Month: January 2021

It was great to see Fox Sports Detroit’s Trevor Thompson at the rink yesterday, and it’s great to see Fox 2’s Woody Woodriffe speaking about the Red Wings’ training camp this evening. It’s a jam-packed 1:38 report that offers an overview of the Wings’ camp activities thus far:

Flint’s MyCity Magazine‘s Mark Spezia spoke with Red Wings defenseman and Grand Blanc, MI native Jon Merrill regarding his decision to sign with his hometown Red Wings earlier this past fall:

The easiest decision of Merrill’s life was signing a one-year, $950,000 deal with Detroit. “I had thought about and dreamed about that moment for so long that I really could not sign fast enough,” he says. “My wife was equally excited and this is what’s best for our family. My parents and all the family we have in Michigan were elated.”

Calls, texts and messages began flooding Merrill’s phone and the family’s social media accounts. “I heard from so many people. Guys I played with ten years ago said they were happy to see me return home,” he says. “It was really touching, actually.”

One of the first to contact Merrill was Detroit forward Luke Glendening, his former Wolverines teammate. “I have been fortunate to be good friends with Luke and have him show me around and introduce me to the guys,” he says. “That has gone very well and they are a great group of teammates. He also introduced me to the coaching staff and front office people. They have been very welcoming.”

Continued

If you’re interested on what is a very sad day in America…Spend your time doing something better than staring at the TV.

Rakapuckar’s Henrik Leman spoke with Elmer Soderblom and Lucas Raymond after today’s Frolunda Indians practice, asking both players about their World Junior Championship experiences, as well as whether their WJC performances should impact their roles with Frolunda. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

The WJC guys practiced already on Tuesday, when Frolunda had closed the media off for coronavirus.

On Wednesday, it was almost a bit of business as usual.

“It’s nice to come back immeidately and be up and running quickly, be with the old men again. Regardless of whether we won or came last (in the WJC), it’s important to forget it and get back in the environment here, to continue to take steps individually and as a team,” said Lucas Raymond, who added this before his comeback game vs. Lulea:

“It’s [going to be] great fun, fun game to come home to as well.”

Elmer Soderblom agreed:

“It feels good to be home. Still a bit jet-lagged, waking up hungry and so on, but at the same time it’s nice to get into it right away.”

The strong Soderblom presented himself to the Swedish people with his goals away in Edmonton, where the WJC was a cheeky journey to the bitter end against Finland.

Are you aware of the [team’s] resurrection here at home?

“Yes…I’ve heard a lot from family and friends and so on. Of course it was fun, of course it was a small boost that you have to take in the right way, get energy from, and try to develop even more.”

For Lucas Raymond, it loosened up in earnest in the quarterfinal against Finland (nicely scoring the 1-0 goal)–then it was over. But he still feels it from the tournament.

“The body took a lot of beatings,” he admitted.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Rakapuckar’s Leman speaks with Soderblom, Raymond after their second post-WJC practice with Frolunda

MLive’s Ansar Khan penned an off-day notebook on the topic of the day, one Mathias Brome’s attempt to earn a spot on the Red Wings’ roster as a 26-year-old rookie:

“I think I’m a good two-way player. I can play on offense and defense, too,” Brome said. “That will make me have a good chance to make the team. If I put that in every night hopefully, I can get a spot. I’m really hoping I have a good chance to make the team, but it’s up to me to do it. I’m going to take every day here and do my best and see how long it will take to make the team.”

If Brome doesn’t earn a spot on the Red Wings’ season-opening roster, he likely would be named to the taxi squad since he is exempt from waivers.

Having played 23 games for Orebro in the fall (four goals, 16 assists) gave him a head start.

“I feel ready and I feel like I’m in game mode,” Brome said.

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill watched tape of Brome playing in Sweden.

“Those are always a little bit hard comparisons because you don’t know exactly how the league translates,” Blashill said. “The two things that have stood for me and are going to help him at the NHL level is, one, he seems to be a little thicker, a little stronger on his skates than maybe I saw on tape, and two, he’s got good tenacity. Those two things will help an under-sized guy have success. He’s got some smarts; he’s got some skills. He has a chance to be a good NHLer and we’ll keep giving him opportunities and seeing where he’s at.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a training camp notebook regarding the topic of the day in one Mathias Brome’s attempts to earn an NHL job with the Red Wings, but he also addressed several other issues, including Troy Stecher’s take on a college hockey-like schedule of tightly-packed games, as well as this nugget of wisdom from veteran Sam Gagner:

Veteran forward Sam Gagner has been through rebuilds similar to the Wings’ while he was in Edmonton.

Gagner feels he can help the Wings’ younger players with his NHL experience.

“Your top players need to be insulated with depth that can help in a lot of different ways,” Gagner said. “We have a great group of young player that have really taken a step and need to continue to do so.

