Month: July 2021

The Free Press’s Helene St. James wrote an article discussing the Red Wings’ offseason moves this morning, suggesting that the Wings’ trades for Nick Leddy and Alex Nedeljkovic, the re-signings of Marc Staal, Sam Gagner and signings of Pius Suter and Jordan Oesterle all suggest that Detroit will ice a more competitive team this upcoming season.

She focuses on the comments made by Sam Gagner, who spoke with the media yesterday afternoon, comparing and contrasting Gagner’s remarks with those of Luke Glendening, who left the Wings to pursue a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars:

There will be one noticeable loss in the dressing room, as Luke Glendening’s decade-long tenure with the franchise ended when he signed a two-year, $3 million deal with the Dallas Stars. Glendening, an alternate captain since 2019, called it one of the toughest decisions of his life, “leaving what I’ve known, what’s been comfortable to me. But you never know if you don’t try.”

Gagner didn’t want to try free agency.

“I really enjoyed my time last year,” he said. “Right from the end of the season until now, my thought process was to hopefully be back with the Wings. I’m looking forward to getting back there and getting to work.”

Gagner had seven goals and eight assists in 42 games last season, despite missing two weeks in January after testing positive for COVID-19. He’s a right-handed shot with high-end smarts, and a calming presence. He has been a great resource for first-round picks such as Filip Zadina, as Gagner was the No. 6 overall pick in 2007. Gagner’s career has gone through some turbulence, and that’s part of what makes him so valuable as a mentor.

“I was a high pick in Edmonton and one of the guys who was expected to help turn things around,” Gagner said. “Handling that adversity has made me a better persona and it helps in the situation I’m in now, being able to impart some of that on our young group. You want to be a good hockey player. That’s the best way to help the group. If I can bring my best every night, my voice, it travels a little farther in the room. That’s what I’m focused on, making sure I come to camp ready.”

Continued; I don’t know whether the 2021-2022 Red Wings will make the playoffs in a stacked Atlantic Division, but my hope is that the Wings will be more bearable to watch–and more competitive–as the rebuild kicks into high gear.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted an estimation as to where the Red Wings’ 2021-2022 season roster stands as of July 29th, and he offers this take on where Pius Suter fits into the Wings’ “top six”:

How exactly [his] role shakes out remains to be seen, and will likely come down to training camp, but as things stand now, Suter may very well project as Detroit’s second-line center. Michael Rasmussen may yet give him a run, but Suter showed an ability to bring offense last season, and that’s something the Red Wings badly need high in the lineup.

With that said, there may be a bit of a transition shock in terms of the supporting cast. Suter’s most frequent linemates with the Blackhawks were Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, and Detroit simply cannot match that. It’s also impossible to know how well Suter’s strong debut season will translate to a full 82-game schedule.

But it’s easy enough to envision a world in which Suter plays with scorers Filip Zadina and Robby Fabbri on a true scoring line that could earn favorable offensive-zone deployments, which could help maximize his productivity. And for the short term and relatively low cost the Red Wings paid, he looks like a really strong bet to place.

Continued (paywall)

I’m bleary-eyed from an incredibly long first day of free agency, and my guts are still in flux as I continue to recover from my gallbladder surgery, but I stayed home from the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth to cover the Wings news that would come our way today, and I’m glad I made that decision.

If I may offer a big of a roster projection:

My take on the Red Wings’ free agency moves is that it’s impossible to grade a team that’s not done. Steve Yzerman usually makes one of his rare media appearances after the Wings have made their Free Agency Day moves, and while he was probably watching the WJSS today, we haven’t heard hide nor hair from the Wings’ general manager yet.

That would be telling in itself, but NHL.com, CapFriendly and PuckPedia also all do fine jobs of summarizing fact that the Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins’ rosters are still works in progress (and yes, building both clubs’ rosters are the responsibility of the Detroit Red Wings’ management).

The Wings still have 6 restricted free agents of note to re-sign, in Tyler Bertuzzi (with trade rumblings still swirling around “Bert”), Filip Hronek, Adam Erne, Jakub Vrana, Givani Smith and Chase Pearson.

The fates of several NHL players who played for the Red Wings are still uncertain: Darren Helm, Valtteri Filppula, Bobby Ryan, Evgeny Svechnikov, and AHL’ers Turner Elson, Kevin Gibson and Hayden Verbeek are all unsigned and available as unrestricted free agents.

We already know that the Wings have lost the services of Luke Glendening (to Dallas), Jonathan Bernier (New Jersey), and at the “depth” level, Dominic Turgeon, Joe Hicketts (both to Minnesota), Dylan McIlrath (Washington) and Alex Biega (Toronto), all as unrestricted free agents;

The Wings did retain the services of Sam Gagner and goalie Calvin Pickard prior to 12 PM EDT on Wednesday (and Taro Hirose and Kyle Criscuolo inked two-way deals on Tuesday).

