Month: September 2021

Cotsonika asks five questions of the Red Wings

NHL.com is examining each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams this month, asking five questions of each team. Today, NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika covers the questions surrounding the Red Wings. Among his queries:

2. How much will the offense improve, particularly the power play? Detroit scored 127 goals last season, one more than the Anaheim Ducks, who scored the fewest in the NHL. Their power play (11.4 percent) also ranked second-to-last, ahead of the Ducks (8.9 percent). But three of the Red Wings’ top four scorers from 2019-20 — forwards Dylan Larkin (12 games), Tyler Bertuzzi (47) and Robby Fabbri (26) — missed significant time with injuries. Each is expected to be ready for the start of this season.

The Red Wings made key additions in the offseason: center Pius Suter, defenseman Nick Leddy and assistant coach Alex Tanguay. Suter scored 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 55 games for the Chicago Blackhawks last season. Leddy scored 31 points (two goals, 29 assists) in 56 games for the New York Islanders. Tanguay will run the power play.

“I think we’re going to generate a little bit more offense, will score a few more goals, I think,” Yzerman said. “How many, I really don’t know.”

…

4. Can Moritz Seider contend for the Calder Trophy? Seider, the No. 6 pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, scored 22 points (two goals, 20 assists) in 49 games for Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League in 2019-20. After he was loaned to Rogle of the Sweden Hockey League during the coronavirus pandemic last season, he scored 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in 41 games. He won the SHL Elite Prospects Award and was named SHL Defenseman of the Year.

Can the 20-year-old contend for the Calder? First things first.

“If he’s in the top six and he’s earned that spot in the top six, he’ll play,” Yzerman said. “I’m not sure if he’s not in the top six how much we’re going to want to sit him in the press box, so we’ll worry about that when it comes. But we anticipate him making a really good push to play.”

Continued

Allen discusses the Wings’ cap management

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen has written an article discussing the Red Wings’ salary cap picture after signing every restricted free agent save Givani Smith:

In the NHL where 20 teams have less than $3 million salary cap remaining, the Detroit Red Wings will start the season with more than $13 million in salary cap space.

The Red Wings have $14.2 million remaining with only Givani Smith still to sign, according to CapFriendly.com. Only the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres have more cap space than the Red Wings. The Sabres have $23.6 million and the Senators are at $24.5 million with Brady Tkachuk still to sign

What’s remarkable is that Yzerman, at least on paper, significantly improved his team this offseason with the acquisitions of center Pius Suter, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and defenseman Nick Leddy. He spent more than $11 million on those three players and that could not have been predicted. He also left room for prize prospect defenseman Moritz Seider.

Continued; whether you use CapFriendly or PuckPedia to check on salary cap space around the league, you’ll see that many teams are over the salary cap at present, so the Red Wings’ GM may not be done dealing quite yet.

McKeen’s discusses the Atlantic Division’s 2021 draft classes, Detroit included

I’m a little late to this one, but that happens sometimes, so: McKeen’s Hockey’s Ryan Wagman posted a review of the Atlantic Division teams‘ respective 2021 draft classes, and here is part of what his behind-the-paywall article says about the Red Wings’ selections:

As General Manager of the Red Wings, Steve Yzerman knows who he wants at the top, and grabs them, no matter how iconoclastic the selection is at that point. See Seider, Moritz from two years ago. Seen as a surprising overdraft at the time, he is now one of the top prospects in the sport and seemingly ready to break into the NHL now. The Wings took an elite-skilled forward up top last year in Lucas Raymond, but returned to building from the back out this year. At sixth overall, they selected a defender who holds some similarities to Seider in Simon Edvinsson, as big, smooth skaters with men’s league experience and untapped athleticism. Edvinsson may not be as advanced now as Seider was when he was drafted, but his tools give him a slightly higher upside if he can put it all together. Not long after selecting the big Swedish defender, Detroit traded a late 1st rounder (part of the return from the Anthony Mantha trade) to Dallas to pick up the #15 pick, which they used to select the first goalie in the draft, the towering Sebastian Cossa. Many had Cossa ranked behind Sweden’s Jesper Wallstedt, but Yzerman likes who he likes and Cossa is a Wing.

