Month: January 2021

Here are the Zoom calls held with Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, defenseman Troy Stecher and forward Vladislav Namestnikov from a little earlier today:

MLive’s Ansar Khan is the first beat writer out of the chute with a Monday article regarding the comments made during today’s Zoom calls, and Khan notes that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill views forward Michael Rasmussen a little differently than the team did when they first drafted him:

The Detroit Red Wings drafted Michael Rasmussen ninth overall in 2017 because of the offensive ability he displayed as a junior.

Now they have other ideas.

“Ultimately, I think he can become a real big, lockdown-type center that can play against other teams’ best players,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “That could really put him in a position to be an extremely valuable five-on-five player. Then he’s always got the real good net-front ability on the power play.

“So, he’s got two things that he can really separate himself from other guys. Now he’s just got to prove it every day. I think the mental toughness it takes to fight through the number of injuries and frustration is going to be critical for him.”

Continued

Red Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson makes a second appearance today, having spoken with Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin regarding the play of one Moritz Seider, who’s skating for Rogle BK of the SHL this season. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Praises Rogle for the development of the promising defenseman: “Abbot knows what is required”

Only 19 years old, Moritz Seider has stepped into the SHL and has become a key player for Rogle. Now Detroit Red Wings scout Hakan Andersson tells Hockeysverige.se how the promising defenseman ended up in Sweden–and how satisfied the NHL team is with his progress in Angelholm.

“There has been a lot of talk that Frolunda has the best environment for players in Sweden, but I do not know if Rogle is much worse off,” says Andersson.

Continue reading Hakan Andersson speaks with Hockeysverige.se about Moritz Seider’s progress

Of prospect-related note this afternoon:

EliteProspects posted this regarding Red Wings prospect Elmer Soderblom (and a tip of the hat to Winging It in Motown for the note):

Elmer Söderblom (@DetroitRedWings) didn’t *just* score two of the prettiest goals of the tournament.

According to our friends over @InStatHockey, Sweden controlled over 60% of the shot attempts at evens when Söderblom was on the ice, too.#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/ENCTfyzejX— Eliteprospects (@eliteprospects) January 4, 2021

It appears that when and if the QMJHL resumes play, per CZProspects, Wings draft pick Jan Bednar will attempt to play for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan instead of going back to the Czech Republic…

Following his time at the #WorldJuniors, goaltender @2Bedynka has arrived in Bathurst!

Après son passage au #MondialJunior, le gardien de but Jan Bednar est arrivé à Bathurst!#GoTitanGo⚔️ pic.twitter.com/XuqEXoSgGj— Acadie-Bathurst Titan (@ABTitan) January 4, 2021

And this goal from Joe Veleno today is just lovely:

Joe Veleno scores his 8th goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/Jjq5hX2RL9— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) January 4, 2021

ESPN’s Chris Peters recently wrote an article for ESPN+ in which he discussed the prospect pools of each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams, and he ranked the Red Wings’ prospect pool as the NHL’s 5th-best:

5. Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings’ system strength leans heavily on the quality of their past two top picks. Lucas Raymond is a foundational winger who could become a game-changing prospect for the rebuilding Red Wings, and Moritz Seider is a cornerstone defenseman who looks every bit ready to become a No. 1 in the very near future. Those are the only two A-rated prospects in the system, but they’re such key pieces for the future that they can easily carry this system into the top five.

On top of them, however, there are a lot of second-tier prospects who looked poise to develop into important pieces for the franchise. In recent years, the Red Wings have added a number of quality pieces through the draft outside of the first round. Jonatan Berggren, Jared McIsaac, William Wallinder and Albert Johansson all have notable upside. Joe Veleno is a late first-rounder who continues to develop nicely and probably could become a staple of Detroit’s middle six.

Detroit has pretty nice balance in the system, though it still lacks a true No. 1 goaltending prospect. That’s not to say that some of the goaltenders in the system can’t develop into one, as there are a number of players with solid upside, including Filip Larsson and Jan Bednar. But they’re going to require patience.

