Month: October 2020

The Windsor Star’s Dave Battagello reports that the Bob Probert Ride, which wasn’t formally held due to the coronavirus pandemic this past June, is still celebrating a significant milestone via hitting a charitable mile-marker:

The Bob Probert Ride annually attracts more than 1,000 motorcycle riders and has raised up to $160,000 each year for cardiac care in Windsor and Essex County operated under Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare.

But this year, the popular fundraiser was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

That didn’t stop the Probert family — plus lead event sponsors Unifor Locals 444 and 2458, plus Thunder Road — from coming up with the idea this year to stage a raffle for a new 2020 Harley-Davidson Road Glide motorcycle as a replacement.

The winning ticket was drawn Saturday outside Tecumseh Arena with an expectation to raise at least $20,000 after expenses under the Probert Ride banner — now in its 10th year — to go toward cardiac care and rehabilitation, according to Bill Marra, vice-president of external affairs for Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital.

The motorcycle fundraiser overall in its history has raised well beyond $1 million.

“The Probert event has been integral for us,” Marra said. “It has allowed us to invest $500,000 into angioplasty when we were still on Ouellette. Then when we moved to Prince Road it helped purchase all of the equipment for our 10,000 sq. ft. cardiac rehab facility.

Continued

Per AntonJ85 on Twitter, the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation announced its team for the Karjala Cup tournament in Finland today, and Jonatan Berggren will be making his men’s team debut as part of the Swedish squad:

Truppen till Karjala. Om det nu blir något spel. pic.twitter.com/AueFmsp4wd

— Anton (@antonj85) October 26, 2020

The Swedes will battle the Finns between November 2nd and 8th in Helsinki, Finland.

Update: Per Swehockey.se, Gustav Berglund, Albert Johansson, William Wallinder, Lucas Raymond and Elmer Soderblom will spend November 2nd to 7th skating for the Swedish World Junior team warm-up camp as well.

It’s an even bet as to whether I’ll be around to cover the news regarding Tyler Bertuzzi’s arbitration award, especially if it breaks today. I have to take my Uncle Jamie to Beaumont today for a bone marrow test.

That’s going to require driving from South Lyon to Westland, taking Jamie to Beaumont in Royal Oak for the 11 AM appointment, returning him to Westland and returning to South Lyon sometime in the afternoon (when, I do not know).

Adding “fun” to the mix is the fact that the WiFI at Beaumont is a disaster on wheels, too.

I’m running on about three hours of sleep due to a rough night as well (Aunt Annie dropped a pop bottle at 4:45, and pop bottles make that same CRASH-bounce-CRASH sound that little old ladies do when they hit the ground after a fall)…

But the short story long is that I’d usually camp out in front of the laptop today to wait for an arbitration ruling, and that’s not going to happen today. I’ll cover things as I’m able, and I’m sorry if that’s an inconvenience.

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a list of the NHL’s top unrestricted free agents remaining on the marketplace this morning, and my answer as to which player(s) the Red Wings should sign is “none.”

The Red Wings will indeed probably have significant salary cap space left over after they re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi (via arbitration), Anthony Mantha and Dmytro Timashov, but I don’t believe that the Red Wings should sign anybody who’s left on the market as their roster is mostly full at this point.

With the salary cap not slated to rise until the 2022-2023 season at the earliest, I want to see the Wings bank away their cap space to save for a rainy day–unless a team makes it worth Detroit’s while to add on a “bad contract” in exchange for draft picks and/or prospects.

Here’s what Khan has to say…

Continue reading Via Khan: thanks, but no thanks (to more Wings UFA signings)

Of Red Wings-related note from The Athletic this morning:

1. The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted an article in which he attempts to discern the Red Wings’ level of offseason improvement by Game Value Score Added, and here’s the introduction to said article:

Continue reading Two The Athletic things: Bultman discusses the Wings’ improvement, while Mirtle talks cap crunches

NHL.com is posting offseason updates on each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams, and this morning, NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika discusses the Red Wings‘ changes:

The Detroit Red Wings made several changes after they had a .275 points percentage last season (17-49-5), the worst in the NHL since the salary cap was introduced in 2005-06.

“We’re looking to upgrade every aspect of our team,” general manager Steve Yzerman said.

