Month: January 2021

Wings offering fan bids on 250 tickets per home game

As mentioned earlier today on Twitter, and as announced by Daniella Bruce on The Word on Woodward, Red Wings are offering fans the opportunity to bid on one of 250 “socially distanced” tickets to every remaining home game, with the proceeds benefiting the Detroit Red Wings Foundation. If you’re interested, the Wings posted a Tweet to their auction website here:

Nice mask, ‘Bernie!’

Via Detroit Sports Nation, Red Wings goaltender Jonathan Bernier’s 2020-2021 season goalie mask has been unveiled officially by David Gunnarsson, a.k.a. DaveArt, on Instagram:

Prospect round-up: Brattstrom wins again in Finland; Setkov plays 20+ minutes with AIK

Of prospect-related note in Europe:

In the Finnish Liiga, Victor Brattstrom stopped 18 of 19 shots as KooKoo defeated the Lahti Pelicans 3-1;

Eemil Viro finished even in 16:10 of ice time as TPS Turku won 3-0 over IFK Helsinki;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Malte Setkov had an assist, finishing at -1 with 3 shots taken over the course of 24:32 played during AIK’s 4-3 win over Almtuna;

And William Wallinder had an assist, finishing at -1 with 2 shots in 11:58 played, and Theodor Niederbach finished at -1 with 3 shots over the course of 12:26 played as MODO Hockey lost 5-3 to Sodertalje SK.

Red Wings and Stars practice news/Tweets: Stars, Wings’ lineups (Larkin) in flux going into Thursday’s remach

On the heels of last night’s 2-1 Dallas Stars OT win over the Detroit Red Wings, our friends from Dallas took to the ice at the American Airlines Center for practice around 11 AM CST. Dallas may receive a roster reinforcement or two on Thursday, and Jamie Benn would be a big addition to the Stars’ roster:

Jamie Benn (lower body) and Blake Comeau (COVID protocol) are on the ice at practice today. Roope Hintz (lower body) is not.— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) January 27, 2021

But one never knows whether the injury gods giveth or taketh…

The Wings also made a roster move for roster moves’ sake on Wednesday, reassigning Givani Smith and Taro Hirose to the taxi squad. Both players are likely (presuming nothing changes during Detroit’s practice around 12 PM CST) to be recalled for Thursday’s rematch.

Anyway…

Continue reading Red Wings and Stars practice news/Tweets: Stars, Wings’ lineups (Larkin) in flux going into Thursday’s remach

‘The Word on Woodward’ moves to Wednesdays at 12 PM EST today

From the Red Wings:

Today’s episode features a recap of yesterday’s Red Wings game vs. Dallas and interviews with WXYZ Detroit’s Brad Galli and FSD’s Ken Daniels.

Today’s episode features a recap of yesterday’s Red Wings game vs. Dallas and a Tigers update as A.J. Hinch gives his outlook on the team.
Plus, WXYZ Detroit’s Brad Galli, Tigers outfielder Akil Baddoo and FSD’s Ken Daniels join us for interviews!

Wings engage in a little roster maintenance, reassign Hirose, Smith to the taxi squad

The Wings are just minding their P’s and Q’s here, ensuring that their taxi squad has enough players so they don’t have to call anyone up from a Grand Rapids Griffins team that doesn’t officially exist until next Friday:

UPDATE: Forwards Taro Hirose and Givani Smith have been assigned to the #RedWings taxi squad.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Both players are likely to be recalled for Thursday’s game against the Stars. This is a paper transaction.

Some power rankings and a bit of a ramble

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan posted a set of power rankings this morning, and the Red Wings are, perhaps unsurprisingly, bringing up the rear of the rankings due to their 2-4-and-1 record. That being said, Kaplan does see some positives for the Wings in the play of Mr. “Prove It Season”:

31. Detroit Red Wings

Previous ranking: 28
Record: 2-4-1
This week: @ DAL (Jan. 28); vs. FLA (Jan. 30, Jan. 31)

The Red Wings’ blue line got a significant overhaul this season, but forward Bobby Ryan has made the biggest early impact. The veteran became the first player in franchise history to score four goals in their first three appearances with the team.

Continued; I would argue that Ryan still has more to give. He needs to keep his feet moving a little more and go to the front of the net on a more consistent basis.

He got the feel-good goals early, but his game is more complete than he’s been able to display thus far, and I hope that he can improve as he acclimates to the Red Wings’ systems of play and personnel (see also: Vladislav Namestnikov, who scored a goal last night).

It is also important to remember that the Wings are a 2-4-and-1 team in no small part because they 1) revamped their roster significantly and 2) are without six guys due to COVID protocols and injuries (Filip Zadina, Robby Fabbri, Sam Gagner, Jon Merrill and Adam Erne are all out due to the coronavirus, and Darren Helm is injured).

That’s no excuse for the Wings’ record, but those two factors do help build an explanation as to why they’ve been so starved for offense (especially on the power play).

Morning Khan, HSJ: Building from a defensive template

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a subscriber-only article this morning, discussing the Red Wings’ belief that their 2-1 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars is, in its own way, a blueprint for success for the upcoming season:

“It’s critical that we play this way,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “In the Columbus game we won in overtime (Jan. 21), there were very few chances both ways. That’s the way we’re going to have to play. We’d love to create tons of chances and not give many up, but if we’re giving up lots of chances it’ll be hard for us.

“We got to make sure we’re a team that’s really good defensively, that protects that critical ice inside the (face-off) dots, that’s good structurally, and then we get our offense from having the puck more. We still got to find ways to create more offense, but it starts by making sure we’re good on the defensive side of the puck.”

Luke Glendening wasn’t satisfied with one point but was pleased with his team’s work ethic and compete level.

“We would love to score more goals, but we got to make sure we’re tight defensively and limit their chances as best we can to give ourselves the best opportunity to win on a nightly basis,” Glendening said.

Continued, with praise for Givani Smith (paywall); I don’t think that the Red Wings executed anywhere near the level that they need to in all three zones, offensively, defensively, or on special teams last night…

But Blashill and Glendening have a point.

Update: The Free Press’s Helene St. James found that Vladislav Namestnikov made a similar point:

Continue reading Morning Khan, HSJ: Building from a defensive template

Red Wings-Stars Game 1 wrap-up: This is what progress looks like?

The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the 3-and-0 Dallas Stars on Tuesday evening, and the entire season’s worth of frustration for the 2-4-and-1 Red Wings could be summarized in the ways in which Troy Stecher, Anthony Mantha and Vladislav Namestnikov were hemmed into a tiny triangle of players on the Stars’ OT-winning goal:

That’s the Red Wings this season. They have more talent, they have more grit and determination, they’ve got more poise–at times–but they don’t have the self-confidence to get in the shooting or passing lanes as the Stanley Cup Finalist Stars work the puck deep, nearly lose the puck, regain control, cycle and find a top shelf shooting angle because the team isn’t on the same page, nor are the players on their different pages demonstrative enough to get shit done.

That’s not a bad thing, per se. The concept that a 2-4-and-1 team views losing to the Stars in overtime, after blowing a horrible game to Chicago on Sunday, as a disappointment is a big step forward in the expectations department.

Continue reading Red Wings-Stars Game 1 wrap-up: This is what progress looks like?