Month: September 2021

Red Wings 2021 Prospect Tournament, Day 1: Morning skate report

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects took to the ice at Centre ICE Arena in Traverse City, MI this morning for an hour-long skate ahead of tonight’s game opposite the Dallas Stars.

The game will be broadcast on YouTube starting at 6:40 PM EDT (and the tournament box scores, stats and rosters will be available on Poinstreak.com);

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Df2GncwWKQI

At present, it appears that Wings prospects’ coach (and Grand Rapids Griffins bench boss) Ben Simon will be starting 24-year-old Victor Brattstrom in the net, as Brattstrom received his own net for most of the morning skate, and he was the first goaltender off the ice.

It also appeared that the Red Wings were going to ice a power play unit of Joe Veleno, Chase Pearson and Lucas Raymond up front, and Jonatan Berggren and Jared McIsaac on defense. Expect that quintet to receive a significant amount of ice time with the man advantage, and Veleno, Pearson and Raymond to possibly play together on the first line.

Continue reading Red Wings 2021 Prospect Tournament, Day 1: Morning skate report

Dylan Larkin, seventh-best?

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a subscriber-only article ranking the top 10 centers in the Atlantic Division, and he ranked Dylan Larkin as the 7th-best center:

7. Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings were 30th in the NHL in scoring last season at 2.23 goals per game. One key to jump-starting the offense is improved play from Larkin. He looked out of sync last season. The Red Wings need him to register 65 or more points, and he has only done that once. Larkin needs a step-up season.

Continued (paywall)

Press release: Griffins to retire jerseys of Michel Picard, Jeff Hoggan

From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS TO RETIRE JERSEY NUMBERS OF MICHEL PICARD AND JEFF HOGGAN

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Thursday announced that the jersey numbers of all-time greats Michel Picard (7) and Jeff Hoggan (10) will be retired in separate ceremonies that will take place at home games during the second half of the 2021-22 season.

To date, defenseman Travis Richards (24) – who played during each of the Griffins’ first 10 seasons (1996-2006) and is the team’s all-time leader in games played – is the only player in franchise history who has had his number retired and raised to the Van Andel Arena rafters.

“Our 25th anniversary season gives us the perfect opportunity to recognize the lasting accomplishments of two players who made an immense impact on our franchise,” said Griffins president Tim Gortsema. “Michel was an offensive powerhouse during our team’s early years, achieving many statistical benchmarks that haven’t been approached by any of the other 537 players who’ve worn a Griffins jersey, and he carried himself with grace and class both on and off the ice. And Jeff, during his four seasons as our captain, provided unparalleled leadership and character in forming the cornerstone of a culture that secured our first Calder Cup championship in 2013, and he founded an unprecedented era of team success that continues to this day.”

Picard’s number will be retired in a pre-game ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 19, with Hoggan’s celebration following on Saturday, April 2. Tickets for both games can be purchased now at griffinshockey.com/buytickets.

After making his Griffins debut alongside Richards in the team’s inaugural game on Oct. 5, 1996, Picard went on to play 364 games over six seasons with Grand Rapids (1996-00; 02-04) and still ranks as the Griffins’ all-time leader with 158 goals, 222 assists, 380 points, 40 power play goals and 26 game-winning goals. Beginning in 1996-97, when his 101 points (46-55—101) made him the first and only Griffin to date to hit the century mark, he led the team in scoring in each of his five full seasons, something no other Griffin has done more than twice. Among Griffins who’ve played at least 100 games, his scoring average (1.04 points per game) stands first while his goal average (.43 goals per game) ranks third.

Picard helped the Griffins claim division titles in both 2002-03 and 1999-00, when he led the team in scoring during both the regular season and playoffs on its way to a berth in the 2000 IHL Turner Cup Finals. An owner of 14 franchise records, Picard was named a IHL First Team All-Star in 1997 and an AHL Second Team All-Star in 2003, in addition to representing Grand Rapids in the 1997 and 1998 IHL All-Star Games.

