Month: October 2020

TV4.se’s Niklas Wikegard will premiere a new episode of his sports show, “Wikegard vs.,” today, and it will involve Niklas and Staffan Kronwall, and Aftonbladet’s Mattias Karlsson has posted some of the highlights of said interview today. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Niklas and Staffan Kronwall talk about player responsibility in the SHL

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman posted a list of his top 155 players under the age of 23, and Lucas Raymond ranks 17th, with Moritz Seider coming in at 38, Filip Hronek ranked 61st and Filip Zadina ranked 71st:

17. Lucas Raymond, LW, Detroit

March 28, 2002 | 5-foot-10 | 170 pounds

Tier: Elite/high-end bubble

Skating: 55
Puck Skills: 70
Physical Game: 35
Hockey Sense: 65

Raymond has incredible talent and hockey sense. With the puck on his stick he’s incredibly dangerous. His hands are elite and his ability to beat defenders one-on-one clean in ways unlike other players can create a lot of highlight reel moments. He will be a true PP1 quarterback in the NHL because of the unique plays he can make. He has a unique way of navigating with the puck in the offensive zone, showing the patience and vision of a top NHL playmaker in how he picks apart defenses and find seams. Raymond isn’t the biggest guy and isn’t a guy you will tab to kill penalties, but he competes well and gets to the net. While he’s more of a passer, he does have a good shot when he looks to shoot. My one concern is his just average foot speed, particularly as a 5-foot-10 forward. He has good edgework and a powerful first step, with a wide stance he employs when trying to protect pucks, but lacks an NHL caliber separation gear.

Continued (paywall)

The Athletic’s Max Bultman Tweeted this post from Dobber Prospects’ Jokke Nevalainen this morning:

The Red Wings have recalled Jared McIsaac back to Detroit to take care of his injury. He won’t be returning to #Liiga team HPK anymore this season. https://t.co/De7FtZHOqE

— Jokke Nevalainen (@JokkeNevalainen) October 22, 2020

According to HPK.fi, Jared McIsaac is indeed headed back to Detroit to treat an injury (?) and he won’t return to Haameenlinna, Finland this season.

Update:

Since a couple of people have asked about it: to my knowledge, it wasn’t announced what type of injury McIsaac suffered, only that he would miss 2 weeks with it but obviously something changed since then.

He played just 34 seconds in the game where it happened.— Jokke Nevalainen (@JokkeNevalainen) October 22, 2020

DetroitRedWings.com’s Art Regner has an hour-and-fifteen-minute-long discussion with Red Wings director of amateur scouting Kris Draper on the latest episode of “The Red and White Authoirty” podcast:

The Czech Extraliga is on pause due to the coronavirus, but HK Mountfield GM Miroslav Schon took part in a Q and A session with Hokej.cz’s Jan Vavrina, and he answered a question about Filip Hronek’s status with the team. What follows is roughly translated from Czech:

The NHL will start later than originally planned. Is the team ready and able to continue to take out [more] insurance for Filip to stay in Hradec Kralove as long as possible?

“Again, these are mixed feelings. As Filip essentially developed into a top NHL player in one season [in the NHL], his price also increased. Of course, I’m happy that he’s become so great, and am sincerely happy about it. On the other hand, insurance for his contract has climbed to a relatively high amount, and we pay for the package. However, I can’t imagine that as long as Filip is here, he won’t play, he wants to play and he wouldn’t be thrilled if we had him sit in the stands. I can’t imagine what the Hradec Kralove fans would say to us. A number of [corporate] partners have taken part in the insurance, and we will certainly find the money for Filip to play here for as long as possible.”

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Kal discusses Al Sobotka’s favorite subject not related to his day job as Little Caesars Arena’s building operations manager–barbecuing–in this YouTube video from the Wings:

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan penned a lengthy article this afternoon, in which he discusses the fact that all of the Red Wings’ free agent signings spoke glowingly of a rebuilding organization whose culture of persistence has remained strong despite enduring a lengthy rebuild:

“The passion that just comes through for the Red Wings through [Steve Yzerman] is contagious,” [Bobby] Ryan said. “I walked out of the room (after talking with Yzerman) and told my wife, ‘I think we’re signing in Detroit.’ I didn’t feel I needed to hear anything else from anybody.”

