Month: August 2021

FYI, from the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS PARTNER WITH PACIOLAN
Paciolan to Provide Industry-Leading Digital Ticketing Technology to Elevate the Fan Experience

IRVINE, Calif. & GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Paciolan, a leading provider of ticketing and marketing solutions for live entertainment, has partnered with the Grand Rapids Griffins in Grand Rapids, Mich., to power the team’s new ticketing solution. Paciolan will provide comprehensive digital ticketing and marketing solutions for all Griffins events at Van Andel Arena.

The celebration of 25 seasons of Griffins hockey (1996-2021) was put on ice last season due to the COVID pandemic, but this fall the Griffins expect fans to be able to return to Van Andel Arena in full force. The upcoming season will include various festivities and exciting promotions to honor the franchise’s first quarter-century.

“The Griffins are excited to partner with Paciolan for our team’s ticketing needs starting in 2021-22. Paciolan is an industry leader and provides fan-friendly, mobile ticketing technology. In addition, Pac offers a host of marketing tools and sharing of industry best practices which will drive increased exposure and ticket sales for our franchise,” said Tim Gortsema, president of the Griffins.

Here’s more:

Continue reading Press release: Grand Rapids Griffins partner with Paciolan for digital ticketing

Very briefly: Hockeysverige.se’s Rasmus Kagstrom and Hockeynews.se’s Henrik Sjoberg report that the Swedish junior national team is going to shake things up after a so-so showing at the World Junior Summer Showcase, icing 18 new players for the late-August “Four Nations Cup.”

Coach Tomas Monten wants to see whether a different group of Swedish junior players can produce a better result, and Wings 2021 draft pick Liam Dower Nilsson is part of the roster.

Update: Here’s a bit more on Dower Nilsson from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

Sweden’s national junior team just got back home from the World Junior Summer Showcase. Monten will be taking almost an entirely new lineup to the upcoming Four Nations Cup in the Czech Republic.

There are 18 new players on the Swedish roster who weren’t in Plymouth, Mich. for the WJSS. Among the news faces in the selections is Detroit Red Wings draft pick Liam Dower Nilsson.

Dower Nilsson is viewed as a strong two-way center whose strength as a player right now is in his defensive game.

“He’s another high character kid,” said Mark Seidel, director of the North American Independent Central Scouting Bureau. “The coaches raved about him. He’s very smart defensively and can shut down the other teams top players. Not a ton of offense but he will get the most out of his talent.”

Dower Nilsson invokes the name of former Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg when assessing his own game.

The NHLPA has revealed its salary arbitration dates for the 17 players who filed for a arbitration this past weekend, and Jakub Vrana’s hearing is scheduled for the earliest available date, Wednesday, August 11th, while Adam Erne’s hearing will take place ten days later, on Saturday, August 21st.

FYI:

First hearings are set for Aug 11 with Adam Pelech (NYI), Michael McNiven (MTL) & Jakub Vrana (DET). Negotiations can continue, and a deal can be struck as late as right before the hearing begins. https://t.co/rCOXGqfZGL— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) August 5, 2021

The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers spoke with Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman regarding the team’s decision to allow three unrestricted free agents (Vinnie Hinostroza, David Kampf and Pius Suter) test the UFA waters last week, and Bowman revealed that the Hawks did try to keep all three players, but Chicago was hampered in its pursuit by its proximity to the salary cap’s upper limit:

The Blackhawks did try to re-sign Vinnie Hinostroza, David Kampf and Pius Suter. All three players were made offers by the Blackhawks, and all three rejected those offers and tested free agency.

“Most of those decisions were primarily salary-cap related,” Bowman said. “We wanted to bring these players back. You negotiate with their agents and looking at where the numbers were as far as where we felt comfortable paying them and where they were looking in the market. There wasn’t really a match. When that happens, the players find roles elsewhere. That’s not that uncommon to have forwards move from team to team.

“We certainly made an attempt to keep them here but at the same time, I think some change is good for our forward group and I think looking forward, I like the look of our team right now and the players we have. We’ve got a fair amount of talent.”

Kampf signed a two-year contract with a $1.5 million cap hit with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hinostroza joined the Buffalo Sabres on a one-year, $1.05 million contract. Suter signed the biggest deal as he agreed to a two-year contract with a $3.25 million cap hit with the Detroit Red Wings.

Continued (paywall) with mostly Hawks stuff; it’s nice to be the team with cap space to poach a young player from a historic rival once or twice…

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox examines the respective contract situations of 10 restricted free agents this morning, and Red Wings RFA Filip Hronek, who did not have arbitration rights, ranks highly on his list:

7. Filip Hronek
Age: 23
Position: Defence
2020-21 salary cap hit: $714,166
Arbitration rights: No

Bargaining chips: 2017 Calder Cup champ. 2019 Red Wings rookie of the year. Team Czech staple who won Best Defenceman at 2019 worlds. Puck-moving, right-shot defenceman yet to reach his ceiling. Led team in points (26) and assists (24) this season. Logs 23:23 per game. Improved discipline and defensively during platform year.

The latest: Fantasy managers know: Hronek is that rare Red Wing worth hanging onto, even during the mighty franchise’s patient rebuild.

