Month: September 2021

Ahead of Thursday’s prospect tournament in Traverse City, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has posted a primer preparing fans for the tournament, including capsule profiles of some of the Wings’ top prospects:

► Joe Veleno, forward (2018 first-round draft pick): Veleno impressed with the Wings in a brief look toward the end of season. But, with the additions the Wings have made, it’s going to be awfully difficult for Veleno to land a spot in Detroit unless he dominates in this tournament and training camp, and injuries hit the Wings’ roster. 

► Jonatan Berggren, forward (2018, second round):  Berggren had 45 points (12 goals) in 49 games for Skelleftea in the Swedish Elite League last season, and further ignited expectations he could become a forceful, top-six NHL winger. At 5-foot-11, 183 pounds, Berggren has dynamic, playmaking skills, although there has been concern about staying healthy. Before last season, his two previous years were shortened due to injuries.

► Sebastian Cossa, goaltender, (2021, first round): The 6-foot-6 goalie already has been christened the Wings’ goalie of the future, never mind he hasn’t played a game of pro hockey. Cossa was 17-1-1 with a 1.57 goals-against average and .941 save percentage in Edmonton (WHL), where he’ll play again this season. It’ll be interesting to watch elite players similar to Cossa’s age facing him in this setting.

Continued

From the Toledo Walleye:

(Toledo, OH) – Defenseman Blake Hillman has agreed to terms with the Toledo Walleye for the 2021-2022 season.

Hillman returns to the Pond after playing for South Carolina this past season, posting three goals, eight assists and 12 penalty minutes in 43 contests. He split his time between Toledo, Grand Rapids, and Stockton during the 2019-20 season. He played 35 games for the Fish, where he racked up 13 points (1G, 12A) and eight penalty minutes. The 25-year-old added 12 games at the AHL level; five with the Griffins and seven with the Heat. 

Hillman was drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 draft (#173 overall) by the Chicago Blackhawks out of the University of Denver. The Elk River, Minnesota native made his professional debut by skating in four games for the Blackhawks at the end of the 2017-18 season that saw him collect his first pro goal on April 4, 2018 at St. Louis. Hillman spent the 2018-19 season with Rockford in the AHL, appearing in 54 games with four points (1G, 3A) and 20 penalty minutes for the IceHogs.

In his three years at the University of Denver, he skated in 123 games with seven goals, 24 assists, and 84 penalty minutes. In total, he was a plus-24 for the Pioneers. Hillman’s best college year came in the 2017-18 season when he posted 12 points (3G, 9A) with 52 penalty minutes in 41 games while skating as a plus-six. He helped lead the Pioneers to the 2017 Frozen Four Championship as a sophomore when Denver defeated Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 in the championship contest. Hillman collected the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA West Regional in 2016 when he picked up four points (2G, 2A) in two games that included a game-winning goal over Ferris State.

The Red Wings have re-signed Givani Smith:

DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings today re-signed right wing Givani Smith to a two-year contract.

Smith, 23, split his third professional campaign between Detroit and the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins in 2020-21. In 16 games with the Red Wings, Smith notched four points (1-3-4) and 21 penalty minutes, while registering 28 hits in 10:35 average time on ice. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound winger notched his first NHL multi-point game with a goal and an assist on Feb. 7 at Florida, while completing the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” by recording a fighting major in the game as well. Smith also played 25 games for Grand Rapids last season and ranked among team leaders with nine goals (3rd), six assists (T9th), 15 points (7th) and 54 penalty minutes (2nd). Over three full professional seasons, Smith has totaled seven points (3-4-7) and 30 penalty minutes in 37 NHL games with Detroit and 47 points (24-23-47) and 217 penalty minutes in 129 games with the Griffins.

The Toronto, Ontario, native was selected by Detroit in the second round (46th overall) of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League prior to turning professional. In 236 games with the Barrie Colts, Guelph Storm and Kitchener Rangers from 2014-18, Smith tallied 135 points (73-62-135) and 411 penalty minutes, leading the league in penalty minutes in consecutive seasons in 2015-16 and 2016-17. In his final OHL campaign split between Guelph and Kitchener in 2017-18, Smith picked up 30 points (17-13-30) in 46 regular-season games before racking up 18 points (11-7-18) in 18 playoff games with Kitchener.

Update: MLive’s Ansar Khan is confirming…

Continue reading Red Wings re-sign Givani Smith for 2 years

As I prepare to leave for Traverse City today ahead of the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and training camp:

There’s good news in the fundraising department. We’re up to $1,200 in the hotel category, which means that we only have $900 to go to complete the biggest part of the fundraising push.

Several people have been extraordinarily generous of late, and while the $5’s, $10’s and $20’s tend to pave the way to TC, some folks have really gone out of their way to ensure that a couple days’ worth of hotel bills would be paid for.