Breakout candidate for 2020-21: Albert Johansson
Potential NHL impact in 2020-21: Yevgeni Svechnikov

Continued (paywall); here’s Peters’ list of the Wings’ top 10 prospects:

Continue reading ESPN’s Peters ranks Red Wings’ prospect pipeline as NHL’s 5th-best

Carolina Hurricanes announcer Tripp Tracy recently had Mickey Redmond as a guest on his “Digging in with Tripp” podcast…

And Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels spoke with Fox Sports Detroit’s Brooke Fletcher on “The Third Half” last night:

The Red Wings’ “second group” is on the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center this afternoon:

Second group today at #RedWings camp:
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha
Namestnikov-Filppula-Gagner
Hirose-Rasmussen-Smith
Pearson-Criscuolo (11 forwards)
Staal-Nemeth
Merrill-Stecher
Hicketts-Lindstrom pic.twitter.com/7bk5X7XFrR— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 4, 2021

Photo gallery! Guess who’s back… back again… https://t.co/S21BMOahi0 #redwings #hockey #trainingcamp #nhl #nhl21 pic.twitter.com/o71cH52Kn1— David Guralnick (@DavidGuralnick) January 4, 2021

Jeff Blashill says the Red Wings are considering using Anthony Mantha on the PK this season. He’s been repping on the PK in a couple practices so far, which could give the Red Wings an interesting element in that phase of the game with his length— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) January 4, 2021

Troy Stecher made a 35 road trip to move from Vancouver to Detroit — it was him and with his Bernese Mountain dog, Phoebe. Stops in Montana, Minnesota and Madison along the way to break up the drive.

“She was a trooper,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of her.”— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) January 4, 2021

Vladislav Nametnikov talked today about playing for the same team as his uncle, Slava Kozlov, whose photo is among those on the wall in the Red Wings dressing room. pic.twitter.com/4YHItSX1ib— Mike Foss (@MikeFossWXYZ) January 4, 2021

Continue reading Training camp Tweets, Day 4, ‘Second Group’

Red Wings forward Robby Fabbri spoke with the media for eight-and-a-half minutes today:

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Full sound from Robby Fabbri on day four of #DRWTC » https://t.co/dsDMXJlegr pic.twitter.com/UUccNrwfcM— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 4, 2021

The Fourth Period posted an article in which Marc Staal’s possible impact upon both the Red Wings’ blueline, and, quite possibly, the team’s trade deadline possibilities, are discussed:

“It’s been a good couple weeks,” Staal said Sunday during a video conference with the media. “I came down with my family around the 15th and had Christmas here. They’re back home in Connecticut right now. It’s been a lot of fun coming to the rink. The last few days have been tough practices; guys work hard, some good energy around the rink. So, I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m excited to be here and be a part of this thing, and I’m looking forward to getting through camp and getting the season off on the right foot.”

The Red Wings finished last in the NHL standings last season by a considerable margin and Yzerman added a number of pieces, including Staal, to help change their fortunes around while still going through the process of a rebuild.

In addition to Staal, the Red Wings added defenceman Troy Stecher and Jon Merrill, forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov, and goaltender Thomas Greiss.

According to Staal, there doesn’t appear to be a concern over last season’s performance in the first few days of camp.

“I don’t feel like this is a group that’s ready to prove something and not repeat what happened last season,” he said. “You can feel that energy in the room, with the guys.”

Continued

Quick update: I’m trying really hard to come back after a week’s worth of being curled up in bed with a sustained anxiety attack. I was able to go out last night to run a couple of errands, and today I just felt that it was important for me to push as hard as I could and see what would happen coverage-wise.

I’m sorry about the last week’s worth of delay, but my anxiety and depression are, despite therapy, psychiatry and medication, still “moderate to severe,” and I have to fight through them every day to work on this blog. I try not to complain and try not to whine and moan, but the sense of persistent anxiety in particular is always present, and it has been for my entire life.

I don’t know how long I’ll be able to “go” for the next couple of days, but I’ll do my best to attempt to “return to normal” (whatever that is) as soon as my imbalanced brain chemistry allows me.

Thank you very, very much for your understanding during this time, and as always, thank you for your time and your readership. I’m hoping that 2021 will bring some new content, but for today, it’s about getting through a moment at a time.