Month: August 2021

Dylan Larkin gives Bultman a health update

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin had to miss the end of the 2020-2021 regular season after being grazed on the neck by a cross-check from Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn. While Larkin avoided surgery for his neck injury, he was limited in his mobility for a good chunk of the offseason.

As such, his report to The Athletic’s Max Bultman regarding his health, while the Power Edge Pro camp visits Detroit, is all good news:

“I feel great,” Larkin said. “Kind of a little blessing, I think, with how my summer’s been — it’s been a lot of rehab, a lot of recovery. I think I needed that.”

In reflecting on the 2020 offseason, Larkin said he thought he might have overdone it a bit while pushing himself so hard during the extra-long, pandemic-induced offseason. (The Red Wings were one of just seven teams that were in their offseason for 10 full months between 2019-20 and 2020-21.)

This time, he was forced into a period of recovery, and as Larkin now gears up for the start of the 2021-22 campaign, he said he’s feeling “refreshed and ready to go.”

The exact timeline, however, is still unfolding, with contact an obviously important benchmark.

“It’s something that is weekly, daily, it depends — I just have to still be cautious,” Larkin said. “I’m trying to push myself to be ready, and I think I will, but there’s still a little bit of an unknown with how everything’s going to respond. But so far, it’s looking good and I’m excited.”

Continued (paywall)

Dan Bylsma lands with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers

Per NHL.com’s Andy Eide and TheAHL.com’s Patrick Williams:

The Kraken have added Andrew Allen as goalie coach and Dan Bylsma as an assistant for AHL Charlotte— Andy Eide (@AndyEide) August 10, 2021

Seattle has announced that former NHL head coach Dan Bylsma will be joining Charlotte as an assistant coach

Bylsma will work with Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear, who is employed by Florida. Charlotte will have a dual affiliation with Florida and Seattle this season.#AHL pic.twitter.com/zuXK3ZqjiC— PATRICK WILLIAMS (@pwilliamsAHL) August 10, 2021

Bylsma won the Jack Adams Award in 2011 with Pittsburgh.

For 2022-23, Seattle is expected to have a full AHL affiliate operating out of the Palm Springs area.#AHL— PATRICK WILLIAMS (@pwilliamsAHL) August 10, 2021

The @SeattleKraken have named Dan Bylsma as an assistant coach with the AHL’s @CheckersHockey.

?: https://t.co/T9cqMdytyy pic.twitter.com/Da6qA6mSiI— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) August 10, 2021

DetroitRedWings.com’s Berenter breaks down the Wings’ forward lineup

With the Red Wings’ roster all but set for the 2021-2022 season, DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter has filed a report discussing the Wings’ “Reset” for this upcoming season, first focusing on the forward group:

The Red Wings have a bevy of players listed at center going into training camp, which gives the club flexibility to slot a handful of forwards into different wing positions while remaining strong up the middle.

Detroit’s No. 1 center is Dylan Larkin, who’s coming off his first season as Red Wings captain, in which he earned 23 points (9-14-23) in 44 games before suffering a season-ending neck injury on April 20.

The Wings’ captain avoided offseason surgery and is progressing with his rehab as he prepares to begin his seventh NHL campaign. Larkin celebrated his 25th birthday on July 30 and he’s on pace to be a full participant in training camp as he continues evolving into a complete, two-way player.

“The biggest key for Dylan is to be as great a two-way player as humanly possible,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “If your best players are those great two-way winning players, it starts to build towards being a winning hockey team. Dylan knows that. He’s worked extremely hard at it over the six years we’ve been together. His work ethic and compete level is second to none.”

Other returning centers include Robby Fabbri, Vladislav Namestnikov and Frans Nielsen, as well as re-signed centermen Sam Gagner and Michael Rasmussen, who agreed to new deals before free agency began in July.

Continued; as Berenter notes, the Wings don’t have many left wings or right wings currently signed, but with Adam Erne and Givani Smith sure to be re-signed before trading camp, the depth charts on PuckPedia and CapFriendly look solid, with Detroit having both the cap and roster space to invite a player or two to training camp on pro tryouts if they wish.