Signed as a free agent just prior to the 2012-13 season, Hoggan became the longest-tenured captain in franchise history (2012-16). He led the Griffins to their first Calder Cup title that season – the team’s first championship in its 17 seasons to that point – and to records of 8-3 in playoff series and 34-25 in playoff games overall. By way of comparison, Grand Rapids had an 8-10 series record and a 45-47 mark in postseason games over its first 16 seasons. During Hoggan’s first three playoff campaigns (2013 to 2015), the Griffins played 50 postseason contests, the most by any AHL team over a three-year span in league history, and he remains the only AHL player since at least 2005 to captain his team to least one playoff series win in four consecutive seasons. The three teams to defeat Grand Rapids in the postseason during his tenure all reached the finals, with Texas (2014) and Lake Erie (2016) winning the cup and Utica (2015) finishing as runner-up. During the 2015 Western Conference Quarterfinals, the Griffins became the 11th team in AHL history to win a best-of-five series after trailing 0-2, rallying to knock out Toronto.

In 2014-15, Hoggan won the AHL’s 2014-15 Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award as the player who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey. The following season, the Griffins posted separate winning streaks of 15 and 13 games, becoming just the second AHL team in 25 years with two double-digit winning streaks in the same season. Hoggan, who helped the team claim division titles in both 2014-15 and 2012-13, served as the Western Conference’s captain at the 2016 AHL All-Star Classic, and he mentored more than two dozen players who eventually advanced to the Detroit Red Wings. Upon his departure, he ranked among the team’s all-time playoff leaders with 59 GP (T1st) and 27 points (T4th), numbers that today still tie for fourth and stand 10th, respectively, in team annals.

Tweet of note: a little Wednesday skate

The Red Wings traditionally give their prospects a twirl on Centre ICE Arena’s ice before the prospect tournament begins, and that event is closed to the fans and media, but it looks like the tradition continues, per this Tweet from the Wings:

Prospect Tournament: ?#LGRW pic.twitter.com/gCYjHudNFQ— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 16, 2021

Prospect round-up: Viro, Kivenmaki post assists in Liiga action; Wallinder skates in Swedish J20 league

Of prospect-related note this afternoon:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro had an assist on 2 shots, finishing at +1 in 14:34 played as TPS Turku won 2-1 over JYP;

Otto Kivenmaki also had an assist, finishing even in 17:03 played as the Lahti Pelicans won 6-2 over Jukurit;

And in the Swedish J20 league, William Wallinder made an appearance with Rogle BK’s J20 team before rejoining the men’s league team.

Wallinder had an assist as Rogle BK won 7-4 over Linkoping. Right now there are no game reports available, but I’ll check back in an hour or two to see if that changes…and we should expect Wallinder to play with the men’s team tomorrow.

Edit: Wallinder finished at +3 with 1 shot and a minor penalty taken.

Bultman, Shapiro share the evolution of prospect tournaments (including Detroit’s)

The Athletic’s Max Bultman and Sean Shapiro wrote a fantastic article discussing the evolution of the NHL’s prospect tournament phenomenon, discussing the Red Wings’ prospect tournament as the blueprint upon which other teams built their own prospect gatherings:

The hockey season starts today.

No, the NHL regular season doesn’t kick off until mid-October, but for many NHL executives and prospects, the 2021-22 campaign has its soft opening on Thursday afternoon when prospects, in full NHL apparel, clash in exhibition games.

“It’s really the kickoff of the season,” Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill said. “Everyone is back in the rink, there are games to watch, and it’s a return to a sense of normalcy of what we hope will be a long season.”

Prospect tournaments and showcases were canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19 but have returned in 2021. Some have been altered for financial or logistical reasons, but with a few exceptions, sending prospects to play in September has become a must-do item for NHL teams as they hope to embark on a more normal season.

And for five NHL teams, normal means returning to a small resort town along the lake in Northern Michigan, which served as the setting for the growth of the prospect tournament from an outside-the-box idea to an institution amongst NHL clubs.

The birth of the NHL Prospect Tournament dates back to 1997.

Continued (paywall)