Month: January 2021

Roughly Translated: Meet Moritz Seider’s defensive partner with Rogle, one Eric Gelinas

The hardest part of being sidelined is not being able to engage in the day-to-day following of the Red Wings’ prospects, and, on Saturday, defenseman Moritz Seider’s partner, Rogle BK defenseman Eric Gelinas, spoke with Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin about being a “big brother” to the 19-year-old Seider.

What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

“I try to be like a big brother to him”

There is a difference of ten years between them, but Eric Gelinas and Moritz Seider have still found each other both on and off the ice. It helps that Eric Gelinas is having hte best season of his professional career–and that he dares to dream of the NHL again.

Kodie (Curran) showed that you can get the chance even though you are a little older,” says the Rogle defenseman to Hockeysverige.se.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Meet Moritz Seider’s defensive partner with Rogle, one Eric Gelinas

ESPN’s Kaplan speaks with Dylan Larkin

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan filed a notebook article this morning which focuses on the flailing Red Wings and captain Dylan Larkin:

Dylan Larkin has a hard time sugar-coating it — last season sucked for him and the Detroit Red Wings.

It’s tough to finish with a minus-122 goal differential and 23 fewer points than any other team. Larkin called it “embarrassing” to be on the first Red Wings team to finish dead last in the standings in 34 years.

“As much as your support system — your parents, agent, friends, people you turn to for advice — tell you that it’s going to make you stronger, it’s going to turn quick,” Larkin says. “When you’re in the moment of losing every night, and nobody is doing well personally, you feel like it’s never going to end, and there’s no way out of it.”

Larkin kept faith that his GM, Steve Yzerman, had a plan. The offseason was brutally long, thanks to Detroit being one of seven teams not invited to the summer’s return-to-play tournament. In August, Larkin said a handful of players returned to Detroit for optional practices, and by September, there were even more. Then came free agency in October, and Yzerman signed five veteran players — goalie Thomas Greiss, forwards Vladislav Namestnikov and Bobby Ryan, defensemen Jon Merrill and Troy Stecher — then traded for longtime New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal.

Larkin was on a text chain with his two linemates, Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi. “It was just like, another great player, another great player,” Larkin says. “And then Ty texted: Are the Red Wings a wagon now?”

Continued; the Wings are obviously not a tremendous team yet, but it’s important to remember that they’re supposed to be held to a higher standard than last year’s team despite a shitty record right now. Here’s hoping that our and their expectations for a better year hold true…

Press release: Chris Chelios signs deal with BetMGM

I thought this press release was interesting as former Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios is getting into the sports betting business, and it means that Chelios will be promoting a Detroit betting partner on 97.1 the Ticket:

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — BetMGM, the market-leading sports betting and online gaming platform, announced today the signing of Hockey Hall of Fame member and three-time Stanley Cup champion Chris Chelios to a multi-year deal as a celebrity brand ambassador. BetMGM will partner with the Detroit Red Wings legend on fan engagements, marketing campaigns and public appearances, among other interactive and promotional opportunities.

“BetMGM is at the forefront of an exciting time for the sports betting industry,” said Chelios. “I’m proud to be associated with the BetMGM brand and the long-standing commitment to Michigan through MGM Grand Detroit.”

Chelios enjoyed a 26-season career in the National Hockey League, having played with the Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks and Atlanta Thrashers. BetMGM is an Official Partner of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom Chelios won two Stanley Cup titles. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

Continue reading Press release: Chris Chelios signs deal with BetMGM

Bultman wonders whether the Red Wings are stuck on a different kind of ‘repeat’

The Athletic’s Max Bultman wonders aloud whether the the Red Wings can get some production from Anthony Mantha, make their netminders’ jobs easier, generate secondary scoring with so much of their secondary scorers out with COVID protocols, and, well…He wonders whether the Red Wings, heading into a pair of games against the Stanley Cup Finalist Dallas Stars, can somehow stop their distressing skid:

The most ambiguous of the bunch here, but perhaps the most important. That’s why Larkin mentioned it early in his news conference Sunday.

The Red Wings are going to have more games like Sunday this season, try as they might to avoid them. That’s just reality for a team with as little margin for error as they have.

But what made the first week of the season significant for the Red Wings was the way they fought back from losses to salvage a pair of series splits. That gave some reason to believe they might not find themselves in so many long losing streaks this season, even if the .500 clip they opened at was not likely to hold up in the long term.

Sunday, though, they went backward from Friday’s loss.