Summarizing the media’s takes on the Jakub Vrana contract

The Detroit Red Wings reached a contract agreement with forward Jakub Vrana less than 24 hours before tomorrow’s scheduled arbitration hearing, just as yours truly was laying down for a necessary nap at 11:30 AM.

The 3-year contract breaks down as follows…

The Red Wings still have Adam Erne (who’s scheduled for arbitration on August 21st), Filip Hronek and Givani Smith to re-sign before training camp begins in mid-September.

In my opinion, the Red Wings gave Vrana a very fair market-value contract for a 25-year-old who’s established himself as a 15-to-20-goal-scorer, but in case you want me to cast a wider net, here’s a survey of the rest of the media’s takes on Vrana’s re-signing:

  1. I thought that Sportsnet’s staff did a very nice job of framing Vrana’s deal:
Continue reading Summarizing the media’s takes on the Jakub Vrana contract

Red Wings extend Jakub Vrana for three years at $5.25 million

Per PuckPedia:

Here’s the Red Wings’ press release:

RED WINGS AGREE TO TERMS WITH JAKUB VRANA ON THREE-YEAR DEAL  … Winger Produced 11 Points in 11 Games after Trade from Washington …DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today agreed to terms with left wing Jakub Vrana on a three-year contract.

Vrana, 25, was acquired by the Red Wings in a trade with the Washington Capitals on April 12 and combined for 36 points (19-17-36), a plus-10 rating and 10 penalty minutes in 50 games between the two teams. In 11 games with Detroit, Vrana racked up 11 points (8-3-11) and made history with a four-goal game on April 22 vs. Dallas, becoming the 26th player in Red Wings history to score four-or-more goals in a game and the second player in franchise history to record a hat trick within his first four games of joining the team (along with Jud McAtee on Nov. 22, 1944 vs. NY Rangers). It was also one of just three four-goal outings in the NHL during the 2020-21 season. Vrana also tied for sixth in the NHL with seven game-winning goals, three of which came in his 11-game stint with Detroit.

The 6-foot, 197-pound winger has skated in 295 career games between Detroit and Washington, totaling 168 points (84-84-168), a plus-37 rating and 69 penalty minutes over five NHL campaigns. Vrana is coming off the two best point-per-game seasons of his career, including a career-best 52 points (25-27-52) in 69 games during the 2019-20 season. In his first full NHL season in 2017-18, Vrana helped the Capitals to a Stanley Cup championship, posting 27 points (13-14-27) in 73 regular-season contests and chipping in eight points (3-5-8) in 23 playoff games. Vrana was originally drafted by the Capitals in the first round (13th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft – two picks prior to Detroit’s selection of Dylan Larkin at 15th overall.
A native of Prague, Czech Republic, Vrana also skated in 88 games with the AHL’s Hershey Bears from 2014-17, registering 75 points (35-40-75), a plus-21 rating and 48 penalty minutes in addition to 20 points (10-10-20), a plus-eight rating and eight penalty minutes in 38 playoff games. Vrana spent the previous four seasons developing in Sweden, where he debuted professionally with Linkoping in the Swedish Hockey League in 2012-13 and logged 27 points (14-13-27) and 14 penalty minutes in 73 games until 2014-15. He also racked up 58 points (35-23-58), a plus-11 rating and 77 penalty minutes in 59 games in the top Swedish junior league. Vrana was a regular on the Czech Republic national junior teams, recording 20 points (14-6-20) in 18 games at three-straight IIHF World Under-18 Championships (2012-14) and six points (3-3-6) in 16 games at three-consecutive IIHF World Junior Championships (2013-15). He also played for his country at the last two IIHF World Championships, where he was teammates with fellow Red Wings Filip Hronek (2019 and 2021) and Filip Zadina (2021), combining for nine points (6-3-9) in 16 games between the two tournaments.  

Toledo Walleye single-game tickets to go on sale this Friday

The Toledo Walleye Tweeted out the date on which their single-game tickets will go on sale this morning, and if you follow the link, there are details regarding Walleye events and promotional nights at the Huntington Center:

Single game tickets go on sale this Friday, August 13 at 11 a.m. ?

