Month: September 2021

Updated 2x at 1:09 PM: The Detroit Red Wings announced that Jakub Vrana needs surgery to repair an injured shoulder, and that he’ll be out for 4 months as a result.

MLive’s Ansar Khan reveals that Vrana’s shoulder issue was a nagging injury:

Coach Jeff Blashill said Thursday that Vrana had been bothered by shoulder pain in the offseason but was hoping to play through it. He reaggravated the issue 10 minutes into his first on-ice workout in training camp on Sunday.

“He’s had some issues with it. Went through the summer rehabbing it and ultimately re-aggravated it,” Blashill said. “Unfortunately, it was the first practice. It could have happend three weeks into the season. Ultimately, surgery is the last option. Jakub thought he could get through the season and unfortunately he couldn’t.”

So, what happens now?

“A guy like Bobby Ryan, Lucas Raymond or Joe Veleno, do they make the team? Is there a more direct avenue?” Blashill said. “With the two young guys, they’re going to have to play great. Bobby is going to have to play great. But if they play great, there’s an avenue there for them.”

Veleno is a center, but Blashill indicated there is a path for him to make the roster as a winger.

…

They have a spot open among their top six forwards. For now, the top line consists of Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Zadina and the second line Suter and Fabbri.

“We have unknowns in our top six, and you don’t necessarily win with a top six you win with a hockey team, 12 forwards who can play,” Blashill said. “Ultimately, we’re going to have rely on depth than just one or two pure high-end guys. There’s a lot of guys that haven’t necessarily proven that they’re top-six players. That doesn’t mean it can’t be that, it just means they haven’t proven it. The positive thing is we have seven more exhibition games, a lot of games to be able to look at guys.”

Update: Here’s a bit more from the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

Continue reading A bit more about Jakub Vrana’s shoulder injury (which requires surgery) from Khan and HSJ

Red Wings prospect Lucas Raymond and coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Buffalo Sabres (7:30 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com):

According to the Buffalo News’s Mike Harrington, the Buffalo Sabres will dress a rookie goalie against the Detroit Red Wings this evening (7:30 PM on DetroitRedWings.com/WWJ):

The Sabres had initially been planning to split goaltending duties duruing their early preseason games like they did Tuesday in Columbus, when Aaron Dell played the first 30 minutes and Dustin Tokarski finished the shootout victory over the Blue Jackets.

But it’s clear they want to get as much information on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and give the top prospect as much of a chance to make the club as possible. So goalie coach Mike Bales asked Granato to call an audible on the plan. Luukkonen, who looked strong in his one appearance at the Prospects Challenge, will thus play the entire game tonight in Detroit against the Red Wings.

And here are his probable Sabres lines:

Based on morning skate, #Sabres lines for Detroit look like this:
Asplund-Cozens-Thompson
Peterka-Ruotsalainen-Weissbach
Murray-Malone-Quinn
Warren-Eakin-Hayden
——
Fitz-Davidson
Hagg-Pysyk
Bryson-Butcher
——
Goalies are UPL and Robson

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) September 30, 2021

Update: BuffaloSabres.com’s Jourdon LaBarber confirms:

Here is the full projected lineup:

74 Rasmus Asplund – 24 Dylan Cozens – 72 Tage Thompson
77 JJ Peterka – 25 Arttu Ruotsalainen – 65 Linus Weissbach
57 Brett Murray – 43 Sean Malone – 22 Jack Quinn
42 Brendan Warren – 20 Cody Eakin – 15 John Hayden

8 Robert Hagg – Mark Pysyk
4 Will Butcher – 78 Jacob Bryson
88 Brandon Davidson – 45 Casey Fitzgerald

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 
40 Mat Robson

Red Wings first round draft pick Simon Edvinsson engaged in a lengthy conversation with Hockeysverige.se’s Leo Buttafuoco Olsson today, and here’s a rough translation of their chat:

Edvinsson Grows in Frolunda: “There is no better place to be”

The great talent Simon Edvinsson is predicted to have a very bright future. This past summer, he was selected as the 6th player in the NHL draft, and already the 18-year-old has excelled in the SHL. With Froulnda, he will remain for the rest of the season, with only one goal in sight:

“We will have a Swedish championship gold,” he says to Hockeysverige.se.

Simon Edvinsson is one of Sweden’s greatest talents, which he has demonstrated during the start of the season with Frolunda.

This summer, the 18-year-old was selected as the 6th player in the NHL draft by the Detroit Red Wings, and the goal is to one day join the team, but first and foremost, his focus is on achieving success at home.

“It feels good and fun that it’s finally started. Glad that I got to play in front of an audience, and now the restrictions have been removed, so it will be a lot of fun to experienced a packed Scandinavium [stadium]. It’s positive and right now it feels really fun,” he says to Hockeysverige.se.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Simon Edvinsson speaks with Hockeysverige.se

The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena ahead of tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres (7:30 PM EDT on the Red Wings’ website and/or YouTube channel)…

Morning skate at LCA ahead of tonight’s preseason home opener vs. Buffalo pic.twitter.com/6Y0lLnMQdm

— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) September 30, 2021

Good morning ???#LGRW pic.twitter.com/S50UweGKkL— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 30, 2021

We didn’t receive any lineup news from the skate, but Lucas Raymond will be making his preseason debut, per WXYZ’s Jeanna Trotman and Brad Galli:

Lucas Raymond said he’s looking forward fo playing tonight at @LCArena_Detroit in front of the home crowd- said he’s been dreaming of this day since he got drafted. pic.twitter.com/5kCkZoSmyw— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) September 30, 2021

Lucas Raymond said he’s extremely excited for his Red Wings preseason debut pic.twitter.com/3JiUDNqNKU— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 30, 2021

And DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears confirmed that both Moritz Seider and Raymond will play tonight:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres morning skate Tweets of note: Vrana to have surgery; Raymond, Seider to make preseason debuts tonight

Crap:

Jeff Blashill says @VranaJakub will have shoulder surgery and is expected to be out for 4 months.— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) September 30, 2021

Jeff Blashill confirms Jakub Vrana will undergo shoulder surgery and miss a minimum of four months— John Niyo (@JohnNiyo) September 30, 2021

Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana is having shoulder surgery.

He will miss at least four months, Jeff Blashill said.— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 30, 2021

Jakub Vrana needs shoulder surgery. Out at least 4 months.— Ethan Sears (@ethan_sears) September 30, 2021

Jakub Vrana will have shoulder surgery and miss a minimum of four months. Huge blow for the Red Wings— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 30, 2021

So, yes, Bobby Ryan probably earns a spot on the Wings’ roster with Vrana gone. And, suddenly, Raymond, Berggren and Veleno are one step closer to a call-up.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 30, 2021

pic.twitter.com/PRDywkeqXU— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 30, 2021

From the Toledo Walleye:

(Toledo, OH) – Forward Brady Tomlak has agreed to terms with the Toledo Walleye for the 2021-2022 season.

Tomlak, a native of Oakland, MI, played his first pro season with the Wheeling Nailers in 2020-21, appearing in 61 games with 21 points (8G, 31A). The 61 games played tied him for the team lead. The 25-year-old spent four years at Air Force Academy that included a three-year run with Walleye goaltender Billy Christopoulos.

He appeared in 144 games for the Falcons from 2016-2020 while scoring 27 goals and collecting 52 assists while collecting 141 penalty minutes and playing as a plus-24. In the 2019-20 season he was named AHA Best Defensive Forward and helped Air Force to a pair of AHA Championships in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Good on ya, Turner:

Turner Elson will have a new look this year, as the man with the best flow in the league got a hair cut and donated his cut hair to Locks of Love, who provides custom-made hair prosthetics to disadvantaged children who have suffered hair loss as a result of medical conditions. pic.twitter.com/UnmTjUx9F1— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) September 30, 2021

pic.twitter.com/GQ0KDycMwy— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) September 30, 2021

It’s a trio of articles from The Athletic this morning as the publication asked its 32 respective NHL writers to name a possible “breakout candidate” for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, with Filip Zadina earning a nod from Max Bultman:

Detroit Red Wings: Filip Zadina: Zadina rounded out his game last season to become better off the puck, which should help him create more offensive chances via turnovers. The goals haven’t come as quickly as some expected on his draft day, but he’s still a highly talented scorer and passer and, with top-six deployment all year, should take the next step offensively. -Max Bultman

Continued; I believe that both Filip Zadina and Filip Hronek’s respective levels of success this upcoming season involve managing their levels of self-frustration (as I said throughout training camp). Both players are incredibly hard on themselves when they miss a shot or lose a battle for the puck, and if they can battle through their own self-doubt, they will excel.

Also: yes, it’s “just time” for Zadina to excel. He’s 21 now and between his maturity and likely top-six role, the time is now for Zadina to grab the bull by the horns.

The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro and Harman Dayal ranked the NHL’s 32 broadcast teams for a subscriber-only article this morning, utilizing over 5,000 fan responses to a survey for their rankings, and the Wings’ TV broadcasters earned a relatively high rating:

8. Detroit Red Wings

The broadcast: Bally Sports Detroit carries Red Wings game, with Ken Daniels handling play-by-play and Mickey Redmond handling most games as the color analyst.

Local ranking: 7 National: 12 Last season: 23

The results: A big riser in the rankings — jumping from 23rd to eighth is impressive — but it’s even more impressive in doing so on a network, Bally Sports, that took a ton of criticism across the board in all markets.

The chemistry between Daniels and Redmond stands out to both Red Wings fans and national respondents, many of whom also were quick to point out how fun the Detroit broadcast can be, even with a team that hasn’t been very fun to watch lately.

“Mickey Redmond is delightfully zany but also very knowledgeable about hockey and generally very fair in his analysis.”

“Mickey Redmond and Ken Daniels somehow make it fun to tune in and watch the rebuilding Red Wings.”

As with most great local broadcasts, nationally there is a bit of homerism viewed by respondents, which is why the Detroit broadcast ranks higher locally than it does nationally.

The bottom line: A fun, bit homerish broadcast, that does help make up for the lack of a competitive product on the ice.

Continued; [sarcasm] Oh no, homerism, that never happens on other broadcasts! [/sarcasm]