Month: October 2020

Monday morning draft talk: Khan’s mock draft, HSJ on the second day, SportsWorks on the draft and some free agency discussion

MLive’s Ansar Khan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James discuss the upcoming 2020 NHL Draft and the busy week ahead for the Red Wings’ front office, which will make a total of 10 draft selections on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then shift toward the start of free agency on Friday at 12 PM EDT.

MLive’s Khan posts one more “mock draft,” and, like the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James, Khan’s shifting focus away from Saginaw Spirit forward Cole Perfetti:

4. Detroit: Jamie Drysdale, defenseman, Erie (OHL)

This is where the separation in the draft starts as well as the unpredictability. The Red Wings need help in all areas, so they could pick any number of players. Drysdale isn’t big (5-11, 175) but he is a good skater who can push the pace and he uses his stick effectively to defend. He is the top-rated defenseman in the draft and the Red Wings need more D-men with top-pair potential. Perhaps the only drawback is he would make them heavy on the right side in their system (Seider, Filip Hronek, Gustav Lindstrom, Antti Tuomisto, Seth Barton).

The Free Press’s St. James discusses the draft in general terms, as part of a “crucial week for the Red Wings’ rebuild,” and she notes that the draft’s second day (rounds 2-7 begin at 11:30 AM EDT on Wednesday) may loom larger than the first in terms of the opportunity it presents for the team to improve its prospect pool:

Continue reading Monday morning draft talk: Khan’s mock draft, HSJ on the second day, SportsWorks on the draft and some free agency discussion

On the Red Wings’ criteria for draft success, Cole Perfetti, Alexander Holtz and more draft and free agency talk

Of Red Wings and/or 2020 NHL Draft-related note early on a Monday morning:

  1. DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter offers us the following “draft philosophies” from Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman:

Yzerman said there isn’t some magic formula to find late-round talent. He said there are several different aspects of a prospect’s game that his team of front office members and scouts look for when deciding which player to welcome to Hockeytown.

“We take a lot of things into account. There are lots of skills and abilities that make a player a good player,” he said. “They have to have a combination of the things we feel are important. Good hockey players come in a lot of forms. There’s no one characteristic that is going to be a telling factor.

“We have criteria that we’re looking for in prospects and for players to come into the organization. On-ice and off-ice characteristics. We take all of those into account when we form our list.

As for that list, Yzerman said that with where the Red Wings are in their rebuild, he’s looking to select the best players available, instead of focusing on a certain position.

“At this early stage, I don’t think we can really target a particular position,” he said. “We’re going to take the best prospects. The kids are 17, 18, 19 years of age. The vast majority of them are 3, 4, 5 years away from playing in the NHL. Your needs as an organization will change over time. We try to draft the best prospect available with that current pick.”

2. Along those lines, Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino engaged in a Reddit AMA regarding his takes as to where the draft’s top prospects will end up, and he Cosentino believes that the ties between the Red Wings and Saginaw Spirit center Cole Perfetti are too strong to ignore:

Continue reading On the Red Wings’ criteria for draft success, Cole Perfetti, Alexander Holtz and more draft and free agency talk

European prospect round-up: Rasmussen and Lindstrom post assists; Larsson gets OT win for Almtuna

Of Red Wings prospect and loaned-player note, from Sunday’s action:

In the ICE Hockey League, Michael Rasmussen had 1 assist and took 2 penalties in the Graz 99ers’ 2-0 win over KAC;

And in the Swedish Allsvenskan, Almtuna IS won 5-4 in overtime over Tingsryds IF; Gustav Lindstrom had an assist and took 2 penalties, finishing at -1 in 23:08 played, and Filip Larsson made his netminding debut, stopping 27 of 32 shots in Almtuna’s OT win.

