Month: August 2021

The Red Wings selected Windsor Spitfires forward Pasquale Zito sight unseen, because the Ontario Hockey League didn’t play actual hockey this past season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a profile of Zito today, and he spoke with Red Wings director of amateur scouting Kris Draper regarding Zito’s “intangibles”:

“Was it hard? Yeah, I mean obviously we haven’t seen him,” said Draper, of the decision to draft Zito. “But I know after we made the selection and we talked to him, he was so excited about getting drafted. He basically said ‘I’m going to do everything I can to make it worthwhile of us obviously stepping up and picking him. That’s pretty neat to hear.”

Zito isn’t the type of player who will light up scoreboards. In 46 games during the 2019-20 season, he had three goals and 10 assists in 46 games, with 27 penalty minutes.

The 6-foot, 175-pound left wing gets into the faces of rivals, likes to agitate and plays with passion.

“He wants to be a hard player to play against,” Draper said  “He wants to compete against the other team’s top players, wants to make a tough net-front presence. Those are the things you like.”

Continued

Dobber Prospects’ Sean Allen offers an examination of the Detroit Red Wings’ prospects this morning, discussing the Wings’ 2021 draft class, the Wings’ top prospects, and Detroit’s offseason moves (thus far):

Moritz Seider, RD

I fully anticipate a debut in the red and white for Seider in 2021-22 and expect that the hype train is just getting going on a player that is wildly dynamic all over the ice. With a straight-up nasty mean streak, responsible defensive awareness, and high-end offensive upside, I have him as a favorite to contend for the Calder as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year.

Get ready Detroit, Seider is enormously fun.

Lucas Raymond, RW

The highly anticipated arrival of Raymond to North America looks to have come. It’s expected that Raymond will at least begin with the Griffins of the AHL before making the NHL leap as he continues to build up his strength physically.

The gifted Swede didn’t blow people away on the scoresheet last season in the SHL with Frolunda but he had a strong campaign nonetheless and showed the elite offensive potential in the World Juniors Championship as a leader for Sweden with five points over five games played.

Look for his high hockey IQ to allow him to adapt very quickly to the smaller ice surface in the AHL.

Continued;

I sort of assumed this was common knowledge by now, but, in case you missed it, former Red Wings prospect Keith Petruzzelli has chosen to play an extra season for the ECAC’s Quinnipiac Bobcats, foregoing his eligibility to sign a contract with Detroit.

As such, Petruzzelli will be a free agent on August 15th, and he attended the Boston Bruins’ prospect development camp last week.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of Petruzzelli’s decision to skate with the B’s:

Last season, Petruzzelli enjoyed a banner campaign as a senior. He was named a Top 10 Finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year. Petruzzelli was also named to the ECAC Hockey First Team ad was a Finalist for the Mike Richter Award and for ECAC Hockey Player of the Year. He was also a semifinalist for the Walter Brown Award. Petruzzelli led the nation in starts (29) and minutes played (1715:45).

Instead of signing him to an entry level pact, the Wings opted to walk way from Petruzzelli’s NHL rights. He became a free agent. None of the other 31 NHL teams are seeking to get his name on a contract. That fact would appear to show that Detroit wasn’t the only team having their doubts about Petruzzelli’s abilities.

Continued; it’s my understanding that the 6’5″ goaltender chose not to sign with the Red Wings, not the other way around.

From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

UPDATE: The Griffins have signed Kevin Lynch to a one-year AHL contract. #GoGRG

More Info >> https://t.co/r33R7fA5QE pic.twitter.com/wHEV3VVlYx— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) August 9, 2021

Lynch is a 30-year-old native of Grosse Pointe, MI who plays wing. He skated for the Laval Rocket for the past two seasons, but he began his pro hockey journey playing for the University of Michigan.

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a profile of Red Wings draft pick Carter Mazur this morning, discussing the Jackson, MI native’s connections to Red Wings director of amateur scouting Kris Draper:

Mazur, a 6-foot, 170-pound left wing, was the captain for the USHL Tri-City Storm, where he experienced a spike in production and growth this past season.

He has a history with Kris Draper, the Red Wings director of amateur scouting, who was once his youth coach.

“He grew up playing Little Caesars all the way from 10 to U-16,” Draper said. “It’s been a lot of fun and I’m proud to watch Carter develop into the player he has. Last year he went into his first year in Tri-City and it’s a big jump. At the time he was maybe 5-9½, 5-10. He’s grown 2-3 inches; he’s put on about 20 pounds. He knows he needs to still get bigger and stronger.

“The interesting thing for me was watching Tri-City and seeing the improvement from Carter from last year to this year. Our area scouts, the reports they were putting in about Carter, talking about the improvement, it was great to hear. We (drafted) Carter in a spot where he deserved it. As we were talking to our scouts, it was a pick we all wanted to make.”

