A Frans Nielsen shootout goal yielded a 2-1 win for the White Team at the Red vs. White Game in Traverse City on Sunday, and after the game, several players and coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media (for the record, Dylan Larkin, Mike Green and Darren Helm were sidelined with “tweaks,” and Andreas Athanasiou had to leave the game after the first period with another “tweak”–at this point it sounds like the preventative measures are just that, however).
Erne was well-spoken and thoughtful as he discussed what he needs to do to earn a top-nine role in Detroit. He felt somewhat stagnated in Tampa Bay, and the 24-year-old believes that he’ll work his way into a bigger role here:
Filip Zadina was somewhat demurring during his interview, suggesting that he will find a way to score more goals while playing a more complete game regardless of whether he plays in Grand Rapids or Detroit. He was coy about his confidence level, insisting that it would be shown over the course of the exhibition season:
Coach Blashill addressed his team’s minor injuries, discussed the pace of play in the Red vs. White Game, he spoke about Erne, Zadina, Justin Abdelkader and Michael Rasmussen, among others, and he announced his retirement from playing in alumni games after pitching a shutout last night in the Alumni and Celebrity Game:
“We need more, but I’m encouraged,” Yzerman said. “There’s a good group of young players that are prospects that have potential. We’re going to try to add to that group but with that group, we’re trying to create an environment that allows them to go from prospects to good NHL players, and that’s the big step.
“I came in ’83, we went through it to eventually win a Stanley Cup was very gratifying. I’m hoping we can again do that at some point in the future.”
I’m a bit late to Instagram tonight, so kudos to Detroit Sports Nation‘s Michael Whitaker for getting it first: here’s Jimmy Howard’s 2019-2020 season mask, as he’s worn during training camp. Flint native Ray Bishop painted it:
The Detroit Red Wings’ players were generally healthy when they began Saturday’s practice sessions, but ice packs and wraps abounded after the players engaged in coach Jeff Blashill’s on-ice sessions and strength and conditioning coordinator Mike Barwis’s off-ice workouts.
The three teams’ worth of players will be whittled down to “Team Red,” “Team White” and the non-red-white players for Sunday’s Red vs. White game, and they will continue to practice as those three teams come Monday (which is a full day at Centre ICE Arena).
On Saturday, some of the drills resembled Friday’s puck retrieval-and-breakout drills, but there was a much greater emphasis on skating hard through the neutral zone today, and regrouping once possession of the puck was achieved.
Former Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg was taking part in the Ally Challenge on Saturday afternoon in Grand Blanc, and he spoke with the Detroit News’s Eric Coughlin regarding the Wings’ decision to not name a captain:
“I think we all know who’s going to be the captain when they announce it, when they move the ‘C’ to the next guy,” Zetterberg said. “In the same way, it’s not a bad thing to wait a little bit. He’s going to be the captain for a long time. Obviously, it’s ownership’s and Steve Yzerman’s decision and we all go with it.”
With a massive crowd gathered around the 18th, Zetterberg admitted that even after a 16-season NHL career, nerves came into play.
“You can’t really compare them, but you’re out of your element (playing golf). I played in front of thousands of people for many years, but this was different,” Zetterberg said.
When you’re the owner of a small blog, you don’t like to police things like the comments section. Ideally, especially after so many years working on bigger blogs, you assume that the people you’ve brought with you know how to act like adults and how to get along civilly when disagreements arise.
Regrettably, a couple of bad apples found a bigger soapbox to speak on around here, so we dealt with one person a couple of months ago, and now we’re not going to be dealing with Wingnut any more.
I’ve made the decision as benevolent dictator of this blog that people who can’t or won’t respect one another don’t earn the right to be part of the conversation just because they can type on a keyboard, and in this case, fewer comments may lead to more community discussion.
Those of you who have literally bought and paid for this blog have been among those who’ve suggested that it was time to prune the tree, so I listened to my constituents, and ultimately came to a decision that I feel is in the best interests of the TMR community. That, and it’s my blog, too. I don’t want my community harangued or harassed for disagreeing with the flow of discussion.
Red Wings assistant to the general manager Niklas Kronwall spoke with Fox Sports Detroit’s John Keating regarding his acclimation process to retirement as a member of the Red Wings’ front office:
The Red Wings’ beat writers were a bit taken with Wings prospect Moritz Seider, who made a big impression during his off-ice interview at the Red Wings’ training camp today…
As a result, all three beat writers penned articles discussing Seider’s likelihood of remaining in North America, the young defender’s hopes of making the Wings or Griffins out of camp and the exhibition season, and coach Jeff Blashill’s take on the Wings’ bright prospect.
