Month: October 2020

St. James speaks with Bertuzzi regarding his arbitration hearing, preparations for the season to come

The Free Press’s Helene St. James was among the reporters who engaged in Tyler Bertuzzi’s Zoom call regarding his 1-year, $3.5 million arbitration award, and she noted Bertuzzi’s thoughts on his deal, as well as his preparations for the 20-21 season:

“It’s a little different than anything I’ve ever been through, but it went smoothly and we’re happy we got a deal done,” Bertuzzi said. “There was a lot of talking going on. At the end of the day, we’re happy with a one-year deal. I’m looking forward to the season.”

He may be looking forward for quite a while. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has Jan. 1 as the latest target date to start the 2020-21 season, but the novel coronavirus pandemic may delay that even further. For now, he’s working out and skating with a local group that includes Wings teammates Dylan Larkin, Luke Glendening, Anthony Mantha, Robby Fabbri and Valtteri Filppula. They have not been able to at the practice facility inside Little Caesars Arena.

“We’re all working out together and bonding and we’re all looking forward to coming back,” Bertuzzi said. “We’re skating, playing little games, little scrimmages here and there, trying to keep up that game-feeling. 

“It’s very weird. We’d already be in the season. It’s a different feeling. You have to monitor when to work out. Once we know there’s a final date to when the season is going to start, then we can kind of base all of that on that. But it’s very different, for sure.”

Continued

Update: Here’s more from the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

Continue reading St. James speaks with Bertuzzi regarding his arbitration hearing, preparations for the season to come

Here’s Tyler Bertuzzi’s Zoom call

Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi held a Zoom call with the Detroit media regarding his 1-year, $3.5 million arbitration award:

Tweet of note from Kulfan: Should the Wings buy out Nielsen?

The Red Wings have a 24-hour buyout window opening tomorrow thanks to their arbitration hearing with Tyler Bertuzzi, as the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan noted via a Tweet…

One thing to remember after yesterday’s Bertuzzi arbitration: #RedWings have another 24 hour buyout window beginning Thursday. Only possibility would be Frans Nielsen. Would they?— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) October 28, 2020

Buying out Nielsen now would save, per CapFriendly, about $1.3 million in real-world dollars, but Detroit would have to pay Nielsen $2.67 million of his remaining $4 million in salary to buy him out.

A bit of talk about the Wings’ ‘weaponizing’ their cap space

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a column which discusses the respective situations of 7 teams that “could weaponize” their remaining salary cap space, and the Red Wings make Dixon’s list.

As you know by now, I don’t believe that the Wings should spend all their cap space in one year, given that the salary cap will remain stagnant for at least the next 2-to-3 years, but I’ll be the first to admit that anything can happen with Steve Yzerman at the Wings’ helm:

Detroit Red Wings
Cap space: $15,238,611

Detroit has the potential to be the league’s one true dumping ground. (That sounds awful; it’s actually not.)

In the midst of a long rebuild that has, thus far, not been aided by any draft lottery luck, GM Steve Yzerman has already made one shrewd, salary-related move by taking defenceman Marc Staal and his $5.7-million cap hit from the Rangers, while getting New York to toss in a pretty tasty 2021 second-rounder.

Its lack of lottery fortune means Detroit doesn’t have anyone in the fold who figures to need a big raise coming off an entry-level deal in the next couple of years, though the Wings do need to hammer out a new deal with RFA Anthony Mantha. The Illitch family spent whatever was required when its teams — the Red Wings and Detroit Tigers — were chasing championships. Cutting some cheques with the Wings now at their nadir could also help.

Continued; would you “weaponize” all the Wings’ cap space this offseason, or save some for a rainy day?

Contract-wise, now the Red Wings are waiting on ‘Moe’ Mantha

After accepting an arbitrator’s 1-year, $3.5 million contract award for Tyler Bertuzzi, the Red Wings have a CapFriendly-estimated $15.238 million in salary cap space remaining, and about a third of that space will go toward re-signing the Red Wings’ remaining restricted free agents, Anthony Mantha and Dmytro Timashov.

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox has updated his article regarding the “NHL’s Top 15 Unsigned RFA’s,” and here’s what he has to say about Mantha’s situation:

Anthony Mantha
Age: 26
Position: Left wing / Right wing
2019-20 salary cap hit: $3.3 million
Arbitration rights: Yes — but did not file
Bargaining chips: Puts up the same points per game (0.88) as [Mat] Barzal. Plays nearly 19 minutes a night. Managed 38 points in 2019-20 despite being hampered with injuries. Consecutive 24-goal, 48-point efforts in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The latest: When healthy, Mantha is a beastly winger and dependable contributor to Detroit’s top six. The drawback here is an injury history that has prevented Mantha from playing more than 70 games in all but one of his five pro years.