Continued

The Red Wings and Jakub Vrana are relatively far apart in terms of their salary arbitration “asks” ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman:

Arbitration asks for Jakub Vrana (DET): Team, $3.65M. Player, $5.7M. Can still be settled before hearing.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 9, 2021

Update: Here’s a bit of context from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

The $2.05 million difference explains why the two sides are headed toward arbitration. Historically, most cases are settled before they reach an arbitrator. Detroit Hockey Now’s originally projected Vrana’s salary at $4.25 million. If the arbitrator splits the difference between the two proposals, the award would be in the $4.5-$4.7 million range.

Vrana posted 19 goals in 50 games last season, including eight in 11 games with Detroit in 11.  Vrana’s salary was $3.3 million last season.

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski issued free agency grades for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and here’s what he has to say about the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings

Key additions: C Pius Suter, C Mitchell Stephens, D Nick Leddy, G Alex Nedeljkovic

Key losses: G Jonathan Bernier, C Luke Glendening, C Darren Helm, D Dennis Cholowski (expansion draft)

Remaining hole: The Red Wings have the cap space (over $25 million) to pluck some of the contracts that teams might need to shed later in the summer. They also have to do deals with restricted free agent forward Jakub Vrana and defenseman Filip Hronek.

Grade: A. The Red Wings took advantage of a couple of odd decisions by other teams on restricted free agents. The Hurricanes weren’t convinced that Nedeljkovic, a Calder Trophy finalist, had the stuff of a true starting goalie, and they traded him to Detroit. The Blackhawks said there “wasn’t really a match” in contract talks with Suter, walked away and saw the Red Wings snatch him up. Leddy was a salary dump from the Islanders who’ll help their young defensemen.

They also got better by virtue of who left their lineup. It’s still a knee-deep rebuild for Detroit, but it’s very much on the right track. This grade is erring on the side of GM Steve Yzerman (still) being the smartest guy in the room.

Continued (paywall)

More than a few sports columnists in the Metro Detroit area have written columns over the past couple of months which compare the rebuilding efforts of the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Lions, and, of course, the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen believes that the comparisons aren’t apt, and, specifically, the comparisons between the Tigers and the Red Wings run short of Allen’s expectations:

The problem is the Red Wings and Tigers are an apples and oranges comparison.  The Tigers play in a luxury tax league where it is commonplace for ownership to set a budget. The Red Wings are in a salary cap league where the vast majority of teams spend to the cap. To my knowledge, the Ilitch family has not imposed any restrictions on general manager Steve Yzerman’s ability to spend.

If Yzerman wanted to pursue a trade for $10 million Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel, he wouldn’t need special dispensation.

Yzerman’s decision to stay below the salary cap is a strategy, one often employed by rebuilding teams. You maintain salary cap flexibility to take advantage of teams with no flexibility. That’s how landed he landed Nick Leddy and Alex Nedeljkovic this offseason.  That’s why they were in position to land Pius Suter when the Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t fit him into their cap structure.

According to CapFriendly. com, the Red Wings have $25.8 million. However, that number will shrink close to $15 million after signing RFAs Jakub Vrana, Filip Hronek, Adam Erne and Givani Smith.

Yzerman undoubtedly will use that cap space to his advantage during the regular season when other teams are having cap trouble.

Continued (paywall); Allen argues that the lack of blue-chip prospects who are NHL-ready in the Red Wings’ system, combined with a weak free agency class next summer (combined with the salary cap’s spending limitations) all add up to a longer rebuilding timeline for the Wings.

He’s not wrong.

Via Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner/Abel to Yzerman comes this Tweet from the NHL Network, in which Stu Grimson debates whether Henrik Zetterberg and/or Rick Nash should be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame:

You tell us – are Henrik Zetterberg and Rick Nash Hockey Hall of Famers? #NHLTonight | @hockeyhallfame pic.twitter.com/tF8WxLtwMk

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 8, 2021

The Free Press’s Helene St. James examines the Detroit Red Wings’ roster this morning, discussing a possible lineup that the Wings could ice on opening night in October. Here are her second and third forward lines:

Line 2: Jakub Vrana-Pius Suter-Robby Fabbri

Suter has good hockey IQ and hands. Vrana made a terrific impression after being acquired at the trade deadline, pumping 11 points into 11 games. He’s an opportunistic, savvy scorer, and could help Suter as he transitions to a new team. A concussion sidelined Fabbri in early April, but he said in July that he’s fully recovered. He’s been a solid, steady scoring threat since arriving in December 2019, and he adds a nice bit of grit.

Line 3: Vladislav Namestnikov–Joe Veleno-Sam Gagner

Yzerman said in late July that Veleno, who played five games for the Wings after his season in the Swedish Hockey League ended, isn’t a shoo-in for a spot in Detroit. But Veleno looks poised to stake a claim, strengthened by the experience he gained playing for Malmö and by gotten significantly stronger. Gagner is a good fit because he’s a savvy veteran who keeps things calm. Both he and Namestnikov can take faceoffs if needed.

Continued (paywall);