“I don’t really care where I’m staying,” Seider said. “To be honest, I just want to become a better player and person and I don’t care where that is.”
[GM Steve] Yzerman was pleased with what he saw of Seider in the prospects tournament.
“He did very well,” Yzerman said. “As an 18-year-old defenseman, he logged a lot of ice time, and he played in all situations. It’s a big step coming into this tournament, and you watch the guys who do well in this tournament, and generally, they turn out to be pretty good players in the NHL.
“I’m not sure where he’ll play (after the exhibition season). He’s here this week, he’s going to play in the preseason, and we’re going to take one step at a time. Let’s get through the preseason. We have options, Detroit, the American Hockey League (in Grand Rapids) or back to Europe. All three are potentially good options. We’ll take it one step at a time.”
Blashill, while coaching Team USA during May’s world championships, had a chance to watch Seider, who played for Germany.
“He was impressive,” Blashill said. “You don’t get the same forecheck pressure, but man, for an 18-year-old, he did an unreal job when facing pressure. When he had it, he made real good, poised plays and managed his game great.”
“He came into the (suite) with his family at the draft, and his parents don’t speak much English, so he had to carry his parents a little bit and he did an unreal job of it,” Blashill said. “You could tell he’s comfortable in his own skin. Those are the guys that have true self-confidence. He’s got a little leadership Pied Piper to him where guys of the same age want to follow him around.”
Fellow prospect Taro Hirose has been hanging with Seider.
“He’s an awesome guy, real good character guy,” Hirose said. “I think you can tell he’s going to be an unbelievable player in the league.”
Hirose added: “He has a lot of confidence with the puck and he’s one of those D-men that, as an offensive-minded guy, you want to play with because he’s not just going to be dumping the puck in, he’s going to be making plays and looking for you.”
And the Free Press’s Helene St. James made the case for keeping Seider close by:
Seider can be sent to Grand Rapids or Germany if he does not make the Detroit roster, but there are advantages to assigning him to the Griffins. He’d be a two-hour drive away instead of a transatlantic flight, making it easier to keep tabs on every aspect of his development, from on-ice performance to training to nutrition. Playing in the AHL would also help Seider acclimate to the smaller North American ice sheet.
Asked about the argument for keeping Seider close, Blashill parried. “I wanted to go to law school when I got done with college. I think I can make a strong argument for any place for him to play, to be dead honest with you.
“Certainly there’s arguments to play in North America; you could make arguments to play in Europe. Let’s watch him play in exhibition and see where he best fits in.”
In what little he has seen of Seider, veteran defenseman Patrik Nemeth said: “You can see he’s got the tools, for sure. He wants to make plays and he sees the ice pretty well. It’s going to be interesting to follow his development.”
Seider sounded as if he’d prefer to stay in North America. “It all depends where I can play the most and that’s probably in Grand Rapids if I’m not making the team,” he said. “I don’t really care about it that much where I’m staying next season, to be honest. I just want to become a better hockey player, a better person, and I don’t really care where that is.”
“I had the opportunity to train with a lot of guys in Detroit already so I’m used to it,” Seider said. “The speed is pretty high, I think we had great intensity out there already and I think everybody’s looking forward to the (Red and White) game.”
Seider also took advantage of his time in Detroit by seeing some of what the state of Michigan has to offer.
“I would say, first of all, great universities,” Seider said. “We had the chance going to a Michigan game in the Big House. It was unbelievable. It was a great atmosphere. It was nice, you can go fishing, you can go out on the water a lot of times. I heard a couple guys have a couple boats so I think it’s going to be a fun time.”
Seider also got to know some of the other prospects through the summer and the prospect tournament.
Seider made a telling remark regarding his lack of entitlement:
“I think I’m 18, I can improve a lot of things. That’s why I’m here,” Seider said. “First of all, I’m a prospect and I want to get better and I think in every situation on the ice, I can do a little bit better job.
“You want to get more mature. I think you’re around older guys, veteran players. (Trevor) Daley is going into his 17th season, I think. Those guys earned their spot and you just want to be thankful to be around them.”
