Month: October 2021

The NHL schedule is the NHL schedule; there’s not much that you can do about it, so there’s no sense in complaining about its inequities.

That being said, the Red Wings are wrapping up a stretch of 3 games played in 3 different cities over the course of 4 nights tonight vs. Chicago, and, as the Free Press’s Andrew Hammond notes this morning, that schedule will repeat itself this week:

The Red Wings play their first back-to-back of the regular season [tonight]. Sunday’s game begins a four-games-in-seven-days stretch, withthree (Chicago, Washington, and Toronto) on the road while squeezing in a home game vs. the Florida Panthers.

The Red Wings at least get two days off before the Wednesday-Friday-Saturday stretch at Washington, home vs. Florida, and at Toronto…

But the Wings repeat it again in the first full week of November, playing 3 games in 3 different road cities in 5 nights…

And, over the course of the November 2nd to November 20th, the Wings play 11 games in 8 locations (including a 4-game home stand) over the course of November 19 nights.

This year’s schedule is condensed for the Olympic break’s sake, but the Wings are playing 15 games in 28 total nights, two two-day breaks included, and that is a lot of hockey to be played over a short period of time.

Chop off tonight’s game, and it’s 14 games in 24 days, which is a game every 1.71 days, which is just…Not necessary.

Between now and November 20th, the Wings are going to suffer losses and are going to suffer injuries due to the wear and tear of playing too many games in too short a period of time, and that’s just not cool.

MLive’s Ansar Khan penned an early-morning article discussing the Red Wings’ difficult 6-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, and the Wings’ need to perform much better lest they drop a decision to the Chicago Blackhawks this evening (7 PM EDT start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBC Sports Chicago/NHL Network/97.1 FM).

The Wings finished at an ugly -26 collectively over the course of yesterday night’s loss, and the Wings’ defense was an ugly -10. Coach Jeff Blashill told Khan that the Wings’ blueline was its weak link on Saturday night, and that he believes the Wigns’ forwards can improve as well:

“When we had opportunities to buy space and make plays underneath, it was good. And then there’s times you just got to make a hard play and battle to get it out,” he said. “I don’t think we had enough guys. I think there’s still more from our group of forwards especially. There’s still more from a number of guys. We need guys playing at their ‘A’ game.”

Defenseman Filip Hronek hasn’t been playing his ‘A’ game, which is why he was scratched, replaced by Troy Stecher, who made his season debut. Blashill said it was a coach’s decision. Hronek and Marc Staal were the only Red Wings to play every game since the start of last season.

“I made the decision to put Stech in,” Blashill said. “Somebody has to come out.”

Staal blamed this game on a lack of execution, not effort.

“We got chippy with the puck, and we were just kind of throwing it without a purpose and they just kept countering us,” he said. “It was like an avalanche. That’s a tough hole to dig out of. It’s different playing on the road in these environments and we need to handle that better. It’s about managing that momentum. It’s about weathering that storm and then counter-punching. We’re going into another tough environment in Chicago. We got to turn this thing around quickly.”

Continued; the Wings’ defense may not have been good at getting the puck out of trouble, but I felt that the Wings’ forwards were very guilty of cheating toward offense, yielding a significant amount of 3-on-2’s and 4-on-2’s for the Canadiens’ forwards.

The line of Givani Smith, Mitchell Stephens and Carter Rowney was also -3 (for a three-player total of -9), so the Wings’ fourth line may need some renovations.

Tonight’s opponent is 0-4-and-1, and may be without Patrick Kane due to some COVID-related issues, but the Wings can’t take the Blackhawks for granted. Chicago has won 10 of the last 13 games between the historic rivals, and Marc-Andre Fleury is 9-and-3 of late vs. Detroit, so the Wings have an uphill battle to fight tonight.

Swedish national junior team coach Tomas Monten didn’t include Lucas Raymond on this past summer’s World Junior Summer Showcase roster, raising some eyebrows in the hockey world, but Monten argued that Raymond probably wouldn’t be made available to the Swedish WJC team as he would be making his debut with the Red Wings.

Monten will be naming his country’s team for the Four Nations Cup in Sweden this November, and he tells HockeyNews.se’s Henrik Sjoberg this morning that neither Raymond nor William Eklund will be part of the Swedish team heading to the World Junior Championship warm-up. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

William Eklund has taken a spot in San Jose, and posted 3 assists in 4 games, while Lucas Raymond plays on Detroit’s first line and the right-handed playmaker has met all expectations as he plays a leading role directly on the team’s offensive game.

“I saw the first game in its entirety and then I’ve seen the highlights and other clips and he looks very good. He gets to play in the right environment to contribute with what he has to work with,” says Monten.

He has already counted Raymond out of games at the World Junior Championship.

“He plays higher up and more power play time than he did in Frolunda,” says Monten. “He looks stronger, the young guys do it automatically, but it really seems that there has been a change. We don’t count on him [to play for us] and that’s always the case. Adam Boqvist didn’t play last year, and Rasmus Dahlin didn’t play his last two years. These guys have been too good early.”

