Month: August 2021

Early August is charity golf tournament and charity softball game season for hockey players and coaches. As such, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the Big Rapids Pioneer’s John Raffel while attending a charity golf event raising funds for his alma mater, Ferris State University.

Blashill discussed the addition of Pius Suter to the Wings’ lineup, Darren Helm’s departure, and he said this to Raffel about the timeline of the Red Wings’ rebuild:

Blashill said the Red Wings are headed in the right direction.

“How quickly, I don’t know that answer,” Blashill said. “We get to answer that question on a daily basis this season. We’ve gone through some lean years where it’s been hard. But I think we’ve learned some lessons though it. How big the steps are, I think we’ll see.

“Let’s make sure we have a great first day of camp. That’s the bigger focus. We have to take things day by day and make sure we’re getting better. I know that sounds like a cliché but that’s a reality of sports and a reality of life.”

Continued; Blashill also had this to say to the 9 and 10 News’s Tyler Dreisenga:

Blashill also talked about the excitement of returning to Traverse City for the NHL prospects tournament and training camp.

“First, that means the world is a little more right than it was last year,” Blashill said. “Second, Northern Michigan holds a dear place in my heart having grown up in Sault Ste. Marie. My sisters live in Traverse, my parents both live in Traverse. Probably more importantly, I understand the fans we have on the west side of the state and it really gives the west siders access to our players and to seeing our camp start. So I think it’s a great thing.”

The Red Wings will hold training camp in Traverse City from September 23-28.

Here’s a Tweet from Driesenga of Blashill speaking about Pius Suter:

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill talked with media today at the Ferris State Hockey Golf Outing. I asked him about Detroit's free agent signings, including center Pius Suter. Suter scored his first three NHL goals in a hat trick performance vs. the Red Wings in January. @MISportsNow pic.twitter.com/XtsDvFAhWU

— Tyler Driesenga (@tdriesenga3) August 7, 2021

This evening, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen ranked the Red Wings management’s offseason moves, from 1 to 10, with work left to do in re-signing the restricted free agents left on the docket (Adam Erne, Jakub Vrana, Filip Hronek and Givani Smith). Numbers one and two have to do with the Wings’ goaltending:

1. Trading for Alex Nedeljkovic: The Red Wings have a collection of rebuild problems, but lack of a young, premium goaltending prospect was probably chief among them. He solved that in extraordinary way by acquiring goalie Nedeljkovic, who was finalist for NHL Rookie of the Year. He had 15 quality starts last season in 23 appearances for the Carolina Hurricanes. His 1.90 goals-against average and .932 save percentage speak to his potential to be Detroit’s goalie for years to come.

At 25, Nedeljkovic is still young enough to be the team’s No. 1 goalie when the team’s rebuild is completed. The bonus of this trade is that Yzerman only gave up a third-round pick and the rights to Jonathan Bernier, who wasn’t going to resign in Detroit.

2. Drafting Sebastian Cossa: Yzerman moved from No. 23 to No. 15 in the draft to take Cossa, who is a fiery, 6-foot-6 goalie with overflowing talent. While many in the scouting world were crowing about Jesper Wallstedt, the Red Wings focused on Cossa. They liked Cossa’s potential more. He’s a trash-talking, cocky netminder who believes strongly in his ability to stop the puck.

The Red Wings only gave up a second rounder and a fifth rounder to the Dallas Stars to get this done. With Nedeljkovic aboard, the Red Wings have no reason to rush Cossa.