The additions were one- or two-year commitments to players who bring experience: forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov; defensemen Jon Merrill, Marc Staal and Troy Stecher; and goalie Thomas Greiss.

The idea was to improve in the short term and maintain flexibility for the medium and long terms. Early in their rebuild, the Red Wings want to buy time for prospects to develop with the NHL salary cap remaining at $81.5 million this season.

“I think we’re just trying to move cautiously,” Yzerman said. “The climate we’re in, with uncertainty with our salary cap in years to come, we just felt like this is a good way to go. We’re prepared to sign players to longer-term contracts, including our own players, but we’re going to just move slowly for the time being and be careful about handing out long-term deals.”

Continued

You and I both know that Tyler Bertuzzi and the Red Wings made it to salary arbitration today, but between the last CBA and the slightly sketchy wording of the NHL and NHLPA’s Memorandum of Understanding, you may have questions as to where things go from here. That’s where the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan comes in:

Under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement, an arbitrator must decide within 48 hours of the hearing’s conclusion. But unlike in years past, the team and the player are no longer permitted to continue negotiating after the session begins.

The arbitrator’s decision will be for a one-year deal, and not necessarily what the team or player submitted; it could be somewhere in between. Bertuzzi will be a restricted free agent again next offseason.

Bertuzzi was the first player to have his case get to the actual arbitration process this season. Sam Reinhart (Buffalo), Ilya Mikheyev (Toronto) and Jake Virtanen (Vancouver), were notable restricted free agents who worked out new contracts with their teams.

Kulfan also notes that Anthony Mantha and Dmytro Timashov remain restricted free agents, though he’s reporting that there are rumblings that Timashov will play in Russia. The last I heard, Timashov, who is a Ukrainian-born Swede, is in fact training with Djurgardens IF in Stockholm, Sweden.

The reason he hasn’t signed with Djurgarden is that the SHL is requiring players who ink deals with their teams to remain there through the duration of the SHL season, regardless of whether the NHL actually gets down to playing this year.

As for Bertuzzi’s ruling, my best bet is that it comes down tomorrow, because I have to take my uncle in for a bone marrow test at Beaumont at 11 AM. I’ll be on the road from about 9 till 3 or 4, though MOONSHOT will be coming with me.

Red Wings prospect Moritz Seider spoke with Hockeynews.se’s Mattias Persson today regarding his situation playing with Rogle BK of the SHL as an alternative to waiting for the German league to start up. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Moritz Seider: “It’s the prfect solution to preapre me for the NHL”

He is seen as one of the Detroit Red Wings’ biggest hopes for the future, and he is expected to be an up-and-coming big defenseman in the NHL.

But first, 19-year-old Moritz Seider will make an impression in the SHL and Rögle.

“I think I’m getting the the best possible preparation here, he says to HockeyNews.se.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Moritz Seider speaks with Hockeynews.se

Of European prospect-related note this morning:

In the ICE Hockey League, the game between Jesper Eliasson’s Red Bulls Salzburg and the Bratislava Capitals was cancelled due to coronavirus issues…

Just as last night’s BCHL game between Kienan Draper’s Chilliwack Chiefs and the Surrey Eagles was postponed due to a positive test on Surrey…

And no Red Wings prospects play on Linkopings HC, but Aftonbladet reports that the SHL team has been struck by at least 20 coronavirus cases, which will affect upcoming games vs. Red Wings prospects;

In actual hockey news, in the Swedish J20 league, William Wallinder registered a goal and an assist as MODO Hockey won 7-5 over Mora IK;

And Theodor Niederbach had a goal and 3 assists in the Frolunda Indians’ 5-4 win over Vaxjo. Niederbach has 9 goals and 17 assists for 26 points registered over the course of 15 games played for Frolunda’s J20 team;

Per AntonJ85, here’s Wallinder’s goal for MODO…

Continue reading Prospect round-up: As coronavirus wreaks havoc with European leagues, Wallinder, Niederbach shine in the Swedish J20 league

From Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman:

Told no settlement between DET and Tyler Bertuzzi. As per new rules, there cannot be one after the hearing begins.— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 25, 2020

The arbitration hearing between the Detroit Red Wings and Tyler Bertuzzi is currently ongoing – it started at 9am ET.

As a reminder, the Red Wings filed for $3.15M and the player filed for $4.25M. https://t.co/BnmUVKdI4j— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) October 25, 2020