? https://t.co/bmmS3TzK0z pic.twitter.com/cMxP19fKkp— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) August 10, 2021

Roughly Translated: Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg tells HockeyNews.se that he’s lined up a defensive partner for Simon Edvinsson

According to HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek, the Frolunda Indians believe that the Red Wings won’t bring Simon Edvinsson over to North America this upcoming season, so Frolunda has lined up a mentor for the Red Wings draft pick as Edvinsson prepares to skate his first full season in the SHL. Here’s a rough translation of Ek’s article:

Frolunda hopes to keep the top prospect–gets a masterful mentor

Frolunda hopes and believes that the Detroit-drafted top prospect Simon Edvinsson will remain in the SHL this season.

Therefore, head coach Roger Ronnberg has acquired the best possible mentor in Frolunda for Edvinsson.

The NHL-veteran and fresh SHL champion Christian Folin is intended as the defensive partner for Simon Edvinsson, 18.

Folin himself played with Frolunda as a junior before he went to North America, where he played in 244 NHL games for Minnesota, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Montreal.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg tells HockeyNews.se that he’s lined up a defensive partner for Simon Edvinsson

Two things: on free astute free agency signings, present and past

Of brief Red Wings-related note this Tuesday morning:

  1. The Red Wings earned a nod for Steve Yzerman’s free agency work via NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz, who suggests that the Wings’ signing of Pius Suter may provide significant value for Detroit…

2. Pius Suter, Detroit Red Wings (2 years, $6.25 million). It is surprising that the Blackhawks, a team that is lacking forward depth, could not find a use for Suter. Instead they opted not to tender him a qualifying offer and allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent. The Red Wings got him on a two-year deal to add some much needed skill to their forward lineup. Is he a star? Probably not. But he could be this year’s Anthony Duclair — a talented, young forward that did not get tendered as a restricted free agent and found a new home somewhere else.

Gretz continues;

2. And in the free agency category, “All time” version, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a list of five of Ken Holland’s best signings. I think #3 on his list earns a mention here:

Steve Duchesne, D (1999): Journeyman defenseman Duchesne took a significant haircut to join the Wings in 1999. He signed a one-year deal for $1 million. That was much million lower than than the career-high $3.75 millon he was earning the previous season with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Duchesne signed two subsequent one-year deals with the Wings. Each was for $1.6 million. In a tandem with Chris Chelios, they ended up forming a stellar second pairing behind Lidstrom and [Fredrik Olausson] on Detroit’s 2001-02 Cup-winning squad.

The fact that Duchesne gave up his front teeth in Game 4 helped sway my memory…

Khan discusses Vrana’s arbitration case

After Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed the significant gap between the arbitration “asks” of Jakub Vrana and the Red Wings, all ahead of Wednesday’s salary arbitration hearing in Toronto, MLive’s Ansar Khan examined Vrana’s case for his requested $5.7 million salary:

Vrana is asking for $5.7 million per season and the Red Wings are offering $3.65 million, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

The arbitrator can award any figure in between. Since Vrana filed for arbitration, the Red Wings can choose a one- or two-year deal through arbitration. They surely will opt for one year, so that Vrana remains a restricted free agent next summer, as opposed to two years, which would take him to unrestricted free agency in 2023. But the sides can agree to a longer term as well.

Vrana, 25, is coming off a two-year contract valued at $3.35 million a season. He tallied 19 goals and 36 points in 50 games, including eight goals and 11 points in 11 games with Detroit following a trade from Washington.

Vrana over the past four seasons has compiled 81 goals and 162 points in 274 games, averaging 14:01 in ice time. Mantha during the same time frame has 80 goals and 163 points in 246 games, whole averaging 17:54 in ice time.

The Red Wings signed Mantha to a four-year, $22.8 million contact in November ($5.7 million average value).

Continued; as Khan notes, Adam Erne’s arbitration hearing is scheduled for August 21st, and the Wings still have to re-sign restricted free agents Filip Hronek and Givani Smith.