Month: September 2021

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the battle for jobs on the Red Wings’ roster this upcoming season, and he specifically discusses coach Jeff Blashill’s takes on Lucas Raymond’s chances of beating out someone for a top-six role…

“You should walk out of games and feel like he was one of the better players on the ice,” Blashill said. “It shouldn’t be a hard decision. If guys are equal, then you keep your depth by starting a guy like Lucas Raymond in the minors and letting him earn his way back on the team. Guys that are trying to grab jobs, you can’t be just as good as the other guy, you got to be way better. Ultimately, I think he’s a guy who can really be an elite power-play guy. So, help our power play look elite when he’s out there. Have the puck on his stick a good amount. Find a way to have the puck more either by going to get it yourself, or by making sure you’re facilitating and getting yourself open.”

Joe Veleno’s chances of earning a third or fourth-line spot ahead of Mitchell Stephens or possibly Bobby Ryan…

“If he ends up a much better player than some of those guys we foresee in those spots and we can find him a spot in the top nine then it’s a discussion,” Blashill said. “The discussion for fourth-line center, we’d have to (determine) what’s best for Joe Veleno. Is he a little better than another guy? Is that the best thing for our organization and the best thing for him in terms of development? Those are talks Steve (general manager Yzerman) and I will have as we go through exhibition season. He just needs to make a statement every time he’s on the ice that he’s going to make us better.”

And Moritz Seider’s learning curve:

“When he gets the puck, he’s really good. When he’s engaged with a player, he’s really good,” Blashill said. “It’s without the puck that he’s got to make sure offensively he knows what he’s going to do with it before he gets it. He’s got great poise and size, so he draws people to him and makes plays but sometimes the right play is to just move it right away. Let’s play fast, let’s get it moving and then you jump into the play.

“Defensively, when he’s engaged in people, he’s a really good defender but you have to work and think ahead so that you’re in the proper position to have really good gaps so you can get engaged in that guy quicker. I just think it’s without the puck, and those issues are just learning things for young defensemen.”

Continued

This is really cool. Al Sobotka, the Red Wings’ building manager, explains how the Wings put the ice in at Little Caesars Arena in the inaugural episode of “The Crew”:

Of brief prospect-related note from Europe today:

In the Swedish J20 league, Liam Dower Nilsson scored a goal in Frolunda HC’s 5-4 win over Malmo.

Update: Here’s a .gif thereof:

Liam Dower Nilsson ? #J20Nationell #frolundahc #LGRW
? SvenskHockey TV pic.twitter.com/EbwVvNCt5f— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) September 28, 2021

WXYZ’s Brad Galli filed a report regarding Bobby Ryan’s attempt to make the Red Wings out of training camp as a free agent try-out…

“There were a very select few places I was holding out that I hoped would call, and this was No. 1,” Ryan said on Monday. “I’m happy it did work out, even if it was short notice. They realize how much I wanted to be here and loved being here last year. No place has felt this comfortable for me throughout my career.”

His season ended early after scoring seven goals and seven assists last season with the Red Wings. He is trying to make the roster on a tryout.

“You feel like you’re on a shorter leash,” he said. “I can say with absolute certainty you feel tighter and a little more restrictive. I am fortunate that I’ve been here and I know the coaching staff. I have a good rapport with everyone in the room.”

And a video of Ryan’s press conference from Monday accompanies the story:

The Detroit Red Wings engaged in their final practice of their 2021 training camp on Tuesday, spending most of their time working on situational power play vs. penalty-killing drills, working on puck retrieval and breakouts, and generally attempting to replicate in-game situations.

There was a little less out-and-out skating from end to end of the rink today, and much more strategy regarding defensive zone coverage and trying to capitalize on scoring chances. Blashill did not spare the rod when he felt that a team that was clearly a little tired after 6 days of training camp was lollygagging a bit.

In the second group, I noticed that he spent a fair amount of time with Moritz Seider, who, according to coach Blashill, needs to a) know what he’s going to do with the puck offensively before he gets it and b) know that the simple play is often the wisest play defensively speaking.

Blashill also told the media that he’s going to put Filip Zadina on a line with Sam Gagner and Joe Veleno for a bit, taking Zadina away from the Larkin-Bertuzzi pairing, and he stated that Lucas Raymond will have to be the best player on the ice after every game he plays in for the Red Wings to keep him on the roster to start the season; otherwise, the Wings see no harm in sending him go GR for “finishing school” (my term, not his).

The Red Wings now head back to Little Caesars Arena to prepare for tomorrow’s game vs. Chicago (8:30 PM EDT, NBCSCH/NHL Network ‘Joined in Progress’) and Thursday’s tilt vs. Buffalo (7:30 PM on DetroitRedWings YouTube).