Continued; Bob Duff also wrote a subscriber-only article for Detroit Hockey Now on this humid Saturday evening, discussing the fact that the Red Wings are not going to simply hand out roster spots to their top prospects:

Continue reading A pair of articles from Detroit Hockey Now: Allen ranks the Wings’ offseason moves, and Duff talks about the Wings’ next generation

I’ve tried to not hammer home my take on the coronavirus and vaccination, but as someone who is probably recovering from long-haul COVID and is living with an immune-compromised aunt, I strongly believe that those of you who are able to get vaccinated need to protect both yourself and others by getting vaccinated…

As we’re seeing in society and sports, however, there is a lot of vaccine hesitancy and misinformation about the concept of vaccination in itself, and the New York Post’s Larry Brooks offers a one-sentence question that’s very valid in his weekly notebook today:

So if COVID-19 outbreaks persist into the autumn, won’t the NHL have to maintain taxi squads for a second year in order to ensure clubs have enough players to play in case of a rash of game-day positive tests?

Regardless of where we are as a society, we are going to be living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future, and, as we’ve seen this summer, virus mutations are going to yield breakthrough cases, even among the most forward-thinking NHL teams. It’s entirely possible, if not probable, that NHL teams are going to find themselves scrambling to contain outbreaks going forward into the 2021-2022 season.

Alex Wood, a.k.a. AWood40 on YouTube, has posted a set of highlights from Robby Fabbri’s 2020-2021 season:

When Sam Gagner re-signed with the Red Wings, he spoke about his desire to mentor the Red Wings’ younger players. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of the 31-year-old Gagner’s remarks:

Selected sixth overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2007 NHL entry draft, Gagner spent his first seven seasons with the Oilers as they rebuilt from the ground floor. He’s seen that process from the point of view of an incoming NHLer. Now that he’s a veteran skating in a similar scenario in Detroit, Gagner is drawing upon those lessons as he seeks to mentor young Red Wings through the same situation.

“It allows me to see it from a different perspective and kind of help our young group coming up,” Gagner said. “A lot of the things they’re going to go through early in their careers I’ve been through.

“I was a high pick in Edmonton, one of the guys that was kind of expected to help turn things around. You learn a lot about yourself and there’s a lot of growth that comes with that.

“Handling that adversity has made me a better person. It helps in the situation that I’m in now, being able to kind of impart some of that on our young group.”

Continued

Via Kukla’s Korner, it doesn’t sound like Red Wings fans will be able to get autographs from players during training camp, nor that the Red Wings’ “Community Tour” will take place this fall. Per The Athletic’s Michael Russo:

With COVID-19 cases on the rise, the NHL sent a memo to all clubs this week prohibiting all organized corporate, community and charitable interactions with fans (handshake lines, fist bumps, autograph sessions, speaking engagements, etc.)— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) August 6, 2021

The NHL and NHLPA will continue to monitor vaccination rates/surge in variants as the offseason progresses to determine if a modification is needed as camp approaches.— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) August 6, 2021

Told @DaBeautyLeague in Minnesota is seeking further questions from the NHL, but this would seem to indicate at the least protocol changes will need to be made. No more autographs, etc.

Also, media must be vaccinated and wear masks during interaction with any club personnel— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) August 6, 2021

Seeking further info* that should read, obviously ?— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) August 6, 2021

The Athletic’s Max Bultman and Corey Pronman engage in a thought experiment this morning, attempting to discern what the Detroit Red Wings’ 2025-2026 season roster might look like.

So as to not spoil the soup, here’s a chunk of the introduction to the article:

Once a year, after the draft and free agency have settled, we take a look into our crystal ball to track the progress of the Red Wings’ rebuild.

The premise is simple enough: because of the development road even top prospects must travel, it can be hard to see the future of a rebuilding team take shape when the NHL roster isn’t reflecting some of the major moves an organization is making. By looking years down the line, it’s much easier to see how all the pieces might fit together in time.

And after a draft that saw the Red Wings make two picks in the top 15 and a third in the top 40, there have been some significant potential additions to the team’s future since we last broke out the crystal ball in November.

Bultman continues at length (paywall); I’m not as enthusiastic about predicting what the Red Wings’ roster of tomorrow will look like, mostly because prospect development is such an incredibly inexact science, but this is a fun read…

Okay, a little tease:

The blue line is where the Red Wings have invested the lion’s share of their early draft capital under Yzerman, and both of these projections show the potential upside of that decision: four years from now, Detroit could plausibly have a defense corps entirely composed of early-round picks in their mid-20s.