Moritz Seider serves a supporting role in a ‘Long Read’ about the German Ice Hockey Federation’s developmental machine

Sportsnet’s Sonny Sachdeva wrote a “Long Read” about the developmental powerhouse that is the German Ice Hockey Federation, and, specifically, the ways in which Moritz Seider’s team, the Adler Mannheim, stand at the forefront of Germany’s developmental program. Seider serves a “supporting actor’s” role in an article that really focuses on Tim Stuetzle:

Continue reading Moritz Seider serves a supporting role in a ‘Long Read’ about the German Ice Hockey Federation’s developmental machine

Latest episode of ‘The Red and White Authority’ includes interview with DobberProspects.com’s Tony Ferrari

On the latest episode of the Red Wings’ “The Red and White Authority” podcast, Dobberprospects.com’s Tony Ferrari speaks with Art Regner regarding both the Red Wings’ 2020 draft possibilities and the Wings’ current crop of prospects:

Two instances of ‘wishful thinking’

For your perusal this morning are two unique articles which discuss different aspects of the NHL offseason. The articles are very different, but their collective theme is one of “wishful thinking.”

  1. The Athletic’s Max Bultman plays, “Who Says No?” with reader-suggested hypothetical trades, before offering one of his own:

Detroit gets Yanni Gourde, 2022 first-round pick, Tampa Bay gets future considerations: I was wondering if anyone was going to propose something like this with the Lightning. There was a Tyler Johnson proposal in the inbox that involved the Red Wings sending picks to Tampa, and obviously there was the Sergachev offer sheet mentioned above, but otherwise, there were very few true cap-crunch proposals with Yzerman’s former team.

So, I’ll offer one up.

Gourde, as a refresher, has five years at $5.17 million AAV left on his contract with the Lightning, who need every cap dollar they can get right now. And to be honest, before Friday, I might have put this one in Tier 2, thinking the Lightning could find easier ways out of their cap problem. Frankly, that still might be the case.

But something struck me while reading Joe Smith’s excellent Lightning trade tiers story, which Red Wings fans should be sure to check out. In that story, Smith quoted former NHL GM Craig Button as saying of Gourde that “you’re not moving that money and that player without giving up a significant sweetener,” and suggested a future first-round pick as the kind of asset it might take to get it done.

Bultman continues (paywall), discussing possible roadblocks to the trade (including Gourde’s no-trade clause), as well as 9 other possible moves suggested by readers…

2. In a different kind of “wishful thinking,” the Free Press’s Ryan Ford looks at the Red Wings’ 10 draft positions at the NHL Draft this Tuesday and Wednesday, determining which player or players would represent an absolute best NHL-player-producing scenario for each and every one of the Wings’ possible picks. There are some “reaches” and unique picks here, including the following:

Continue reading Two instances of ‘wishful thinking’

NHL.com’s trio of experts lean toward the Wings drafting Marco Rossi

Over the past couple of days, various mock drafts have linked the Red Wings to Cole Perfetti, Jamie Drysdale and even Yaroslav Askarov, and this morning, NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman, Mike G. Morreale and Guillaume Lepage continue to stir a lack of consensus as to whom the Wings might pick 4th overall–by making Marco Rossi their consensus Wings mock draft pick:

Detroit Red Wings

Kimelman — Marco Rossi, C, Ottawa (OHL): Rossi plays bigger than his size (5-9, 183), with a feistiness and compete level that’s reminiscent of Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux. Rossi led all CHL players with 120 points (39 goals, 81 assists) in 56 games, willingly goes to the net to generate offense, and has a high hockey IQ that makes him a solid two-way player capable of killing penalties. 

Morreale — Rossi: The Red Wings need a difference-maker at every position, and the Austria-born left-shot center averaged 2.14 points per game, second in the CHL behind Lafreniere. Rossi is capable of winning puck battles, is strong on face-offs (58.5 winning percentage) and generates offense with his IQ, slick hands and playmaking ability.

Lepage — Rossi: The 18-year-old may have given up some size to his opponents, but he still dominated this season. Rossi would be a key addition to the Red Wings’ rebuilding effort at forward.