The same is true in the gas-and-grocery front, where that fund is up to $320, which is enough to get me up to Traverse City, get me back home, and also pay for a fair chunk of the groceries over the two-plus week-long trip.

Again, I’m floored by the generosity of several of the higher rollers, but we’ll continue to raise funds in this department because, to be blunt, my cell phone is self-destructing.

The screen is literally peeling itself away from the cell phone itself, and, sooner or later, my phone will become inoperable; in the interim, I need to make the $225 necessary to replace my phone with another lease-to-buy device. I’m hoping to nurse my old Samsung Galaxy 7 through training camp if possible, but I’m just not sure how much longer it has.

As for the bad news…

My physical fatigue reared its ugly head on Monday. After a couple of days’ worth of heavy activity, I was hoping to be able to pack up and pack the car on Monday, but I wasn’t able to do so because I was too tired to move around much.

To the positive, I got a lot of sleep, and I should be able to recuperate a bit, but today is going to be a very difficult day as I have to squeeze about six hours’ worth of packing into three or four, and then I have to make the five-and-a-half hour trip up to TC.

I’ve got an auto-immune blood work-up scheduled for when I come back from training camp, and that will probably answer some questions as to whether this fatigue is from long-haul COVID or something auto-immune. My family has a history of auto-immune disorders, so I’m leaning toward the latter possibility.

Anyway, we’re still raising funds, obviously, as we have about a week to get that $900 for the full hotel bill, so:

If you’re willing to lend a hand, you can use Paypal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com, and yes, you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

Of prospect-related note this morning:

1. The Detroit Free Press’s Helene St. James returns this morning with a discussion about the Red Wings’ prospect tournament. Among her subscriber-only article’s “stories to watch” are the following items of note:

There’s been a great deal of excitement — and patience — surrounding [Jonatan] Berggren since he was drafted at No. 33 in 2018. He’s a gifted offensive player, capable of dazzling moves. His development was derailed by a back injury, limiting him to 40 games from 2018-19 to 2019-20, but he rebounded last season with 12 goals and 33 assists in 49 games with Skellefteå. Berggren should stand out at this tournament because he’s played in the SHL most of the last four seasons. 

Picked just a few spots after Berggren, at No. 36, defenseman Jared McIsaac likewise has been waylaid by shoulder injuries (he got hurt in his first game playing in Finland last year) but he appeared in 10 games with the Griffins last season. Donovan Sebrango, a defenseman taken at No. 63 in 2020, is also on the roster; he’s a mix of old-school grit and offense.

Kirill Tyutyayev (who shares his hometown of Yekaterinburg, Russia, with former Wings great Pavel Datsyuk) is an undersized dynamic forward dating to the 190th pick in 2019. He’s earmarked to play in GR this season. Jan Bednar (No. 107, 2020) and Victor Brattstrom (No. 160, 2018) are the other goaltenders besides [Sebastian] Cossa.

Continued (paywall);

2. And The Athletic’s Max Bultman offers 5 specific storylines to watch over the course of the prospect tournament:

The mystery men: The aforementioned Red Wings prospects are all exciting precisely because they are well-known entities (at least by prospect standards). They’ve all played in high-profile leagues and international tournaments, allowing fans and media to get a solid sense of what they do well, and what they may someday bring to the Red Wings.

But there are a few prospects who still have an air of the unknown to them. The most obvious is 2021 sixth-round pick Pasquale Zito, out of OHL Windsor, who Detroit took a swing on despite him having not played a single meaningful game in his draft year. Sure, Zito played a season with the Spitfires at 16, tallying 13 points in 46 games. But having no data from Zito’s most recent season (at 17) is a huge difference between him and the other affiliated prospects on the team — though he will have that in common with some of the free agent invitees on the roster.

Beyond Zito, there’s also Kirill Tyutyayev, the Russian forward Detroit picked in the seventh round in 2019 who played in Belarus last season. Because relatively few major prospects come through the Belarusian league compared to Russia, Finland or Sweden, it’s been hard to contextualize the diminutive Tyutyayev’s 32 points in 43 games last season. But viewing him head-to-head (and side-by-side) with more established prospects should provide a much more revealing look at where Tyutyayev’s game is, and where he’ll need to improve this year in Grand Rapids.

Less unknown, but still of interest, will be 2020 fifth-round pick Alex Cotton — a 6-foot-2 defenseman out of the WHL who has been above a point-per-game the last two seasons. Because of the pandemic, the Red Wings haven’t been able to have a development camp since he was drafted as an overager last fall, so seeing him in this setting will be a valuable viewing opportunity.

Continued (paywall)

Dobber Hockey’s Michael Clifford has advice for fantasy hockey players looking to pick up a Red Wings player during their fantasy drafts:

Detroit – Dylan Larkin

It seems every year I’m saying the same thing: Dylan Larkin is undervalued. We are saying the same thing again this year. He is going very late in drafts, after guys like Bo Horvat, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Claude Giroux. Now, whether he’ll end up better than all three is unlikely, but this is a different Detroit team. Jakub Vrana is elite offensively, Tyler Bertuzzi is healthy, and there are some kids who are only getting better. It is a concern that he is hitting less, but it isn’t as if that aspect has fallen off the map completely, and he still grabs PIMs at a good rate. If that shooting percentage rebounds in a big way, look out.

Continued

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman posted an article in which he discusses the most interesting prospects to watch as NHL training camps open up next week, and he’s not going with Moritz Seider for the Red Wings:

Detroit: Lucas Raymond, LW, Frolunda-SHL

Why is this not Moritz Seider? Because realistically he’s going to be playing and playing a lot next season for Detroit. Where Raymond fits is more of a debate. He was good in Sweden last season but wasn’t amazing. The skill level for the 2020 fourth pick is off the charts, but how a summer of development changed his strength level will be interesting to see at his first NHL camp. I don’t expect him to make Detroit — although I’m not ruling it out — but with his size and lack of elite speed, I’ll be curious how he looks initially and how far away he seems if at all.

Continued (paywall); Raymond was battling through an elbow injury while he “wasn’t amazing” playing for the SHL’s Frolunda HC last year.

Victor Brattstrom’s mask was painted by David Gunnarsson, a.k.a. “DaveArt”:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Victor Brattström (@vbratten1)

Of note from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen and Bob Duff:

1. In the “odds” department, Duff suggests that Alex Nedeljkovic is a decent bet to earn a Vezina Trophy with the Wings, in the parlance of sports betting…

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook BetMGM appear to share Yzerman’s optimism. They’ve established Nedeljkovic as the co-eighth betting choice to win the Vezina Trophy this season. Both Nedeljkovic and Tuukka Rask are opening at odds of +1400. Rask is currently seeking a new contract. Expectations are he’ll rejoin the Boston Bruins at some point this season.

Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning is the +600 favorite. The odds on Nedeljkovic are only slightly longer than that what bettors can get on former Vezina and Hart Trophy winner Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens (+1200).

Among those assigned longer Vezina odds than Nedeljkovic are Stanley Cup winner Jordan Binnington (+2200) of the St. Louis Blues, former Wing Petr Mrazek (+1800) of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Robin Lehner (+1800) of the Vegas Golden Knights, two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky (+2700) of the Florida Panthers and Carter Hart (+3200) of the Philadelphia Flyers.

2. Duff also discusses offer sheets in his daily “Duffer’s Dabbles”…

The Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet drama has concluded. Are there any other NHL teams that might consider going the offer sheet route with a restricted free agent? Pittsbugh Hockey Now contemplated this issue and came up with a short list of likely candidates.

Detroit Red Wings RFA forward Givani Smith was among those who made the list. It’s purely speculative and the Wings certainly have the salary cap space to match any offer made to Smith but it is intriguing, considering he’s the only Red Wings player left without a contract.

3. And, among Kevin Allen’s “Ten Facts Guaranteed to Make a Detroit Red Wings Fan Feel Old“…

Nicklas Lidstrom hasn’t played an NHL game in nine years and he still might be better than anyone on the Red Wings’ defense.

Chris Chelios turns 60 in January.

Dylan Larkin was 11 months old when the Red Wings ended a 41-year old drought by winning the 1997 Stanley Cup.

Scotty Bowman hasn’t coached the Detroit Red Wings in 19 years and he’s 87 now.

The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin chose Monday afternoon to issue a gloomy forecast for the Detroit Red Wings for both the present moment and years to come:

For now, there is no Pavel Datsyuk-caliber of forward on the horizon for Detroit. There is no Nicklas Lidstrom-quality of defender, either. That’s as much a compliment about Lidstrom and Datsyuk as it is a negative comment about the prospects Detroit has in its development system. Sure, they have bright lights such as forwards Jakub Vrana, Tyler Bertuzzi and Robby Fabbri, and defensemen Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek to indicate the cupboard isn’t completely bare, but they remain a longshot at best to earn a playoff berth. And maybe that’s for the best in the bigger picture; does anyone envision them winning a playoff round this season? What they need is more high-end young skill, and you don’t get that by finishing eighth or ninth in the Eastern Conference. You have to go through more pain, and five years of pain clearly hasn’t been enough to position them as a team to keep your eye on.

Yzerman proved in Tampa Bay that he could build a champion, but the situation in Detroit isn’t nearly the same as it was when he started out his managerial career with the Bolts. He has the full confidence of Wings ownership, but all the confidence in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have the assets to back it up. And as it stands, they don’t look capable of making that competitive jump into the mix with the bonafide Cup frontrunners. You know that has to gall Yzerman, but what can he do? He was a superhero on the ice, but that doesn’t translate to team-building. His reputation is among the best in the league, but that doesn’t mean squat through an 82-game season.

Continued