Month: September 2020

NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale filed an article discussing the draft needs of each and every one of the NHL’s Atlantic Division teams this morning. Here’s what Morreale has to say about the Red Wings’ needs, which are many:

DETROIT RED WINGS

Top priority: Top-end talent

First pick: No. 4

The situation: The Red Wings have 10 selections in the draft, including six in the opening three rounds, so they’ll look to load up on potential top-six forwards and top-four defensemen. Detroit has failed to qualify for the playoffs the past four seasons after appearances in 25 straight. The last time it had the No. 4 pick, it chose Steve Yzerman in the 1983 NHL Draft. The Red Wings had the best odds (18.5 percent) to win the No. 1 pick in the First Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery on June 26 but fell to No. 4. Detroit has three picks in the second round, and likely will use one of those selections on a goalie.

Possible fits: Lucas Raymond, LW, Frolunda (SWE); Cole Perfetti, C, Saginaw (OHL); Jamie Drysdale, D, Erie (OHL)

Continued; the Red Wings do indeed need as much high-end talent as they can possibly add to the mix. This team has good secondary and tertiary players, but it needs more stars and players who can carry the mail themselves.

I can’t do this anymore. By “this,” I mean that I simply can no longer stand to fight with the eight-year-old toddler that is my current 2012 Toshiba laptop. This computer will be the death of me.

I don’t have anger issues–I have a therapist, I have a psychiatrist, I take antidepressants–but I’ve sworn at this computer so many times for stalling, hanging and crashing over the past three years that it’s ridiculous, and tonight, I punched the monitor so hard that I cracked the LCD screen. And if I didn’t have important memories of my damn mom on the hard drive, I would have followed it up by pouring a full liter of pop on the keyboard. I’m that fed up with my one co-worker.

I’ve asked for a lot of help over the years, and I was going to hold off on this one, but I have to ask for help, not just being able to pay the bills, but also in attempting to raise funds for a new coworker, a new stalwart, a newer laptop.

It doesn’t have to be perfect (my perfect laptop costs over $2,400). It doesn’t even have to be new (it can be refurbished). But I need something that doesn’t have scorch marks on its keyboard from my hands, isn’t working on its second keyboard (the first one broke) and isn’t dented and dinged from years of travel and plain old overuse.

I want to make this blog work. I want to get a podcast going. I want to be in this for the long haul. But I can’t do any of that without a reliable, modern-ish computer that won’t throw hissy fits when it doesn’t get its way.

How we get from here to “new laptop” is beyond me. I’m looking for advice as to what kinds of Windows laptops work best if you’re grinding out a 12-to-14-hour day, I’m looking for advice as to how to focus a fundraising effort (Gofundme? Paypal? Giftly? Venmo? I use Paypal for my bank…), I’m looking for moral support…

A year and six days after my mom died, overcome with emotion, I lashed out at the one thing I can’t not have access to to do my job, and now I feel incredibly frustrated, incredibly overwhelmed, and angry at myself.

I want to build a viable blog, one that will pay the bills and allow me to invest some of that damn money into my readers, too, but I can’t do it long-term with inferior hardware. And that’s what I’ve got.

My laptop is limping along like my 2006 Chrysler Pacifica was last week–with its muffler and tailpipe dragging on the pavement.

Aunt Annie was able to charge that $600 repair for the present moment. But this laptop is going to cost a lot more to replace, and I can’t afford a new one on my own. So I need to ask for help.

And, by the way, does anybody know how to repair a laptop monitor? I replaced a broken keyboard by myself, so replacing a LCD screen can’t be that much more difficult…

Did I mention that my phone’s old, too? 😉

Grand Rapids Griffins play-by-play announcer Bob Kaser spoke with Dallas Stars assistant coach Todd Nelson recently, and here’s the Griffins’ video of said conversation:

This Tweet comes via Yardbarker’s Erin Walsh:

Sounds like there has indeed been significant interest in teams trading for Torey Krug's rights (@RearAdBsBlog on the case). My belief is last offer from #NHLBruins to Krug's camp was 6 years x $6.5 million.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 28, 2020

I have no idea whether the Red Wings are interested in Krug, but I’m fairly certain that they’ll have to trade for his rights if they want to sign him.

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a profile of defenseman Jamie Drysdale this afternoon:

A new wave of talented, puck-moving defensemen blossomed this season and stepped up in the playoffs, led by Miro Heiskanen (Dallas), Cale Makar (Colorado) and Quinn Hughes (Vancouver).

Jamie Drysdale watched closely as someone who would love to be mentioned soon in the same conversation.

“It’s pretty hard to look away from the three young D,” Drysdale said. “They’ve kind of been putting on a show in these playoffs. Just how they control the play, the offense, the skill they have is pretty cool and I hope to kind of follow in their footsteps.”

Drysdale is projected to be the first defenseman selected in the NHL draft on Oct. 6 (first round). He might go as high as No. 4 to the Detroit Red Wings, who selected defenseman Moritz Seider with their top pick last year at No. 6 and need more top-four quality D-men.

Continued

Per the Detroit Red Wings (PuckPedia reports that Turgeon signed a 1-year, $750,000 deal):

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today signed center Dominic Turgeon to a one-year contract extension.

