Month: September 2021

Impressions from the Red Wings’ 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the 2021 prospect tournament

Oh, man, this was a frustrating one.

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects dropped a 5-2 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, and it was a difficult night all around for the Red Wings’ youngsters, who stand at 1-and-1 going into tomorrow’s tournament finale opposite the Columbus Blue Jackets (6 PM EDT on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel).

Despite Lucas Raymond’s pair of goals, Sebastian Cossa, perhaps as expected, had a bit of a bumpy outing as the big, mean and talented Blues pounded upon the Wings from the opening faceoff, and the Blues built up a 3-1 first-period lead that they would never relinquish as Cossa found his sea legs.

Things got worse for the Wings in the injury department as Jonatan Berggren and Patrick Curry took heavy hits and left the ice in pain, with Berggren finishing out the first period and then sitting out the rest of the game. Joe Veleno at least told the media that he was going to speak with Berggren post-game, but coach Ben Simon had no updates on the prized center…

Continue reading Impressions from the Red Wings’ 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the 2021 prospect tournament

Red Wings lose 5-2 to the St. Louis Blues at the 2021 prospect tournament

The Detroit Red Wings lost a hard one, dropping a 5-2 decision to the St. Louis Blues at the Red Wings’ 2021 prospect tournament on Saturday night.

The Wings also lost Jonatan Berggren to injury after he took a hard hit behind the Blues’ net in the first period. He got up funny, finished the period, but did not return.

Sebastian Cossa gave up 5 goals on 30 shots against; Lucas Raymond (unassisted, and from Joe Veleno and Jared McIsaac) scored for Detroit.

Duff profiles Chase Pearson

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a profile of Red Wings prospect and Grand Rapids Griffins center Chase Pearson, noting that Pearson has a “sounding board” in his father, long-time NHL’er Rob Pearson:

Every so often amidst the heat of action, a figurative light bulb will go on over Chase Pearson’s head. A moment he’s been drilled for is unfolding and thanks to the experienced advice of his father, Pearson’s preparedness enables him to deal with the matter at hand.

“Yeah, he’s pointed quite a few things out,” notes Detroit Red Wings center prospect Pearson, the son of former NHL forward Scott Pearson. I won’t go into specifics, but there are times, maybe in a shift, where a play comes along and I go, ‘He told me this might happen.’

“Every game is different but that’s happened a few times. It’s almost an ‘Ah ha!’ moment if you will.”

When people utter the expression “been there, done that,” this is what they mean.

Continued

Prospect round-up: Frolunda trio connects for a goal; Johansson, Kivenmaki post assists in SHL, Liiga

Of prospect-related note from Europe today:

In the Swedish J20 league, William Wallinder didn’t register a point in Rogle BK’s 7-3 win over Farjestad, but he finished at +1 with 3 shots;

In the SHL, Albert Johansson had an assist, 2 shots and finished at -1 in 15:51 played as Farjestads BK won 5-3 over the Malmo Redhawks. Jesper Eliasson backed up starter Henrik Haukeland.

IceHockeyGifs snagged Johansson’s assist…as well as some discussion of Johansson’s potential…

Elmer Soderblom scored the game-winning goal, finishing at +1 in 8:32 played as Frolunda HC won 2-1 over Lulea Hockey.

Simon Edvinsson had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 15:32 played, and Theodor Niederbach finished at +1 with 1 shot in 8:34 played.