Pick shuffling was a bit of theme for Detroit in this draft, as they did it again in the second round to grab USHL defender Shai Buium, and then traded down in the fourth round in order to acquire an extra pick in the fifth round. In the end, the eight players selected by the Red Wings were nicely divided between the positions, with two other defenders taken after Edvinsson, four forwards, and the one goalie in Cossa. They drafted two out of Sweden, three college-bound players from the USHL, and one player from each of the three CHL leagues. When the final chapter of this draft class is written, it will be judged on the top three picks’ (Edvinsson, Cossa, Buium) abilities to prevent goals far more than the production numbers any of the forwards may eventually put up.

Continue reading McKeen’s discusses the Atlantic Division’s 2021 draft classes, Detroit included

Alumni news: More talk of Frans Nielsen landing with the Malmo Redhawks

In the “for the record” department, HockeySvergie.se’s Rasmus Kagstrom reports that the Malmo Redhawks’ GM, Patrik Sylvegard, is “holding the door open” in case Frans Nielsen wants to play in the SHL this upcoming season.

Nielsen has been previously linked to Malmo as he lives there with his Swedish wife, not that far from his hometown of Herning, Denmark, and Sylvegard suggests to Sydsvenskan’s Kent Lejon Jonsson that, should both Nielsen and Malmo’s fans feel that Nielsen is a good fit, the Redhawks would make such a deal happen.

More hockey operations shuffling (on a Friday night, from Bultman)

Two FYI items from The Athletic’s ever-industrious Max Bultman:

Red Wings have added Dan Kosinski to their hockey ops directory as hockey operations data analyst, as well as Dwayne Blais as a player development consultant— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 4, 2021

For more on Blais, you can read this from @Tarik_ElBashir dating back to Blais’ work with the Capitals in 2019: https://t.co/nLhcASvx52 https://t.co/BcJQL5WIiL— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 4, 2021

The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir explains:

One might think the Caps feel they’re in a good space skills-wise. After all, they own the NHL’s best record through 25 games. They’ve scored the most goals and are the only team with four players to hit double digits in that category.

But you’d be wrong.

Capitals coach Todd Reirden considers skill development – and maintenance – vital to the organization’s short-term and long-term success, and that’s why the club brings Blais to Washington once a month to help Alex Ovechkin and Co. sharpen their skills.

“For the players, it’s just a different voice sometimes, or maybe some different ideas,” Blais said. “Maybe it’s just a different look at their game. Like I’ll tell a guy, ‘Hey, when you move your feet, you’re really hard to catch going around the net. So keep moving your feet.’ It’s a simple thing, but just hearing a different voice sometimes reinforces it.”

Continued

Update: Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff has more on the Wings’ hires:

Blais, 44, is a Hockey Canada Certified Skills Coach. He’s been working as the skill development coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights. Blais also spent five years serving as a skills coach with the Washington Capitals. He performed similar duties with the Hershey Bears, the Capitals’ AHL farm club. Blais is also the owner of Total Package Hockey (TPH), a player development company. He also owns National Skill Development Association (NSDA), an online video resource helping coaches break down and teach hockey skills.

From Sterling Heights, Michigan, Kosinski has worked since 2006 as a reliability engineer for the U.S. Army. He has a Master’s degree in industrial and manufacturing system engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. As well, Kosinski holds a Bachelors degree in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Michigan.

NHL.com lists Dylan Larkin as a possible ‘bounce back’ candidate

NHL.com’s fantasy hockey staff listed a set of 10 players who should “bounce back” from difficult 2020-2021 campaigns this upcoming season, and Dylan Larkin was included on the NHL’s list:

Dylan Larkin, C, DET
NHL.com rank: 166

The Detroit Red Wings center was limited to 44 games last season because of injury but only scored 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists). Larkin had his lowest shooting percentage (6.7) and second lowest points-per-game average (0.52; 0.40 in 2016-17) in six NHL seasons prior to his injury, but the Red Wings have since accelerated their rebuild by acquiring valuable wing Jakub Vrana (11 points in 11 games with Detroit) last season and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic (from Carolina Hurricanes; led NHL with .932 save percentage as rookie last season) this offseason. Larkin can bounce back to score nearly a point per game (73 in 76 games in 2018-19), especially with Vrana (T-7th with 66 even-strength goals since 2018-19) as his linemate.

Continued; much depends on how Larkin recovers from that nasty neck injury suffered when Jamie Benn cross-checked him in the neck. I hope that there’s still a near-point-per-game player in Larkin.

