Month: August 2021

Darren Helm discusses joining the Avalanche

Former Red Wings forward Darren Helm held a conference call with the Colorado Avalanche’s media corps today, and the Denver Post’s Mike Chambers spoke with Helm about his decision to leave the Red Wings’ organization after 14 years:

Helm hoisted the Cup at age 21, and after 14 seasons with the Red Wings, he hopes to hoist it again next summer at age 35.

“My first year, it was a great experience. Loved every part of it,” Helm said Wednesday on a Zoom call.  “We missed another opportunity in ’09 and then it’s been a cold drought for the last (12) years. Really looking forward to (being) part of this team.”

Helm signed a one-year contract worth $1 million last Thursday with the Avs, a day after free agency began. He’ll likely step in on the fourth line and serve as a primary penalty killer, effectively replacing Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, 36, who signed a two-year, $2 million deal with Tampa Bay last week.

Helm’s 744 career regular-season games with Detroit rank 17th-most for the Original Six franchise.

“Mixed emotions. Been here for a long time,” Helm said about leaving Detroit — likely for just one year. “I’ve raised a family here. I’m sure this will be home for my family when we’re done. (But) when I heard the news that everything had happened (with Colorado), I was extremely excited. Just really looking forward to playing with the Avs and being on a contending team.”

Continued

Monroe: Toledo Walleye re-sign Marcus Vela

From the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

The Toledo Walleye have re-signed Marcus Vela, a forward who appeared in 49 games for the team in 2019-2020.

Vela finished with 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points with the Walleye as a rookie.

The 24-year-old from Burnaby, B.C. played last season for the Florida Everblades after the Walleye opted out. He appeared in 29 games, producing nine points with five goals and four assists.

Toledo coach Dan Watson said Vela brings versatility to the team.

“He has the ability to play up and down the lineup, both center and wing as well,” Watson said. “Marcus adds value off the ice with his preparation and willingness to get better each day. He gained valuable experience playing last season in Florida and we look forward to working with him again.”

Continued

The Athletic’s Wheeler posts an exhaustive Canadian summer showcase notebook

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler spent this past week in Calgary, Alberta, where Hockey Canada is headquartered. The Canadians chose not to participate in the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI, holding their own Under-18 and Under-20 camps.

Wheeler posted a set of notes regarding each and every one of the NHL-drafted participants in said camp, and his assessments include two Red Wings prospects:

G Sebastian Cossa: Fiery. Confident. Talkative. Doesn’t like to get beat. Sound on shots that he could see and a little wayward when he had to make the second save or things got scrambly (he’s very athletic but he needs to learn to control those pushes a little better). That’s Cossa. He was good without being lights out in the first two games but struggled mightily in the finale (surrendering eight goals) and got beat five-hole a few times, so I’m planning to keep an eye on that.

LHD Donovan Sebrango: I think Sebrango knows that if he’s going to make the team, it’s likely in a complementary bottom-three shutdown type of role and he really dug into that in camp. He identified and hit some small seams with tough passes. But he mostly just ate blocks and played a thorny, in-your-face physical style that seemed to rub some of his opponents the wrong way.

Continued (paywall, with a World Junior Team projection);

I have a feeling that Cossa is going to have a bumpier time at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament than one might think because he’s going to be playing against some of the best prospects in the world under 24 years of age;

As for Sebrango, he is a complementary, shut-down defenseman right now, but the word on the street is that his physicality is impressive.

HSJ in the morning: discussing Bobby Ryan’s future

The Athletic’s Ian Mendes suggested that Bobby Ryan would be moving on from the Red Wings on UFA Day, and, thus far, anyway, the Wings haven’t made a move to reacquire Ryan’s services.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James suggests the same as Mendes did this morning, all while answering a mailbag question:

Ryan, who turned 34, turned out to be a no-risk gamble that didn’t yield the hoped-for results, producing 14 points in 33 games. When it came time this offseason to assess whether any of his pending unrestricted free agent forwards should be re-signed, Yzerman went with Sam Gagner, a slightly younger (32 on Aug. 10) former high-end pick (sixth, 2007). Both he and Ryan shoot right. Gagner, originally acquired by Yzerman at the 2020 trade deadline, had seven goals and 15 points in 42 games. His 0.36 points-per-game clip was a smidge below Ryan’s 0.42, but Gagner had a minus-4 rating to Ryan’s minus-14, and Gagner can play both special teams, whereas Ryan was limited to the power play.

With Ryan not being re-signed, the Wings don’t have any top-six forwards who shoot right. That’s not ideal, but the bottom line is, the Wings took a chance on Ryan, and the results unfortunately just weren’t there.

St. James continues (paywall); I wouldn’t completely rule out the Red Wings signing one more forward, but my gut feeling is that Ryan will indeed move on.

Alex Nedeljkovic’s ‘pro read’ up on InGoal magazine

InGoal Magazine offers its members a “Pro Read” from Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic today, discussing some of the save selections “Ned” made as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes:

Continued (paywall)…

Allen on Theodor Niederbach’s positional future

When Team Sweden coach Tomas Monten spoke with the media at the World Junior Summer Showcase last week, he was a little uncertain as to where Theodor Niederbach fit in with the Swedes’ team.

Niederbach, who dominated in the under-20 league as a center, is probably going to play as a winger on the Frolunda Indians’ men’s team (to help him adjust to men’s league play with fewer defensive responsibilities), so, as the week continued, Niederbach was listed as center, but played more and more on the wing.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of Monten’s comments to myself and The Athletic’s Max Bultman regarding Niederbach’s positional preference:

“We like him as a center because he is skilled and he can move the puck and control the game,” Sweden coach Tomas Monten said.

The Red Wings drafted him as a center and probably prefer he develops as one. Niederbach won’t know where he will play in Frolunda this season until he arrives at their training camp.

Monten believes Niederbach can transform himself into an NHL center “if he gets stronger and quicker.”

“But maybe from the beginning maybe it would be better if he started on the right wing and took steps from there,” Monten said. 

Continued; Monten’s most succinct comment regarding Niederbach’s struggles this past week was a blunt one:

 “He’s one of the guys who can set-up a power play, but he wants to hold onto it just a little bit too much,” Monten said. “He wants to do too much.”

From what I witnessed at the WJSS, Niederbach needs to simplify his game and make demonstrative plays in a quicker fashion. Whether that happens on the wing or at center is going to be up to his coaches.

Update: Here are Monten’s remarks:

Winged Wheel Podcast interviews Red Savage

FYI:

?New episode is live, ft. RED SAVAGE!?️

Tune into “BERTUZZI’S FUTURE & @Rsavey49 INTERVIEW” wherever you get your podcasts! ?

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Check us out on YouTube & go to https://t.co/I5KxwYGL8F! #LGRW— Winged Wheel Podcast (@WingedWheelPod) August 3, 2021