“A year from now, Filip Hronek’s up and we’ll extend his contract,” promised GM Steve Yzerman back in October, during an appearance on 97.1 The Ticket.

As recently as the 2021 trade deadline, when he dealt away Mantha, Yzerman highlighted Hronek as a core member of a roster he’s slowly building back to prominence.

Detroit is flush with cap space, so Hronek should surface this summer with more term than any of his teammates. Yzerman was prudent in managing his internal cap in Tampa, so the bar he sets with Hronek will be one worth watching.

Continued; I’d gather that Hronek will sign a bridge deal in the $3 million range, but that’s just an educated guess at this point.

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn offers a list of the teams which he believes have improved the most over the course of the short 2021-2022 offseason, and the Red Wings rank highly on his list, not only for their additions, but also their subtractions:

From New Jersey to Arizona, a look at which teams have improved the most and least this offseason: https://t.co/iAxfddJCA6 pic.twitter.com/wBIKnn3rDA— dom at the athletic (@domluszczyszyn) August 5, 2021

7. Detroit Red Wings

Wins Added: 2.2 wins

Salary Added: $5.8 million

In: Alex Nedeljkovic, Pius Suter, Nick Leddy, Jordan Oesterle, Mitchell Stephens

Out: Jonathan Bernier, Richard Panik, Dennis Cholowski, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm

One massive addition is driving Detroit’s standing here and that’s potential goalie of the future Alex Nedeljkovic. He was lights out in 23 games last season and Carolina’s loss is Detroit’s gain between the pipes. There isn’t a lot of data to go off, but based on what he’s shown to date (and a heavy dose of regression) the model is a big fan of Nedeljkovic. He’s projected to be a pretty sizeable upgrade over Jonathan Bernier.

The rest isn’t much, but they’re all upgrades to the team’s depth. Nick Leddy had a nice bounce-back last season and provides a boost to Detroit’s defence, while Pius Suter proved in his rookie season he can be a responsible middle-six center. In addition by subtraction news, losing Luke Glendening and Darren Helm also helps.

Continued (paywall)

Knocking the contracts out, one at a time: the Red Wings have re-signed Chase Pearson to a one-year deal after a spectacular season with the Grand Rapids Griffins:

UPDATE: The #RedWings today re-signed center Chase Pearson to a one-year contract. pic.twitter.com/iata8K7ADx— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 5, 2021

Here’s the press release:

Continue reading Red Wings re-sign Chase Pearson for one year

In the I-Wish-I-Could-Embed-This department:

Kukla’s Korner posted a video that TSN aired regarding Sebastian Cossa’s tendency to “chirp” his teammates and rivals; digging around on TSN today, I found another video in which TSN’s Mark Masters and Craig Button praise Cossa’s abilities in goal, and suggest that the Red Wings prospect (who they list at 6’7!”) is poised to be dominant in this year’s World Junior Championship in Edmonton.

Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner posted an article in which Streamable’s Michael King revealed that Bally Sports has to renew its rights to broadcast NHL and NBA games…

Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said during the company’s 2Q 2021 Earnings Call on Wednesday that the company remains committed to launching a direct-to-consumer Bally Sports App in the first half of 2022, but they have another streaming deal to worry about.

Ripley said streaming rights for the NBA and NHL on the Bally RSNs were up for renewal in the coming months. These are to continue offering TV Everywhere access via the Bally Sports App.

Despite this, he was confident of Sinclair’s position, pointing out that they are the only bidder in place for the digital rights for the two leagues.

“You know we are the only buyer for those, you know, there is no one else they can be sold to,” Ripley said. “So, we have a relatively good position.”

And The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan revealed that Bally Sports plans on advertising in-game sports betting via its Bally Sports App within the next year or two:

Continue reading Via KK and The Athletic: examining Bally Sports’ broadcast model

If there was a disappointing prospect among the Red Wings’ seven skaters at the World Junior Summer Showcase last week, William Wallinder underwhelmed despite playing a strong season with MODO Hockey of the Swedish Allsvenskan.

Wallinder, a 6’4,” 190-pound defenseman, is headed to Rogle BK to help fill the void left by Moritz Seider as the Wings’ best defensive prospect returns to North America; when Team Sweden coach Tomas Monten spoke with the assembled media last week, he discussed the fact that Rogle’s expectations of Wallinder will be very high, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen noted:

“He is real talented,” said Sweden Junior coach Tomas Monten. “The thing for him going forward is to grow up as a man, strength-wise. He’s big, but he’s a little light.”

He’s listed at 193 pounds. “He has the skating,” Monten said. “He has the technical stuff, just getting bigger, stronger and more mature from playing against men and playing against pros.”

Wallander played for Modo last season, registering six points in 43 games. He’s moving to a better team, Rogle, this season. “He’s going to an organization where the demands are very high,” Monten said.

Wallinder’s going to be stepping up from the Allsvenskan to the SHL, Sweden’s best league, and while he looked like a bit of a jumble of skill and elite skating last week, everyone who’s watched him believes that he has the skill set to become a top-four defenseman, assuming he gets his game in order:

Continue reading Allen: discussing William Wallinder’s strengths and weaknesses