Duff profiles Oscar Plandowski

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff penned a fine profile of Red Wings 2021 draft pick and Charlottetown Islanders defenseman Oscar Plandowski:

Every NHL draft pick wants to get to skate in the show, to experience the lifestyle of an NHLer. For Detroit Red Wings draft choice Oscar Plandowski, that’s been a reality in his life for as long as he can remember.

His father Darryl is the director of amateur scouting for the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. Plandowski’s mother Jill works as a power skating coach in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her pupils include Red Wings defensive prospect Jared McIsaac.

The hockey life surrounds Oscar Plandowski.

“It was normal for me,” Oscar said. “I never got to experience anything different. But I think as a little kid it was the coolest being able to go into games for free walking in with my dad, going to see junior games, traveling with him on the road the occasional time.

“It has its perks, it also has its negatives as a kid, when your dad’s not there most of the winter, that can be tough, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives, especially preparing for the draft it was definitely huge.”

Continued

Red Wings sign Hronek to a 3-year contract (at $4.4 million per season/$13.2 million total)

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

DETROIT SIGNS HRONEK TO THREE-YEAR CONTRACT
… Defenseman Leads Red Wings Blueliners in Scoring Since 2018-19 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today re-signed defenseman Filip Hronek to a three-year contract.

Hronek, 23, completed his third NHL season with the Red Wings in 2020-21 and totaled a team-best 26 points (2-24-26) in 56 games as one of just two players, along with Marc Staal, to play in every game last season. Hronek also led Detroit in assists, power-play points (11) and average time on ice (23:23), while ranking second in shots (114), fifth in hits (67) and sixth in blocked shots (46). Since making his NHL debut during the 2018-19 season, Hronek is Detroit’s highest-scoring defenseman, totaling 80 points (16-64-80) in 167 games. The Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, native began the 2020-21 campaign with his hometown club in the Czech Extraliga, racking up 23 points (10-13-23) and 18 penalty minutes in 22 games. Hronek finished the season representing his country at the 2021 IIHF World Championship, serving as an alternate captain and contributing four points (1-3-4) in seven games for the Czech national team.

Originally drafted by the Red Wings in the second round (53rd overall) of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Hronek previously spent parts of three seasons with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, racking up 65 points (19-46-65), a plus-25 rating and 93 penalty minutes in 108 games with the team from 2016-19. He also earned a spot on the 2018 AHL All-Rookie Team in his first full AHL campaign. Prior to turning professional, Hronek spent one season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit, where he was named an OHL Third-Team All-Star after tallying 61 points (14-47-61) in 59 games. Hronek has represented the Czech Republic extensively on the international circuit, including an appearance at the 2019 IIHF World Championship where he led the tournament’s defensemen in scoring and was named Best Defenseman, in addition to recording six points (2-4-6) in 10 games combined between the 2016 and 2017 IIHF World Junior Championships.

UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today re-signed defenseman Filip Hronek to a three-year contract. pic.twitter.com/mOqAzYXzog— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 3, 2021

3 MORE YEARS! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/NmqvGPfUSO— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 3, 2021

The Free Press’s Ryan Ford and MLive’s Ansar Khan are confirming.

Hronek’s agent, Allan Walsh, confirms:

Congrats to client Filip Hronek on signing a 3 year contract with Detroit. @ehshockey @OctagonHockey https://t.co/arz8GOjtAB— Allan Walsh (@walsha) September 3, 2021

Update: Here’s the Average Annual Value:

$4.4M https://t.co/TxoLEEIxci— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 3, 2021

Congrats Fil #SpiritAlum? https://t.co/lFWTKYiPrR— Saginaw Spirit (@SpiritHockey) September 3, 2021

Filip Hronek, signed 3x$4.4M by DET, is a young defenceman who in the past two seasons has played big, tough minutes that he’s not ready for. Struggles tremendously to defend his blueline and move the puck out of his zone without turning it over. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/YQe10DCfaE— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) September 3, 2021

Here’s the other important part, per Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

Continue reading Red Wings sign Hronek to a 3-year contract (at $4.4 million per season/$13.2 million total)

Twitter video of note: Brandon Naurato discusses joining U of M coaching staff and his time with the Red Wings

Skill development coach and new University of Michigan assistant coach Brandon Naurato spoke with the University of Michigan’s hockey program regarding joining Michigan’s coaching staff (and his time spent with the Red Wings) in this Twitter video: