “I was a little nervous, but it was very exciting.

“It’s pretty special. I never thought it would happen, but here we are today, and I’m getting to spend time with him.”

Red Wings make first cuts, releasing 9 players

From the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS TRIM CAMP ROSTER BY NINE
… Fifty-Eight Players Set for Final Day of Training Camp in Traverse City …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today released forwards Mathieu Bizier, Thomas Casey, Cody Morgan, Owen Robinson and Chad Yetman, defensemen Marc-Olivier Duquette and Owen Lalonde and goaltenders Anthony Popovich and Sean Romeo from their amateur tryouts.

The Red Wings currently have 58 players on their training camp roster: 32 forwards, 20 defensemen and six goaltenders. Detroit will hold one more day of training camp at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich., on Monday, Sept. 16 before opening up a nine-game preseason slate against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Little Caesars Arena.

Bultman: He may not be the captain, but Dylan Larkin is still ‘D-Boss’

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posited six questions regarding the Red Wings training camp, and #1 is very accurate:

I don’t think I’m the only person who had that takeaway from Larkin’s Day 1 news conference, when he said he wasn’t disappointed by the team’s decision (for now) to stick with four alternates and no official captain. I’ll echo the obvious in saying Larkin appears, from the outside, deserving of being the team’s next captain, whenever Steve Yzerman feels confident enough in making it official.

What struck me just as much, though, was what Larkin said when talking about what steps forward he can make individually this season. Mind you, he’s coming off a year in which he nearly scored a point per game, played in some of the toughest situations and generally established himself as a top-line center.

He started by talking about how he can grow as a player, teammate and leader, as well as in the community. More captain-ly talk. But then:

“On the ice, I want to be more dominant,” he said. “I think I showed it at times, in stretches, through the season last year. But I believe in myself that I can dominate for long periods of time. I can take over games and win games for our team. And ultimately that’s the next step in my career, is to win games, and be a winner and play like a winner.”

Continued (paywall)

Duff on Nemeth’s turnaround remarks

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff penned an article regarding Patrik Nemeth’s training camp comments, in which Nemeth suggested that the Wings aren’t as far removed from a turnaround as some might think:

“It was just trying to build a different mindset,” Nemeth, 27, explained to Detroitredwings.com. “Once you get the feeling that you are actually winning some games, you’ve got some confidence in the group. I think that’s when you’re starting to believe that things can happen.”

In his brief time with the Wings, based on what he’s seen and heard from new GM Steve Yzerman, Nemeth is certain changing the mental make up of the team is a big part of the strategy Yzerman is deploying in Detroit.

“Steve coming in, he’s wanting to switch some things,” Nemeth said. “It’s more the direction of where he wants the team to go. I don’t know how it was here before. When you talk to him, what he tells you that he wants to see from everyone, I think that’s really appealing, what he tries to say.

“With him and (coach) Jeff (Blashill), what they’re trying to do is have that mindset switched, so you’re expecting to win. That’s something that you have to change in order to turn this thing around. That’s what I think is appealing. It’s interesting. It’s a fun thing to be part of. I just think it’s a team that really wants to do the right thing.”

Continued