Continued; I just want the Red Wings’ management and scouts to draft the player who they believe has the highest possible developmental ceiling. I don’t care which player they draft as long as they make no compromises come draft day, because, in this instance, I’m more than willing to admit that they know better than I do.

Monroe catches up with former Walleye coach Derek Lalonde, now a Cup champ with Tampa Bay

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with former Toledo Walleye coach Derek Lalonde on Saturday. Lalonde has moved on to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Lalonde helped helm the Lightning to a Stanley Cup while serving as an assistant coach last month:

Known as a players coach with the Walleye (2014-16), Lalonde worked his way up to an assistant coaching position with the NHL franchise. On Monday, the 48-year-old hoisted the Stanley Cup as Tampa Bay became the first team to win the coveted trophy in an isolated bubble.

“It was certainly special,” Lalonde said. “It’s been surreal. I probably still haven’t soaked it all completely in. But it’s starting to come around — how special this run has been.”

Lalonde said he was finally able to take a breath while enjoying a beer with Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper at their favorite watering hole in Tampa on Thursday.

“It was such a non-stop process, playing every other day in the bubble. You’re locked into the process the whole time,” Lalonde said. “So, to finally win it … it was such a unique situation. We would have loved to have had family and friends there, which is obviously very traditional when you win the Stanley Cup. But it was an interesting, exciting experience to get the ultimate prize.”

Continued; Monroe’s article, which includes comments from former Walleye Kyle Bonis and Shane Berchbach, is really worth your time.

European prospect round-up: Berggren, Brome dazzle in the SHL; Tyutyayev 1+3 in Belarus

Of Red Wings prospect and loaned player-related note from Europe’s professional leagues on Saturday, October 3rd:

In the SHL, Albert Johansson played 14:01 in Farjestads BK’s 4-2 loss to Malmo. Malte Setkov sat out this game for the Malmo Redhawks;

Albin Grewe played 6:47 in Djurgardens IF’s 5-3 loss to Rogle;

Jonatan Berggren had a goal and an assist in 13:02 played, finishing at +2 in Skelleftea AIK’s 3-2 loss to Brynas IF:

FYI:

Matias Brome scored 2 goals and added an assist, taking 5 shots and finishing at +2 in 15:20 played as Orebro won 6-4 over Linkoping. Red Wings Prospects on Twitter re-Tweeted this .gif of one of Brome’s goals:

And Elmer Soderblom played 5:00 in the Frolunda Indians’ 4-2 win over Leskands IF;

In the Finnish Liiga, Jared McIsaac and HPK did not play their game vs. Sport due to a positive coronavirus test in one of the family members of HPK’s team;

Victor Brattstrom stopped 21 of 24 shots in KooKoo’s 3-1 loss to Karpat;

Otto Kivenmaki played 9:42, taking 1 shot, and Kasper Kotksansako finished at +1 in 15:53 played during Assat Pori’s 3-1 loss to SaiPa;

And in Belarus, via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, Kirill Tyutyayev scored a goal and had 2 assists, finishing at +3 in Yunost Minsk’s 7-1 over Mogolev.

Update on Monday at 8:25 AM:

Kulfan’s mock draft, and six more draft-related stories/videos

Of NHL draft-related note this morning:

  1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed another mock draft, and this time around, he believes that the Red Wings will focus on their defense:

► 4. Detroit Red Wings: Jamie Drysdale, defenseman, Erie (OHL). The Wings need help everywhere, so several prospects could be in play. The feeling here, though, is Drysdale is the type of defenseman the Wings can’t pass up.

2. In a convenient coincidence, Sportsnet posted a profile of Jamie Drysdale this evening:

3. Shifting gears, if the Wings are to pick a goaltender, former NHL goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin gave SKA St. Petersburg goaltender Yaroslav Askarov a glowing recommendation, per an article (and 7-minute, non-geoblocked video) from TSN’s Mark Masters:

Continue reading Kulfan’s mock draft, and six more draft-related stories/videos