After noon, they brought in AHL defenseman of the year Ryan Murphy and Dearborn Heights native Jordan Oesterle to bolster the blueline, and made a savvy signing in Pius Suter as a second-line center…

But the long story long is that the Wings have 8 forwards signed, 7 defensemen signed (including Moritz Seider), and 3 goalies in Nedeljkovic, Greiss and Pickard.

At the AHL level, there’s a bare-bones Grand Rapids Griffins roster but a glance at CapFriendly or PuckPedia will display a painfully young depth chart’s worth of prospects, and the Wings are going to need more veteran bodies to round out their AHL team.

I fully believe in “running lean” and giving “the kids” as much rope as they can take to make ’em or break ’em, but the management group isn’t going to let “the kids” twist in the wind.

Again, long story long, Wings fans will have to wait until at least the end of Thursday to see where several “fan favorites” end up–both as restricted free agent re-signings and unrestricted free agents–and the roster needs more filling out before we can determine how Yzerman and company “did” during the offseason.

Once Steve Yzerman speaks to the media–and there’s a good chance that he will on Thursday as there are no practices at the World Junior Summer Showcase–we’ll probably have a better idea of what the 2021-2022 Red Wings’ roster will look like, as well as where Helm, Filppula, Ryan and Svechnikov will end up.

We need to know at least most of those things before the captain of the ship gives us the state of the franchise.

The Red Wings lost long-time forward Luke Glendening to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, and WXYZ’s Brad Galli posted a pertinent clip of Glendening explaining why he chose to leave the Wings to chase a Stanley Cup with the Stars:

Luke Glendening is leaving the Red Wings for the Stars.

“This was one of the toughest decisions of my life, leaving what I’ve known and what’s comfortable,” he said. “This opportunity was something I couldn’t pass up on.” pic.twitter.com/Ih7KQCndHr— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) July 29, 2021

Here’s the clip in YouTube form:

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with the coach and GM of the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, who did not play during the 2020-2021 season due to the pandemic, about the Walleye’s 2021-2022 season theme, “Back at Full Strength”:

The Toledo Walleye unveiled a comeback campaign on Wednesday, as the team’s reinvigorated officials expressed appreciation that a return to the ice is finally on the horizon.

With pro hockey on hold in the city for nearly 16 months, the Walleye organization will use the slogan “Back at Full Strength” for its 12th season as an ECHL franchise.

“I’m so excited,” said Neil Neukam, the Walleye’s executive vice president and general manager. “I just can’t wait. We’re going to blow the roof off the place. Sixteen months-plus of not having any sort of hockey … it’s going to be great. You can feel the enthusiasm from the fans.”

Continued; let’s hope that the delta variant doesn’t screw up the Walleye’s plans…

Per the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

The @ToledoWalleye have signed D Gordi Myer and F Brandon Schultz. Myer is a Sylvania native who had signed to play for his hometown team last season. Schultz played at Northern Michigan and will start his pro career in Toledo. pic.twitter.com/NE8pfDsNq8— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) July 28, 2021

The Detroit News’s Nolan Bianchi rather cleverly weaved comments made by Eemil Viro, William Wallinder and Theodor Niederbach, who are all participating in this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, into an article assessing the “how’s” and “why’s” of European prospect development by North American-based pro teams (like the Red Wings):

Because players are typically drafted for a range of different upsides, the pre-NHL goal for prospects is threefold: You want them to maximize their strengths, shore up their weaknesses, and help them reach a level of play that allows for creative luxury to work in tandem with necessary, less attractive plays. 

Whereas an NHL player might retrieve the puck near the half-wall and try to chip it off glass to get it out of the zone, a European player is probably more likely to look for the open pass and try to hit a streaking winger. 

An ideal NHL player will be able to read the situation and perform whichever option is best, which is why it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to pull Wallinder out of the Sweden, for example, and stick him in the more physical AHL while he’s still learning to make read breakouts from his own zone.

“It’s hard to play on a small rink,” Wallinder said. “Back home, we’ve got so much more time. It’s way easier.”

And lastly, a player’s comfort level is important, too. Most of the Wings’ top prospects in Europe aren’t even old enough to drink stateside, which is an important thing to remember when talking about career and personal development. Despite technically being adults, it’s common for prospects to offhandedly be referred to as “kids.”

Continued

The Red Wings’ signing of Pius Suter to a 2-year, $6.5 million deal was an astute signing, and 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield has a bit more about Suter…

In Suter, the Wings are getting a potential piece of their future. He’s a two-way center who played second-line minutes on a Blackhawks team that spent much of last season chasing the playoffs. He flashed his offensive upside with 27 points in 55 games and garnered votes for Rookie of the Year.

5’9 but quick on his skates, Suter figures to assume a second- or third-line center role in Detroit. The Wings needed more depth down the middle after Luke Glendening departed for Dallas in free agency, and Suter fits the timeline of their rebuild. He’s a growing player for a growing team.