“It will be complicated, I think,” Mantha told The Detroit News of his upcoming negotiation with Yzerman. “But it’s not in my power. My power is to play hockey. My agent and Stevie are going to talk. Maybe they’ve started. I don’t even know.

“It’s hard to base right now. I played 40 games this year. I missed so many games, so it’s hard to go for the extension before the end of the year. We’ll see in the off-season. Hopefully it goes quick and I’ll be here for a long time.”

Continued; as Fox notes, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman told the media that he was negotiating with Mantha’s representatives during the 2020 NHL draft. Those negotiations obviously took a backseat to the Bertuzzi talks, but now it’s time to get Mantha signed.

What kind of deal do you think the Wings and Mantha will reach an accord upon? Will they work on a short-term, “bridge deal” like Bertuzzi’s one-year contract, or will the Red Wings invest in Mantha over the long haul?

Roughly Translated: Expressen’s Nordstrom tells a tale of Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and…Auston Matthews’…interest in Marsblade

Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom penned an article discussing a business venture in which former Red Wings players Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall have teamed up with Auston Matthews of all people to advance the Swedish inline skate brand Marsblade.

This article may seem like Swedish fluffernutter, but it reveals some important details regarding the latter stages of Henrik Zetterberg’s career, a bit about Niklas Kronwall’s decision to move back to Sweden this past summer, and Marsblade’s plans to expand its NHL footprint.

What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

The superstar’s new venture with “Zata”

LOS ANGELES. Auston Matthews, 23, is one of the NHL’s biggest names after four seasons in the league.

He likes Toronto’s investment in Swedish players over the years.

“I love having William Nylander as a linemate. He really is a special player and one of the smartest in the NHL today. And a close friend,” says Auston in an interview with SportExpressen.

Matthew’s ties to Sweden are now even stronger.

He’s now a co-owner of Marsblade in Östersund, which manufactures inline skates and has now also developed a skate rail to be launched in the hockey world.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Expressen’s Nordstrom tells a tale of Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and…Auston Matthews’…interest in Marsblade

Khan speaks with Shawn Horcoff regarding Jonatan Berggren

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren’s strong start in the SHL this morning. Khan spoke with Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff regarding the 5’10” mini-mite’s impressive October playing for Skelleftea AIK:

Berggren is off to a hot start for Skelleftea in the Swedish Hockey League, the country’s highest division. He is third in scoring with 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) in 10 games.

“He’s off to a great start and it’s a good sign for us,” Shawn Horcoff, Red Wings director of player development, said. “He’s a guy who’s faced a lot of adversity with injuries the last couple years. These aren’t injuries that are easy to come back from. They’re bigger injuries, longer layoffs.

“To his credit, going through that, it’s done two things – it’s made him realize what he needs to work on, and it’s also given him time to work on those deficiencies. He was a guy we drafted who was very raw in terms of his physical development. I think the last couple of years the amount of time he’s been able to spend in the gym and off the ice has helped him in that area.”

Continued

Pro Hockey Talk discusses Bertuzzi’s arbitration award, Red Wings’ larger future

Pro Hockey Talk has been posting a series of articles discussing the offseason machinations of the NHL’s 31 teams, and this evening, James O’Brien wrote an article discussing the state of the Detroit Red Wings, taking into context Tyler Bertuzzi’s 1-year, $3.5 million arbitration award as part of the team’s 2020-2021 season outlook.

O’Brien offers three points of emphasis: Bertuzzi, the Wings’ contractual situation, and the team’s prospects as part of the team’s fluid future:

Beyond [Lucas] Raymond and [Moritz] Seider, there’s also Filip Zadina and others who might make it, including Joe Veleno.

Still, after missing the playoffs for four straight seasons (and failing to win a playoff series since 2012-13), Red Wings fans might want to see more progress.

That’s where the near future comes in. Can Yzerman continue to add volume, and maybe also gain more blue-chippers? Detroit’s drafted a lot of players lately, including selecting nine second-rounders and six third-rounders over the last three years. Gaining more premium picks may be key, though. (They’ve drafted four instead of the customary three first-rounders during that same three-year period, but Joe Veleno wasn’t far from Round 2 at pick 30 in 2018.)

Much of the Red Wings’ future revolves around developing the Zadinas and Raymonds. Quite a bit also hinges on exploiting opportunities in free agency and trades. Being that Thomas Greiss is 34 and Jonathan Bernier is 32, Detroit should also be alert when it comes to targeting goalies.

Like Bertuzzi entering his contract year, the Red Wings’ most important work lies ahead. They’ve been hit-or-miss in ways that parallel Bertuzzi’s mix of strong offense and shaky defense, too.

Continued

Via A2Y: Mike Rupp praises Marc Staal’s off-ice influence

Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman comes this clip from the NHL Network, wherein former NHL’er Mike Rupp suggests that defenseman Marc Staal will make a very positive influence upon the Red Wings’ locker room: