Month: February 2021

The Athletic’s Max Bultman offers 10 observations regarding the Red Wings’ 2020-2021 campaign some 10 games into the regular season, and his question as to what happens when the Wings’ COVID-related absences return is particularly significant:

As those players do return from injuries come off the COVID list, however, some big roster decisions will need to be made, with four forwards and a defenseman coming back into the lineup.

And that will be especially interesting when it comes to Detroit’s younger players. At forward, Michael Rasmussen, Givani Smith and Taro Hirose have all made individual cases to stay: Hirose for his feel on the half wall to help the struggling power play; Smith for his energy, forechecking, and the goal he set up to Larkin Sunday; and Rasmussen for his physicality down low, which has only been helped by improved skating. Rasmussen and Smith also have two assists each in their past three games, while Hirose has two in his past four.

Can any of them hold onto a spot over Frans Nielsen or Darren Helm when the full set of forwards return? Handicapping it now, Hirose’s power-play upside may be the most enticing, because of how glaring a need that is for Detroit. But all three have arguably earned longer looks, and Smith made arguably the best statement  Sunday.

Continued (paywall), including this one:

It’s been hard this season to get a feel for the temperature of the locker room without being in it, so take this one cautiously, but while it’s safe to assume the Red Wings aren’t pleased after losing their sixth straight, they didn’t seem lost or panicked after this series, either — even going into a series against the Stanley Cup champs.

“We sat around for 11 months, man,” Blashill said. “We want these challenges. We’re not taking any game for granted, and the record isn’t good enough, but we’ve got a chance to change it on Wednesday. So let’s go out and try to change it.”

The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers posted a massive article this morning which ranks the NHL’s 31 stadiums, per fan rankings thereof, and Little Caesars Arena came in 9th place due to its good atmosphere, strong sight lines, and…expensive prices:

9. Detroit (Little Caesars Arena): 8.14

Atmosphere: 7.15 (23rd)
Sight lines: 8.81 (14th)
Food options: 8.49 (1st)
Convenience: 7.44 (19th)
Location: 7.82 (16th)
Appearance: 9.05 (5th)
Unique touches: 8.18 (8th)

“While many fans seemingly entered a stage of mourning when the team left the Joe, I was stoked. The LCA is a state-of-the-art entertainment venue and a great for children, adults (bars and drink options), and those needing accessibility options to access and experience the game. I’ve been to over 40 arenas and stadiums in pro sports and the LCA and Truist Park (Atlanta Braves) rank above the rest on this all-around criteria.”

“Replacing the atmosphere of The Joe is hard, but I think the LCA is on its way to getting to that point once the Red Wings develop a better team that will draw the crowds.”

“LCA has been such an unfortunate stadium so far in its early days. Having a terrible team sure doesn’t help, but I think the rankings I had are brutally honest. The parking options are OK, but they charge $35-plus and even more if you’re parking at the arena. The food options are meh. I mean of course you have to have Little Caesars, but at double or triple the price. The restaurants that were built on the outside are good, so that makes up for the lack of options inside the arena. I think the most crippling thing LCA lacks are the hotel options close to the arena.”

“LCA is a beautiful building, despite its cheesy name. The atmosphere will never replace the Joe, but hopefully it comes close once the team is competitive again. The goal horn sucks, along with some bad music selections in game. Having an organist is a cool touch, though. If the Ilitch family follows through on their long-delayed promises of development around the arena, it could be a really special place in the city when the team returns to contention.”

“Sight lines knocked because you can’t see the main scoreboard from behind gondolas in the nosebleeds. Suites are amazing. They put the bathrooms right across the hall to dramatically improve sight lines and space in each.”

Continued; the arena is beautiful, but paying $40 for parking is absurd.

The Grand Rapids Press’s Steve Kaminski penned an article discussing Red Wings prospect Evgeny Svechnikov’s desire to rebound from an up-and-down 2019-2020 campaign marred by recovery from major knee surgery. This season, Svechnikov, a 2015 first-round pick, is focused on playing the best he can with the Grand Rapids Griffins, and coach Ben Simon is determined to help Svechnikov make the NHL at some point:

“Nothing has really changed,” Svechnikov said. “I’m focused on myself, what I can do first of all. There are things I can’t control and can’t get frustrated over. I just want to be myself every day. That’s who I am, working hard coming in and being professional and doing every single day right and focus on getting better. The time will come. I have to believe and keep grinding and focus on myself. That’s my mindset.”

Svechnikov is a 24-year old native of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia. Svechnikov has played in 20 games spread out over three seasons with the Red Wings, scoring twice and recording two assists. He missed the 2018-19 season after tearing an ACL in preseason.

“He has been through a lot,” Simon said. “Obviously, two years ago missing and entire season due to his knee injury and working his tail off to get back playing. This year, he is coming back to Grand Rapids after clearing waivers.

“Our job as a staff is to help him realize his dreams, if and when this opportunity is afforded to him that he goes up there and the next chance he gets he makes the most of it. But mentally, he is in a great spot, and physically, he looks great. He’s stronger than he’s ever been, and we are just looking forward to just getting him back into the games.”

Continued

I’ve got a sort of good news-bad news situation here, per HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek and the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation: the next stage of the Euro Hockey Tour, a set of tournaments played by Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia, is set to be held in Malmo, Sweden on February 11-14.

During that time, Red Wings prospect and Farjestads BK defenseman Albert Johansson will represent Sweden at the Beijer Hockey Games, but Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren did not make Sweden’s roster this time around.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James and MLive’s Ansar Khan filed early-morning articles in which both columnists discuss the Red Wings’ belief that their Sunday effort against the Florida Panthers was something to build upon–in no small part because the team’s COVID protocol players will return shortly.

St. James weaves good news into her game recap…

“We played better hockey over the course of these two games than we did the second night in Dallas and the second night in Chicago, but at some point we have to find ways to win.,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We have to find a way to win these close games. These are the games I’ve talked about that we have to be in in order to be successful. We are not going to win games 5-1, so we have to find ways to win these close games.”

That effort will get a boost as five players are expected to exit from COVID-19 protocol in the coming days. Blashill said Robby Fabbri and Adam Erne, who have not played since the first two games of the season, should be available to practice Tuesday. (Monday is a day off.) Sam Gagner and Jon Merrill may also be available for Wednesday’s game against defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay. Filip Zadina is expected to be available for Friday’s game.

The Wings came into the season feeling good about having two scoring lines, but that took a hit when second-liners Fabbri and Zadina became unavailable.

The Wings were in good shape after Sunday’s first period thanks to an energetic, physical start and a goal from Dylan Larkin. For a team that had gone 0-for-11 on power plays the previous two games, to see the units even create scoring chances on two advantages was a stark difference.

“The power play looked good,” Blashill said. “If you can have those power plays consistently, you are going to score. Our zone entries were really good. We had opportunities to score. That’s what you want.”

And Khan offers this from Blashill, again, weaving good news into his recap:

“All we can do on Tuesday is look at the film, learn from the film, have some meetings and then get better and try to win a game (Wednesday) against the defending Stanley Cup champions. We sat around for 11 months. We want these challenges. The record isn’t good enough, but we got a chance to change it on Wednesday, so let’s go out and change it.”

On the bright side, several players not available during this 0-4-2 slide due to COVID protocol will return this week. Blashill said Robby Fabbri, Adam Erne, Sam Gagner and Jon Merrill should be available for Wednesday’s game and Filip Zadina for Friday’s contest.

These players were in the lineup when the Red Wings started 2-2 and were optimistic that their solid play up until that point was repeatable.

The Red Wings played well enough to win both games against the Panthers, outplaying them five-on-five. But they lost the special teams battle, going 0 for 7 on the power play while yielding four power-play goals to Florida.

“We out-chanced them and didn’t win. That’s disappointing,” Blashill said. “I thought given the circumstances, back-to-back and (Tyler Bertuzzi, day-to-day with an upper-body injury) out and not everybody 100 percent, we played really hard. We played good enough to win but we have to find a way to win these close games.”