Continue reading Impressions from Tuesday’s practice (9/28) at Red Wings training camp 2021

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke in no uncertain terms when asked what Lucas Raymond must do to make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp, as noted by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

“You should walk out of a game and feel like he was one of the better players on the ice,” Blashill said. “It should be clear to my wife that he should be on the team.”

Blashill clearly was having some fun with his answer. He added: “By the way, my wife, that’s not a slight on her. She knows hockey pretty well. She’s been around a long time. She should be able to pick out who the best players are. “

Blashill’s point is Raymond has to make it obvious that he deserves a spot on the team. He can’t just have a slight advantage over a veteran player. He needs to prove he can have a significant impact, not just look dangerous offensively now and then.

“It’s just the reality of it,” Blashill said. “It shouldn’t be a hard decision. Because here’s the thing – if guys are equal, then you keep your depth by starting a guy like Lucas Raymond in the minors and letting him earn his way back on the team.”

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings are about to embark upon an exhibition season in which they will play 8 games over the course of only 11 nights, and Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill addressed the situation as it stands today, as noted by the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“They’re valuable from an evaluation standpoint, for sure,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “Whoever can grab jobs, grab jobs. It’s as competitive here as it has been for a long time.”

Nearly every NHL team has, essentially, two rosters during the exhibition season to play the onslaught of exhibition games, and to evaluate so many players. Blashill was going to have a “Detroit” lineup and a “Grand Rapids”, minor league-heavy lineup for these next two weeks.

“But I don’t know who is on that Detroit team, yet,” Blashill said. “I stayed with two split groups and we keep going. We’ll see during the exhibition season to determine who is on the team.”

An injury to forward Jakub Vrana (shoulder), and keeping forwards Dylan Larkin (neck) and Tyler Bertuzzi (back surgery) on a planned schedule heading into the regular season (both were hurt at the end of last season), all have impacted the lineups.

“It’s a little like that movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’,” said Blashill, as to how the coaching staff devises exhibition lineups. “You have all these numbers, and we have an Excel spreadsheet, and three guys get hurt and you have to re-plan it. We’re in the re-planning stage.”

Continued, with talk of Troy Stecher and Kirill Tyutyayev…

Bally Sports Detroit filed one final training camp report, in which coach Jeff Blashill reflected upon Jakub Vrana’s uncertain-to-start-the-season status:

As @DetroitRedWings Training Camp concludes, we check-in with @JohnKeatingBSD and head coach Jeff Blashill in Traverse City on where the Wings stand before their first preseason tune-up tomorrow in Chicago. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/xhnZvN4yee— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) September 28, 2021

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article discussing what Pius Suter brings to the Red Wings:

The Detroit Red Wings signed Suter to solidify their troublesome second-line center spot and boost their offense and have liked what they have seen thus far in training camp.

“He’s a very heady player,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He doesn’t have ‘Wow you!’ physical tools. He doesn’t shoot it a million miles an hour, he doesn’t skate like crazy. He’s not super big. But he’s really smart. He knows where to be. When I say smart, it’s both offensively and defensively. He knows how to play the game of hockey. He’s efficient and so far, he’s done a real good job.”

Suter, 25, had a decent rookie season with the Chicago Blackhawks (14 goals, 27 points in 55 games), including a hat trick against the Red Wings. But Chicago did not make him a qualifying offer, so he signed a two-year deal with Detroit at $3.125 million per season.

“I want to play and also help the team grow,” Suter said. “A lot of guys are around my age, so kind of bring that group up together, win more games every year and go from there. The role is very interesting. It’s a good spot, great organization, a lot of history, so it’ll definitely be fun.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has filed a subscriber-only article discussing Danny DeKeyser’s status as fully healthy after recovering from a major back surgery that cost him the better part of two years:

“I don’t think I really ever knew how much better I was going to get,” DeKeyser said Tuesday on a Zoom call with media. “I was just preparing to play with whatever strength that I got back, and yes, it was definitely frustrating throughout the process because it took so long to get healthy. It was an injury (DeKeyser’s disk was pressing on spinal nerves) that wasn’t a simple thing, it was fairly complex, and you were unsure how it was going to heal.”

Not having all the strength in his lower body was affecting DeKeyser. It reached a point where the Red Wings sat DeKeyser for almost three weeks, a total of nine games, simply to work in the weight room and regain strength.

The rest helped.  DeKeyser returned in late February and as the weeks progressed, a sense of normalcy and effectiveness returned to his game. Now, DeKeyser heads into this regular season so much more confident and at ease than compared to last season.

“It took a while to get better,” he said, “but it was nice to kind of turn the corner and once I did that, I was a lot more confident.”

Continued (paywall)