Some veteran presence may be needed here, but Filip Hronek will be a seasoned pro by this point and Moritz Seider should have four full years of NHL experience as well. There’s a nice structure to this group, with all of these players having the potential to play on at least one special team and a few with the potential to play on both. There are limited spots on the power play, though, which could be a factor, especially down the lineup.

The main difference between my projection and Corey’s is how to slot Simon Edvinsson.

Continued

This morning, The Athletic’s Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn offer a chat-on-Slack-cut-and-pasted edition of early August power rankings, and the Red Wings fare fairly well on their list, all things considered. Any spelling, punctuation or capitalization issues are…theirs…

26. Detroit Red Wings

Sean 3:06 PM
for the first time in a while, the red wings are going to start a season without one of the bottom two spots in the league on lock. i’m not sure they fully deserve to be in this spot, but I like the fact that Steve Yzerman went out and added a couple legit pieces (in alex nedeljkovic and nick leddy), if only for the team’s emotional well-being. there’s a plan, and they should be rewarded a bit for it.

Dom 3:06 PM
i can see it
i think we’re in another very tight cluster of terrible teams and with the red wings it’s at least easy to see a path forward
which is why i’m going with the senators next

Continued (paywall); there are still a few fires for Steve Yzerman and Jeff Blashill to put out from the Ken Holland era (see: Frans Nielsen[?!?!?]), but the seemingly unending roster turnover of the past two seasons has yielded a leaner, meaner, younger and hungrier Red Wings team.

I’m not predicting a long playoff run for the 2021-2022 Red Wings, but I think that they’ll be demonstrably better than they’ve been over the last few years of the Holland regime, and the first few years of Yzerman’s reign…

The Toledo Walleye didn’t participate in the 2020-2021 ECHL season, but they retained the rights to almost a dozen players, including star goaltender Billy Christopoulos (who played with the ECHL’s Indy Fuel this past season). The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe reports that the Walleye brought Christopoulos back into the fold on Thursday:

Goaltender Billy Christopoulos, who was named to the All-ECHL rookie team in 2019-20, has re-signed with the Toledo Walleye.

Christopoulos, 27, made his pro debut with the Walleye and posted a 23-3-3 record in 2019-20.

In his first pro season, the Air Force Academy graduate led the ECHL with a .932 save percentage, ranked third with 24 wins, and was sixth with a 2.29 goals-against average. He was named the ECHL goaltender of the month in February of that year.

The native of Raleigh had re-signed with Toledo last summer. But the Walleye organization opted to sit out the 2020-21 ECHL season due to the uncertainties created by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m pumped to be there,” Christopoulos said. “I know everybody feels like we have a little bit of unfinished business when we got shut down. We’re all excited to get back to the Huntington Center and listen to [the fans] rock that place.”

Christopoulos said it was the organization as a whole that swayed him to return.

“It really is a first class operation,” he said. “From the top down, management, coaching staff, facilities, and everything in between, it’s a great place to be. And then when you add the fans and atmosphere at the Huntington Center on top of that, it’s hard to beat. We’re really looking forward to getting the season going and picking up where we left off two years ago.”

Continued

This is intriguing stuff, per the AHL:

FORMAT APPROVED FOR 2022 CALDER CUP PLAYOFFS

23 teams to qualify for postseason play next spring

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League Board of Governors has approved the qualification rules and format for the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.

A total of 23 teams will qualify for postseason play when the 2021-22 regular season ends on April 24, with five rounds of playoffs leading to the crowning of a Calder Cup champion.

“Our clubs and their National Hockey League partners recognize the importance of playoff races and postseason experience on overall player development,” said AHL President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Howson. “Expanding the Calder Cup Playoff field will allow some 150 additional players to play more meaningful games in pursuit of a championship.”

Continue reading Press release: AHL to expand Calder Cup Playoffs