“I, personally, think I have a lot of game left, and I think Steve (Yzerman) felt the same way,” Gagner said. “It’s just a matter of being prepared, which I feel like I am. If everyone goes out and does their part, it helps everyone take a step forward.”

Continued

Of prospect-related note:

In Belarus, Kirill Tyutyayev had a goal and an assist, finishing even with 1 shot as Yunost Minsk won 4-1 over Shahter-Soligorsk;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, William Wallinder had an assist, finishing at +1 with 2 blocks and a penalty taken in 18:11 played as MODO Hockey won 3-2 in a shootout over Vasby IK;

And Malte Setkov finished at +1 with 1 shot in 14:23 played as AIK Stockhom lost 4-2 to Tingsryds IK;

Later tonight, in the USHL, Kyle Aucoin’s Tri-City Storm will battle the Lincoln Stars.

Update: Aucoin finished at +1 with 2 shots in the Tri-City Storm’s 3-2 shootout loss to Lincoln.

It’s a Mathias Brome kind of day. He’s spoken with the Swedish media several times over the past couple of days, Brome scored a couple of goals in yesterday’s scrimmage, and, today, the Free Press’s Helene St. James wonders aloud if the Wings have finally struck European gold after whiffing on a host of European overager free agents:

Brome may be able to break the recent trend of undrafted European players who have come over with promise but left faint impression. In 2019, Finnish defenseman Oliwer Kaski was signed to a one-year deal; he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for minor-league defenseman Kyle Wood after 19 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins (two goals, three assists) and never appeared in a Wings game.

In 2017, the Wings signed Czech defenseman Libor Sulak after scouting him at the World Championship; he played but six games for the Wings. The last European import to make a decent contribution was Swiss forward Damien Brunner, who was signed to a one-year deal in 2012 and joined the Wings after the lockout was resolved. Brunner had a solid rookie season with 12 goals and 14 assists in 44 games. But Brunner overestimated his value in turning down multiple-year contract offers from the Wings, opting instead to sign with the New Jersey Devils as a free agent.

Brome has told the Swedish media that he’s going to stick in Detroit until he makes the NHL:

General manager Steve Yzerman signed Brome to a one-year, $925,000 contract. Brome was also pursued by the Vancouver Canucks and Washington Capitals.

“I had a good talk with Steve,” Brome said. “That’s what I felt was the best chance for me to play in the NHL. That’s why I chose Detroit. I’m really hoping I have a good chance to make the team, but it’s up to me to do that. I’m going to take every day here and do my best and see how long it will take to make the team. … I feel like I am ready. I have developed a lot back home in Sweden. The point I am at now in my career, I really feel there is a good chance to fight for a spot on the team.”

Continued

I’m admittedly a bit biased at times, so you’re going to have to excuse me for subtly disagreeing with The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin regarding the suggestion that the Detroit Red Wings are still “trying” to tank, a comment made during an article about Central Division Stanley Cup Windows:

REBUILDING: Detroit Red Wings

Steve Yzerman continues to lay low and subtly tank. Don’t let the slew of respectable veteran roster additions fool you. It’s true that Bobby Ryan, Vladislav Namestnikov, Troy Stecher, Thomas Greiss and so on will help the Wings be less of an embarrassment after posting the lowest points percentage by any team in 20 years last season. But they were all signed to one- or two- year deals. The one-year additions are set up to be trade-deadline rental flips. The two-year additions are expansion-draft bait. And the veteran presences are also there to block Detroit’s youngsters from earning roster spots by default.

Speaking of the youth movement: defenseman Moritz Seider, center Joe Veleno and left winger Lucas Raymond will remain in Europe this season. None is even attending camp. The Wings aren’t rushing their top prospects and clearly have no plans to make a run for the playoffs this year. If they did, they’d at the very least be giving Seider a long look. So we can bet on another run at the draft lottery in Motown.

Continued; roster flexibility does not mean that a GM is saying, “Well, eff it, see you at the draft!” and the Red Wings’ players and coach have been very vocal in suggesting that they want to improve somehow over the course of this upcoming season. What form that improvement may take, we don’t know yet, but these guys have some damn pride here.

Regarding Veleno and Seider, that was the team’s call, certainly, but Raymond can’t come to camp because the team never signed him to an entry-level contract. That’s irrelevant.

I could go on, but, yes, the Red Wings are rebuilding, and no, they are not trying to suck as hard as they possibly can just because it’s an easy narrative to sell.

I had my big-ass anxiety attack during the World Junior Championship, so I wasn’t able to cover all the Red Wings prospects’ exploits during the tournament. Red Wings Prospects on Twitter posted a list of the statistical exploits of the Wings’ seven World Junior Championship participants:

Final WJC stats for Red Wings prospects. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/80m2NFybwp— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) January 6, 2021