Also, in the NHL world of parity, becoming a contender again can happen quickly. As long as an organization drafts well, and can make some shrewd, cost-effective free agent signings to complement the roster construction, a move upward in the standings can happen sooner than in the past.

“I don’t think you’re ever too far from winning,” said [Marc] Staal, who saw his Rangers rebound after missing two playoff seasons. “I wasn’t there (Detroit) last year, obviously, so I can’t speak on what was going on with the team, but everytime we played them, they were a very detailed team that wasn’t easy to beat by any means. They just need to get over the hump where success in winning games becomes a regularity. They have some very good young players.”

[Thomas] Greiss feels the experience he’s had on Long Island, playing for a team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals in the Return-to-Play, can help the Wings. That was echoed by [Vladislav] Namestnikov and Greiss, who both are coming from winning organizations in Colorado and the Islanders, respectively, and have played for several successful teams.

“I’ve been in the league for a number of years now, and played on numerous different teams with different outlooks and successes,” Greiss said. “I know how to navigate a long season, be there for the young guys and help the guys be as successful as we can.”

Continued

The Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy gives Jonatan Berggren a pat on the back for his strong start with Skelleftea AIK of the SHL, in an article discussing the “hottest” players in European hockey…

Jonatan Berggren, C, Skelleftea (SHL): Speed, smarts and great hands are Berggren’s trademarks and the Detroit Red Wings prospect has really been putting all three together with 13 points in nine games for Skelleftea, making him the third-highest scorer in the league right now. The 2017 second-rounder has already eclipsed the 12 points in 24 games he had in the SHL last season.

It should be noted, however, that Berggren and Skelleftea AIK won’t play Djurgardens IF on Thursday as scheduled. Expressen reports that Djurgarden has had one player test positive for the coronavirus, and two other players have taken ill, so Thursday’s game has been postponed.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James asks five questions regarding the Red Wings’ 2020-2021 season this morning. Three questions have to do with the timing and structure of the upcoming season; one has to do with Patrick Marleau chasing Gordie Howe’s games-played record; and the final two questions seem most pertinent at this time:

When will training camp be?

Based on recent interviews with Yzerman, it does sound like the NHL and NHLPA will come up with a scenario in which the seven non-playoff teams (the Wings, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres) will start before the 24 teams that were part of the bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto. That still wouldn’t be until maybe early December, at which point those teams will have not have played in roughly nine months. 

As explained last night by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun and the San Jose Mercury News’s Curtis Pashelka, it appears that the NHL will indeed give the Red Wings and six other non-bubble-hockey teams more time to ramp up their level of play before training camps start, but what form this extra time will take is uncertain…

And St. James’ final question involves the shape of the Wings’ roster to come:

Continue reading St. James ponders Red Wings-related ‘questions’ yet to be answered

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn posted an article discussing the NHL teams that have improved the most and least during the 2020-2021 offseason (based on a statistical model), and he gives the Red Wings solid praise for their offseason moves…mostly…

Detroit Red Wings

Wins Added: 5.9 wins

Salary Added: $14.9 million

In: Marc Staal, Thomas Greiss, Vladislav Namestnikov, Troy Stecher, Bobby Ryan, Jon Merrill

Out: Jonathan Ericsson, Justin Abdelkader, Jimmy Howard, Trevor Daley, Madison Bowey, Christoffer Ehn

The worst team in hockey has only one way to go next season: up. That’s especially true with the offseason they had. No, they didn’t sign any big names that moved the needle — but they did replace serious drags with actual NHL calibre talent. Every player on the way out was a negative value player last season, worth a combined minus-4.6 wins. That’s where most of the team’s added value comes from: addition by subtraction. 

Aside from Marc Staal, who is comparable in value to the players on the way out, everyone else is projected to bring positive value. It may be small, but at least it’s on the right side of the ledger and not actively hurting the team. It may not make sense for a bad team like Detroit to sign all these players, but it helps create a less toxic environment of losing. There’s a difference between playing at a 45-point pace and one closer to 70. It still sucks but it’s a lot less demoralizing. 

Continued (paywall); yes, we are at the point where “there’s some hope” is about the best situation one could ask for at this stage of the Wings’ rebuild.