Continued

Belated: Grand Rapids Griffins release 2020-2021 schedule

A little belated, from the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS RELEASE 2020-21 SCHEDULE

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday announced their schedule for the 2020-21 American Hockey League season. It will mark the franchise’s 25th campaign overall, 20th as members of the AHL and 19th as the primary affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings.

Under third-year head coach Ben Simon, the Griffins will begin their 30-game schedule on the road on Friday, Feb. 5 against the Chicago Wolves at 8 p.m. EST, kicking off a four-game road stretch that is the Griffins’ second-longest ever to start a season (five straight in 2009-10).

The Griffins will make their home debut on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. when the Cleveland Monsters visit Van Andel Arena for Opening Night presented by Huntington Bank, ending a 346-day home-game drought that dates to their victory over the Iowa Wild on March 11, 2020.

The 14-week slate will conclude with another trip to West Michigan by the Monsters on Saturday, May 15, the latest date ever for a Griffins regular season game. Grand Rapids is scheduled to play nine of its final 12 contests at Van Andel Arena, comprising the most friendly season-ending schedule by far in franchise history. Never before have the Griffins played more than six of their final dozen games at Van Andel Arena.

Grand Rapids’ schedule will be comprised exclusively of Central Division rivals, with 10 games against Chicago, eight versus both Cleveland and the Rockford IceHogs, and four against the Iowa Wild. Cleveland has returned to the Central Division and Western Conference after a two-year stint in the Eastern Conference’s North Division.

The Griffins’ five games in the Windy City this season will be played at the Wolves’ practice facility, the Triphahn Center in Hoffman Estates, as Chicago has temporarily relocated from its longtime den at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

Click here for the 2020-21 Griffins schedule and breakdown.

The Griffins will commence their training camp on Sunday, Jan. 31 at Van Andel Arena.

While the Griffins remain hopeful for the potential to host fans at Van Andel Arena at some point, it is anticipated that the season will begin without fans in attendance. Fans are encouraged to watch the games via a subscription to AHLTV ($34.99 for all 30 Griffins games), tune in on Newsradio WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM, and follow the team’s social media channels. Important information for Griffins season ticket members is available at griffinshockey.com. 

Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 2 wrap-up: Wings recollect bad memories from 2019-2020 season in rough loss vs. Hawks

The Detroit Red Wings’ 6-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon was consequential more for reasons related to the state of the fan base than it was the state of the team.

With 5 “regulars” out of the lineup due to COVID protocols, and the Blackhawks looking to predictably prey upon the Red Wings during an 11:30 AM-local start game, the pitfalls that the Red Wings could fall into were highly visible; the scary part of the team’s second loss and fourth of their past six games was what it did to the team’s momentum–or now, the lack thereof–and what it did to the fan base in evoking so many memories of last year’s untenable, unwatchable season.

This year’s Red Wings team probably won’t make the playoffs, and most of us in the fan base are okay with that. What we want is to see a more competitive team, and, over the past two games, the Blackhawks have exposed the kinds of deep cracks and flaws in the lineup that the first four games gave us hope were mended by Steve Yzerman and the coaching staff.

In other words, the Wings stank on ice Sunday like it was still 2020, and that was terrifying. Fans are already losing hope that the 2020-2021 season will be any better, and the Wings’ patchwork lineup needs to put a significant amount of work in over the next two games in Dallas to prove themselves to their long-suffering fans–and themselves–again.

For our friends from Chicago, Sunday’s game offered a perfect “story” in the break-out of Pius Suter, who scored a hat trick, as NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis noted…

Continue reading Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 2 wrap-up: Wings recollect bad memories from 2019-2020 season in rough loss vs. Hawks

Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 2 quick take: Egg-laying made easy

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to earn a “split” in Chicago after dropping their first game 4-1 on Friday night. Today’s matinee game (11:30 AM local start) provided challenges, but the Red Wings needed to be up to the task of an early start…

And they needed to learn from the errors made in Friday’s taxi squad-peppered loss while bringing in Taro Hirose and Givani Smith.

So those of us who got up “early” waited for the rosters to be presented, wondering who else has joined Sam Gagner, Filip Zadina, Jon Merrill, Adam Erne and Robby Fabbri on the COVID list.

Ultimately, the Wings laid an egg, losing 6-2, and it was the fault of everyone–the coaches, the players, the special teams (or the lack thereof), the goaltending, it was all ugly, and the pair of losses against Chicago displayed a distinct inability to learn how to better play an opponent the second time around, which was the most concerning part of an ugly, ugly loss.

Continue reading Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 2 quick take: Egg-laying made easy