As does Dobber Hockey’s Michael Clifford:

In real life, this is a great bet by Detroit. Even with Dylan Larkin, the team is thin at centre. Frans Nielsen is 37 years old and I think they’d rather have Robby Fabbri on the wing. Both Joe Veleno and Michael Rasmussen are potential centres here, but they have to prove something first. At least Suter has two-thirds of a season in, and a good one at that. It gives them the safety of Larkin-Suter at the top and then the younger guys can get in softer minutes down the lineup. And if Suter doesn’t work out, it’s only a two-year deal and they don’t have to worry about his money impacting their young players and available cap space down the road.

Two-thirds of a season isn’t a lot to go off of, but Suter had slightly above-average defensive impacts and that’s pretty good for a rookie on a bad defensive team. Add that to his offensive puck-possession game, and I’m getting the feeling this is a true two-way centre in the making.

Suter seems to have a good transition game and a developing defensive game that is already average. At worst, that seems like a third-line centre, particularly on a rebuilding team. He was good on the power play too, though Chicago did have a lot of talent. Nevertheless, if he can bring some PP spark to a team that needs it, that could be big for them, too. He looks at least like he’ll be a goal-scoring centre, so at worst I think a smaller, slightly worse Jeff Carter. In a full year with 18+ minutes a night, he has 25 goals in his sights and could easily push 30.

The Wings have the help on the, erm, wings, too. They have Fabbri, Bertuzzi, Vrana, Zadina, and maybe even Mason Raymond. There will be talent for Suter to play with both at 5-on-5 and on the power play. I truly believe that if things go right for him this year, he can get 30 goals and 55 points. He won’t bring much peripherals besides some shots, though. Expect less, around 25 goals and 45 points.

Pius Suter is a fine middle six center on a fair deal pic.twitter.com/9HGZDxuTW0— dom at the athletic (@domluszczyszyn) July 28, 2021

After Luke Glendening signed a 2-year, $3 million contract with the Dallas Stars, he spoke with the media regarding his decision to leave his hometown Red Wings, and MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Glendening’s remarks:

“It was probably one of the toughest decisions of my life, leaving what I’ve known, what’s been comfortable to me,” Glendening said. “But you never know if you don’t try.

“Obviously, going to miss the people, the fans in Detroit. I’ve created some unbelievable friendships here. I grew up in Grand Rapids, so to have my friends and family be so close was great, but really excited for this opportunity in Dallas. It’s something I couldn’t pass up on.”

Glendening, 32, has spent nearly his entire hockey career in the state, playing four years at Michigan and then signing with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.

He has a connection to Stars general manager Jim Nill, who was the longtime Red Wings assistant GM in charge of Grand Rapids when the Griffins won the Calder Cup championship with Glendening in 2013.

“When I first got to Detroit, we were still battling to stay in the playoff hunt,” Glendening said. “Last couple years have been hard. I’m really excited. I have a chip on shoulder, and I think these guys do, and that’s part of the reason I thought it was a great fit.”

Continued

The Red Wings posted videos of the press conferences held by Sam Gagner and Jordan Oesterle this afternoon, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan took note of Gagner’s remarks regarding his 1-year, $2 million contract…

“It was kind of my intention all along (to stay in Detroit), I really enjoyed my time last year,” Gagner said. “Right from the end of the season until now, it was my thought process to hopefully be back with the Wings and really excited to get done.”

Gagner is a respected veteran presence in the locker room, and his influence among the many young Wings’ forwards was something the organization didn’t want lose.

“You need veteran players to help lead the way, but you have to be able to play,” Gagner said. “I still have a lot of game left. I kind of found myself in a new role last year that I really enjoyed, being able to play on the penalty kill and power play, kind of anywhere in the lineup in different positions is something that I will consider an asset.

“I’m just kind of looking forward to getting back there and helping the team grow any way I can.”

And the Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of Oesterle’s comments about signing a 2-year contract with his hometown team:

“It’s something I dreamed about since I was a little kid,” Oesterle said. “We had season tickets to Joe Louis. I feel there’s minutes for me to be able to grab. They have a lot of very skilled, young defensemen and then some older guys that kind of are teaching them the ways, and I’m kind of right in the middle gap. So I think it’s a great place for me to join and hopefully grab a role and grow with it.”

Oesterle, 29, has 65 points and a minus-37 rating in 252 career games. He went undrafted out of WMU, where he was teammates with DeKeyser from 2011-13 and won a CCHA championship in 2012. Oesterle debuted in the NHL in 2014-15 with the Edmonton Oilers, where he played 25 games over three seasons. He appeared in 55 games with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017-18, then joined the Coyotes. His best offensive year came in 2018-19, when he had six goals and 20 points in 71 games with Arizona.

Oesterle got married July 16, and the prospect of where he might play next came up when he chatted with DeKeyser.

“We talked about it being a possibility, and luckily it worked out,” Oesterle said. He didn’t let his parents know until it was official. “I kept it on the backburner, didn’t let them know until it came true. They were very pleased and excited to have my wife and I come back home.”

Update: Here’s more from Oesterle via Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

Continue reading Kulfan, St. James offer highlights from Gagner and Oesterle’s Zoom calls