Month: October 2020

Tyler Bertuzzi was awarded a 1-year, $3.5 million contract today after taking the Red Wings to arbitration this past Sunday, and The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a column discussing the implications of said contract going forward:

The short-term bottom line is that Bertuzzi, a clear top-six (and usually top-line) forward for Detroit, is under contract for a reasonable cap and salary number for 2020-21. Next offseason, he will again be a restricted free agent, and Detroit will retain his rights. However, he will at that point be only one year away from unrestricted free agency.

That’s what makes the deal a bit complicated in the long term. The Red Wings have kept all their contracts short since Yzerman arrived last spring. That’s mostly been a positive, as he’s signed veteran free agents to one- and two-year deals that won’t block any top prospects long term. Such an approach has preserved flexibility as Detroit’s next young wave matures, while adding veteran support and minimal locks on the cap sheet for when the team is ready to turn the corner.

As it stands, Dylan Larkin is the only Red Wings player with a contract past 2022. And his deal expires in 2023.

Yzerman recently said the team is “prepared to sign players to longer-term contracts,” but also said it wants to “move slowly for the time being, and be careful about handing out long-term deals.” But Bertuzzi, at 25 and as one of the Red Wings’ top players, certainly seems like the kind of player it would make sense to sign with at least some term. That can still happen in a year, of course, and maybe it will. At minimum, the league’s economic situation should have more clarity by then, and Bertuzzi will have another season on his résumé too.

Continued (paywall)

NBC 24 Toledo’s Eric Zernich spoke with Toledo Walleye coach Dan Watson regarding the fact that the Walleye are preparing to begin their 2020-2021 season in early January, 2021 thanks to the ECHL’s plans for a shortened, condensed hockey campaign:

The past weekend would have been opening night for the Toledo Walleye. But due to the coronavirus, their hockey season has been pushed back a few months.

“I think we’ve known for a while now that October wasn’t going to happen,” head coach Dan Watson said. “I think there’s some disappointment we weren’t one of the teams starting in December.”

Half the league is starting in December whereas the other half, including Toledo, will not start until January.

Watson has been trying to keep his players informed and ready to go when they can start practices again.

“We will start to send some messages to teams on how we want to try to get ahead of that curve. We’re going to be behind already playing teams that have potentially already played 10 games so we have to make sure our team game, making sure everyone is on the same page, is up to speed and I think we are going to use virtual meetings to do that.”

Continued

HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Persson had a chat with Jonatan Berggren prior to today’s SHL action. Here’s a rough translation of the article:

Berggren about his successful start and his spot on the national team: “Before, I played more on the outside”

His successful start to the season has been rewarded with a place on the Tre Kronor[‘s Karjala Cup roster].

Now Skellefteå prospect Jonatan Berggren discusses his success formula for this autumn.

“he biggest difference is that I work on taking the puck to the goal. Before, I played a little more on the outside,” says Berggren to HockeyNews.se.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Jonatan Berggren talks to HockeyNews.se about making the Swedish national team

Of prospect-related note today in Europe:

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki had an assist and 4 shots, finishing even in 17:26 played, and Kasper Kotkansalo finished at -1 in 20:59 played as Assat Pori won 3-1 over Sport;

Eemil Viro took 2 shots and finished even in 17:39 as TPS Turku lost 5-3 to KalPa;

And Victor Brattstrom stopped 17 of 19 shots as KooKoo won 7-2 over Lukko;

In the SHL, Lucas Raymond scored a goal but finished at -2 in 15:38 played as the Frolunda Indians lost 3-2 to IK Oskarshamn.

Theodor Niederbach also played in Elmer Soderblom’s place, and Niederbach played only 2:30, registering a shot.

Here’s Raymond’s goal…

Continue reading Prospect round-up: on a busy day in the Liiga and SHL, Raymond and Johansson score; Brome, Seider, Veleno register assists

Via the Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa on Twitter:

We are so proud to announce that our second annual Celebrity Roast of Scotty Bowman raised more than $250,000 in support from sponsors and donors. Read more about how these funds will be used to end the stigma of Substance Use Disorder: https://t.co/A3QKU4GVlJ pic.twitter.com/83pSPCSU4J— Jamie Daniels Foundation (@JDanielsFund) October 27, 2020

The arbitrator’s decision is in: Tyler Bertuzzi has been awarded a 1-year contract at $3.5 million. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of his deal.

UPDATE: #RedWings left wing Tyler Bertuzzi today was awarded a one-year, $3.5 million contract.

The terms of the contract were based on the ruling of an independent arbitrator who heard the case on Oct. 25 and issued the decision today. pic.twitter.com/hLNfhOfQZH— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 27, 2020

Arbitrator awards Tyler Bertuzzi $3.5M— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 27, 2020

Close to the midway point of what team offered and player wanted, closer to team’s offer of $3.15M. He’ll be a restricted free agent again next offseason. https://t.co/9Rc8UqcST6— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) October 27, 2020

?? https://t.co/lFTg3Lkbxz— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 27, 2020

Right near middle https://t.co/xzULEwlvvY— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) October 27, 2020

Here’s Khan in text form:

Continue reading Arbitrator awards Tyler Bertuzzi a 1-year, $3.5 million contract

Grand Rapids Griffins broadcaster Bob Kaser speaks with one-time Grand Rapids Griffins captain Ed Patterson on the latest episode of “Blasts From the Past”:

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with former Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman regarding the 25th anniversary of the Russian Five‘s debut against the Calgary Flames, on October 27, 2020:

“That was a wonderful time in Detroit,” Bowman said. “I didn’t play them together all the time; I was always fearful that because it was such a unique way to play, somebody’s going to figure out (how to defend them). They scored some spectacular goals. You look at the tapes now and see what they could do. They were great players. They gave our team something that nobody else had. Anytime you can have something unique, it’s a special group.”

The Red Wings defeated the Flames 3-0. Kozlov and Larionov scored goals, Fedorov and Konstantinov provided assists and Fetisov registered a team-high four shots on goal.

“They had practiced a couple of times before that and we announced we were going to play them as a unit,” Bowman, 87, said Tuesday in an interview with MLive. “Oh my God, they took over that game. We only played three lines at the time and they were playing every third shift. That was the start.”

Continued

Per the Detroit Red Wings: The Word on Woodward is live as we welcome Scotty Bowman on the 25th Anniversary of the Russian 5’s debut against Calgary. Vladislav Namestnikov and Larry Murphy also join the show.

The show starts at 12 PM EDT:

This one is a learning experience for a would-be podcaster like myself: Luke of Empire Universe, an MMA and NHL-focused podcast, spoke with Red Wings prospect Kaden Fulcher for 26 minutes recently, and you can listen to his interview here:

You’ll need to crank up the volume as Fulcher’s voice is a bit muffled, but this is a solid interview with a “forgotten prospect.”