Month: October 2020

Pavel Datsyuk lights it up in the KHL

He doesn’t belong to the Red Wings anymore, but Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg captain Pavel Datsyuk had a big day in the KHL today:

Pavel Datsyuk scores 2 G 1 A, leads Avtomobilist to 7th home win over Traktor in a row. #AVTvsTRK pic.twitter.com/XIM4Qz5vfU— KHL (@khl_eng) October 11, 2020

Here’s Your Replay posted clips of Datsyuk’s points:

3 hours later…3 points later…Datyuk now with 18 points in 15 games. 2nd in KHL after linemate Alexei Makeyev (also with 3 points). Killing it @ 42. #MagicMan https://t.co/bx1ugAMlGQ https://t.co/pgPEmA7uDk— Jason Gold (@JayGold85) October 11, 2020

42 year old Pavel Datsyuk over a point per game and still doing stuff like this in the KHL pic.twitter.com/UzcD7NmmxW— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) October 11, 2020

Book excerpt: St. James discusses Chris Osgood’s time with the Red Wings

The Free Press has posted an excerpt from Helene St. James’ new book, “The Big 50: Detroit Red Wings” this morning. In a lengthy excerpt, St. James chronicles the highs and lows of Chris Osgood’s tenures (plural) with the Red Wings:

Osgood spent the first, best, and last parts of his 17-season NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings. He won his first Stanley Cup backing up Mike Vernon in 1997, his second Cup as the team’s starter in 1998, and his third as reliever-turned-starter in 2008. He missed out on the Wings’ 2002 Stanley Cup because they had jettisoned him the summer before, putting him on waivers because he was expendable after general manager Ken Holland traded for Dominik Hasek.

“It was crushing when I had to leave,” Osgood said in a 2019 interview. “I was always conflicted because I thought I could stay there with Dom. I wished I could have stayed, but looking back it was better I left. It made me better. But having a personal relationship with Kenny and knowing in the back of my mind that I would be back one day helped with that.”

That day came in the summer of 2005, as the NHL prepared to emerge from a labor dispute that had wiped out an entire season. The two men, 17 years apart in age but with a relationship that stretched back before the Wings drafted Osgood at 54th overall in 1991, shared the same intention. “I met Ken at this restaurant or lounge on Haggerty Road and he wrote down some numbers,” Osgood remembered. “The salary cap, we knew it was coming. Basically he wrote out a contract on a napkin. It didn’t matter to me how much I would be making or how many years, I just wanted to come back to Detroit.”

Continued; St. James’ work is worth your time…

Prospect round-up: busy times in the Finnish Liiga, SHL

The Red Wings’ European-playing prospects were very busy on Saturday, but before I get started rounding up their work, let’s take note of a game that took place on Friday night:

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper didn’t register a point in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 3-2 OT loss to Surrey;

On Saturday, in Europe:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro finished at +1 in 16:38 played as TPS Turku won 4-1 over Jukurit;

HPK lost 1-0 to Sport without Jared McIsaac;

Victor Brattstrom stopped 24 of 26 shots as KooKoo won 4-2 over Ilves;

Continue reading Prospect round-up: busy times in the Finnish Liiga, SHL

‘The NHL Tonight’ discusses Thomas Greiss’s signing with the Wings

If you’re interested in a different perspective on the Red Wings’ signing of Thomas Greiss to a 2-year contract, here’s 3 minutes’ worth of the NHL Network’s “The NHL Tonight” discussing the implications of Greiss’s signing. They feel (they being Dave Reid and Jamie Hersch) that Greiss will become the Wings’ #1 goalie:

St. James on a very motivated Bobby Ryan

The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned a Red Wings free agency round-up, and she focused on Bobby Ryan’s motivation to turn both his career and his new employer’s on-ice fortunes around:

In addition to being a good fit as a mentor, Ryan has the skill set to help an offense that averaged a league-worst 2.00 goals per game last season. A former 30-goal scorer, he tallied 15 goals as recently as 2018-19. He comes in deeply motivated to prove to critics he still belongs in the NHL. 

“It’s the No. 1 factor for me this year,” Ryan said. “Ultimately I’d like to prove to myself that I have more in me and two, everybody else behind that. There’s going to be naysayers because of my age and my speed. I can’t address age but I’m trying to address speed and go from there and show the hockey world I have something left in me.”

Ryan has lost about 10 pounds over the past year, noting that “I cut out about 750 calories a day in a bottle of wine, so that certainly helps.” He is working with a skating coach for the first time in his career. When the NHL shut down in mid-March because of COVID-19, Ryan went to his offseason home in Idaho, where he was able to increase his training. 

“I missed so much time last year from mid-November to mid-February,” Ryan said. “That time gave me a new work ethic. I embraced not drinking and turned to fitness. … I’m trying to get out of my element, my comfort zone, as much as I can to be a better player. 

“I’ve said this before and I hate saying it, but COVID, because of the way it happened, has been a blessing for me. It allowed my body to really heal, it allowed me to get set in my new lifestyle. It gave me a chance to really get into recovery and learn about myself. When the season does start up, whenever that may be, I think I’m way better equipped to handle things now.”

Continued