As you might imagine, IceHockeyGifs had some clips from the game:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Frolunda trio connects for a goal; Johansson, Kivenmaki post assists in SHL, Liiga

Here are the Red Wings and Blues’ rosters for tonight’s game

From the Red Wings, regarding tonight’s game vs. the St. Louis Blues (7 PM EDT on The Red Wings’ YouTube channel):

So, for the Red Wings, that’s:

Forwards:

Lucas Raymond–Joe Veleno–Jonatan Berggren

Cross Hanas–Chase Pearson–Kirill Tyutyayev

Patrik Curry–Pasquale Zito–Cameron Butler

Luke Toporowski–Cooper Walker–T-Bone Codd

Defense

Jared McIsaac–Alex Cotton

Donovan Sebrango–Mason Ward

Adam Brubacher–Oscar Plandowski

Goaltenders:

Sebastian Cossa

Jan Bednar

NBC Sports posts a Red Wings season preview

Good stuff from NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz here:

Best-Case Scenario: This still is not going to be a playoff team. Not with that roster. Not in this division. But they can take some steps. The ideal situation for the Red Wings this season is that Nedeljkovic proves he can be a consistent starting goalie in the NHL and they see significant progress from players like Filip Zadina, Filip Hronek, Jakub Vrana, and Seider. The playoffs are still an unrealistic expectation right now, but this many years into a rebuild there should be some progress toward that.

Worst-Case Scenario: It would be a lack of progress and another finish near the bottom the league standings. This still is not a particularly deep roster but there are some players that need to start establishing themselves as core building blocks. The worst case scenario would be a lack of progress on that front. It would be Nedeljkovic failing in his new role, Zadina not progressing, Vrana not playing like he did after the trade last year, and all of it adding up to another awful year in the standings.

Continued

Red Wings prospect tournament, Day 3: Morning skate report

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects will take on the St. Louis Blues’ prospects tonight at 7 PM EDT (to be streamed on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel), and ahead of a 2-games-in-2-nights schedule, Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon chose to take an efficient, energy saving route this morning:

Today’s morning skate lasted all of 20 minutes, from 10:01 AM until 10:31 AM, pre-practice and post-practice stretching included. The players engaged in a brief but spirited set of drills, emphasizing efficient puck movement through the neutral zone, retrieving dump-ins and breaking out with the puck.

There were also some situational power play-vs-penalty-killing drills, maximizing the brief window with which Simon and fellow Griffins coaches Mike Knuble, Todd Krygier and Matt MacDonald had to reinforce fundamentals of play. Everything was done crisply and sharply, with a heavy emphasis on game-level pace.

In terms of the goaltenders, Sebastian Cossa had his own net to work in this morning, indicating that he will start tonight’s game, and that means Jan Bednar will likely start vs. Columbus on Sunday (6 PM ET start).

Continue reading Red Wings prospect tournament, Day 3: Morning skate report

Wings post interview with Victor Brattstrom on Instagram

This one required some Instagram digging, and I’m more of a YouTube person, so I prefer when the Wings post every social media video on YouTube. But…DetroitRedWings.com’s Carley Johnston spoke with Victor Brattstrom over the course of a 14-minute interview, and it’s a “good watch”:

Kulfan, Duff profile Jonatan Berggren

Both the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted stories about Jonatan Berggren this evening.

Kulfan noted that, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Berggren is a fan of playing on 200-foot-long-by-85-feet-wide ice despite growing up playing on the 100-foot-wide European rink:

“It’s difficult, you have much less space and time,” Berggren said Friday. “But I like it, too. You need to be 100 percent ready all the time when you have the puck. I like to make hard plays and give my teammates good spots to score. I like it when it’s pretty tight and it’s harder out there on the ice. I like when it’s smaller ice.”

Berggren, in his first taste of pro-caliber North American hockey, certainly looked offensively capable, assisting on two goals in the Wings’ 5-4 victory over Dallas on Thursday night in Traverse City in the Prospects Tournament.

Playing on a line with past first-round picks Joe Veleno and Lucas Raymond, Berggren showed glimpses of the offensive skill scouts raved about.

“The first practice is a big difference with the smaller ice, but when you get to the games you just focus on the games and don’t think about it,” Berggren said. “I just play my game that I have played all my life.”

Kulfan continues, and Duff notes that Berggren believes that he’s ready for the NHL, or at least very close:

Continue reading Kulfan, Duff profile Jonatan Berggren