Turgeon, 24, has spent most of his four professional seasons with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. In 2019-20, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound center produced 23 points (10-13-23) and registered only four penalty minutes while being the only Griffins player to skate in all 63 of the team’s games. Turgeon has appeared in 275 games for Grand Rapids since 2016-17, totaling 93 points (36-57-93), a plus-28 rating and 74 penalty minutes. He has added five points (2-3-5) and two penalty minutes in 22 career AHL postseason games, helping Grand Rapids win the 2017 Calder Cup championship as a first-year pro. Turgeon has also skated in nine career NHL games with the Red Wings since debuting in 2017-18, posting two penalty minutes, five shots on goal, six hits, 11 blocked shots and four takeaways in 10:53 average time on ice.

Originally drafted by the Red Wings in the third round (63rd overall) in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Turgeon spent four seasons in the Western Hockey League with the Portland Winterhawks prior to his professional career, tallying 152 points (67-85-152) and 91 penalty minutes in 259 games from 2011-16. He captained the Winterhawks in 2015-16 and registered a junior career-high 70 points (36-34-70) in 72 games. He was also a WHL champion with Portland in 2012-13 and picked up 18 points (10-8-18) in 45 career postseason WHL games. Born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Turgeon skates for the United States internationally and represented Team USA at the 2012 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, combining for four points (0-4-4) in 11 appearances between the two tournaments.

Dominic Turgeon, Center
Born Feb 25 1996 — Pointe-Claire, PQ
Height 6.02 — Weight 205 — Shoots L
Selected by Detroit Red Wings round 3 #63 overall 2014 NHL Entry Draft

The Detroit Red Wings have posted Fox Sports Detroit’s 24-minute 2020 Draft Preview special on the Wings’ YouTube channel:

A pair of Tweets of note this morning:

Via Kukla’s Korner on Twitter, the New York Rangers posted a tribute video for Marc Staal…

892 games.
107 playoff games.
1,308 hits.
Countless battles.

Thank you, Marc, for 13 years of showing us all what it means to be a Ranger. pic.twitter.com/NNkWJninFF— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 28, 2020

And the Red Wings are holding a virtual “Tent Sale” to benefit the Red Wings Foundation starting on October 5th:

We’re ONE week away from our Virtual Tent Sale! ? From October 5-8, get autographed #RedWings & @tigers memorabilia, last-chance items & more!

Sign up for reminders » https://t.co/vRAVcZ3vUk pic.twitter.com/SjrUQ1YQs2— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 28, 2020

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon profiles Flint hockey pioneer Rico Phillips this morning, discussing Phillips’ attempts to respond to this past summer’s racially-charged events with positive change. Dixon’s article is a very “long read,” but it’s worth your time:

Rico Phillips has always been the type of person to take things a step further than most. After sitting on a firetruck at age seven, Phillips knew what he wanted to do with his life. The kid who used to park himself in an empty lot across from Flint Fire Station No. 1 in the hopes of witnessing the sirens sing eventually retired after 27 years on the job last fall. Another example: As a high school trainer, Phillips opted to work with the hockey team for no other reason than the fact he knew their banged-up bodies would give him tons of practice. Just months before hanging up his yellow helmet, Phillips was on stage at the 2019 NHL Awards in Las Vegas, accepting the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award for his role in founding the Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program.

It’s maybe no surprise, then, that this past spring, the events of a May day in Minnesota sent him surging forward again. “George Floyd was murdered unnecessarily and I’m sitting in my house trying to figure out [what I can do],” Phillips says. As he worked through his thoughts and feelings, Phillips had the option, thanks to the connections he’s made, to call the man who broke the NHL’s colour barrier. He knew he wanted to take action, but couldn’t figure out how to channel his efforts. So he put it to O’Ree. “I said, ‘Willie, I’m having a hard time. I want to say something, but I just don’t know what to say and where to say it,’” Phillips recalls. “He told me, ‘Rico, your voice is in ice hockey and people are listening to you, so let your voice be heard.’”

Continued

Crain’s Detroit Business posted an article sponsored by The Children’s Foundation’s Larry Burns this morning. The article highlights the charitable contributions of several community leaders; today’s article includes part of an interview with Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels, who discusses some of the highlights of the upcoming Jamie Daniels Foundation’s Celebrity Roast of Scotty Bowman:

Burns: This year it will be a virtual roast of Scotty Bowman. How can people help? 

Daniels: The main place people can go to help is JamieDanielsFoundation.org. The silent auction is live on our website and bidding ends October 15. The roast will air on FOX Sports Detroit on Wednesday, October 14 at 8:00 p.m. and again at 9:30 p.m. It’s 90 minutes long and you can bid throughout the show.

Burns: You’ve got some great people lined up.

We started reaching out to people like George Bowman, and then George reached out to Jeff Cumberworth at Ally Financial, who reached out to Jack Nicklaus’ team. Jack Nicklaus does a hilarious two-and-a-half-minute video about Scotty. Steven Page, the former lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies, now with the Steven Page Trio, will perform a wonderful song called “Into the Light.” Hill Harper from “The Good Doctor” will open our show. We also have Michigan coach Red Berenson, Stu Grimson, Wayne Gretzky, JK Simmons, Jeff Daniels, Mitch Albom, Jim Leyland, Ken Dryden, Brendan Shanahan, Nick Lidstrom, Dominik Hašek, Doc Emrick, Glenn Hall, Jimmy Devellano, Dave Hodge, the longtime host of Hockey Night in Canada, and there’s still more to come.

Continued