Continued; Monten is more optimistic about New Jersey Devils forward Alexander Holtz, who’s playing in the AHL at present, but he’s probably going to omit all of Eklund, Raymond and Holtz from his WJC roster.

I don’t know if Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff caught the Bally Sports Detroit broadcast last night, because Trevor Thompson explained that Troy Stecher was in the lineup instead of Filip Hronek for Saturday’s loss to Montreal only; Thompson said that coach Jeff Blashill would be giving Jordan Oesterle a chance to play today vs. Chicago.

In any case, Duff wrote a very good article discussing Filip Hronek’s absence from the lineup due to a “coach’s decision,” and, as Duff suggests, it’s hard to believe that the Red Wings’ coach was doing anything less than sending a message by scratching the team’s #1 defenseman:

“Coach’s decision,”Blashill said of Hronek’s absence from the lineup. “Just a decision. I said we got 8 D that I think are NHL defensemen. I made the decision to put Stech (Troy Stecher) in. Somebody has to come out.”

That the somebody who came out was a clear message from the that what Hronek has been offering the team through the fist four games of the 2021-22 NHL season wasn’t good enough.

Last year, Hronek led the Wings in scored with 26 points. He joined Paul Coffey as the only defensemen to lead the team in scoring in a single season in franchise history. For his performance, the Czech defender, a restricted free agent, was rewarded with a new contract. He signed a three-year deal worth $4.4 million.

However, with that kind of pact comes an increase in expectations and it’s evident that Hronek wasn’t delivering the goods. Through four games, his stats ledger was showing a solitary assist, even though he was logging a team-high 23:03 in ice time per game. Hronek’s Corsi of 37.1 rates the worst among Red Wings blueliners.

Minus Hronek, Blashill shuffled two of his three defense pairings against Montreal. Marc Staal played with Stecher. Gustav Lindstrom, who was skating in tandem with Staal, slid into Hronek’s vacated spot alongside Danny DeKeyser.

If I may be honest, I’d argue that Staal, Lindstrom and Moritz Seider have been the Wings’ best defensmen thus far. Staal has had some bad luck in terms of pucks going off him into the goal (see: two of last night’s six goals), but he’s at least been working hard;

Lindstrom has been a bit of a revelation as someone who finally looks ready for “prime time,” despite the occasional hiccup, and Seider has obviously been very good.

DeKeyser’s been downright Hronek-level shaky thus far, Stecher didn’t look good vs. Vancouver (though he had company in that department), and Nick Leddy has been good overall, but he had a particularly bad night vs. the Habs.

Of prospect-related note in North America on Saturday:

In the ECHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 14 of 14 shots in relief duty as the Toledo Walleye lost 5-2 to the Kalamazoo K-Wings;

In the QMJHL, Oscar Plandowski finished at +1 with 2 shots in the Charlottetown Islanders’ 7-1 win over Rouyn-Noranda;

In the OHL, Pasquale Zito scored his team’s only goal, finishing even with 8 shots and a 4-for-8 faceoff record in the Windsor Spitfires’ 5-1 loss to Owen Sound;

In the WHL, Cross Hanas finished even with 6 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 1-0 loss to Everett;

Sebastian Cossa was the back-up in the Edmonton Oil Kings’ 5-4 win over Medicine Hat;

Alex Cotton had an assist, finishing at +1 with 10 shots in the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ 5-3 win over Prince Albert;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper finished even in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 4-1 loss to Vernon;

And in NCAA Hockey, Robert Mastrosimone had a goal and an assist, finishing at +1 with 4 shots in the Boston University Terriers’ 8-6 win over Merrimack. Ethan Phillips finished at +1 with 1 shot;

Sam Stange finished even with 2 shots and a 3-for-6 faceoff record in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 4-1 loss to St. Cloud State;

Carter Gylander stopped 34 of 38 shots in the Colgate Raiders’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Arizona State University Sun Devils. Ryan O’Reilly finished even with 3 shots for Arizona State;

Antti Tuomisto finished even in the University of Denver Pioneers’ 5-1 loss to Boston College.

Also for Denver: Shai Buium finished at -1 with 3 shots, and Carter Mazur finished at -1;

Red Savage had 2 assists, finishing at +1 with a 6-and-6 faceoff record in the Miami of Ohio Redhawks’ 6-4 loss to Bowling Green;

And Cooper Moore finished at -1 in the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ 3-1 win over Quinnipiac.

The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 6-1 decision to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, and their weekend gets no easier as they face the 0-4-and-1 Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday evening (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/NBC Sports Chicago/Sportsnet One/NHL Network/97.1 FM).

Chicago may not have yet won a game over the course of the 2021-2022 season thus far, but they haven’t played since dropping a 4-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, so they’ll be well-rested…

Though their personnel is in flux. The Blackhawks may or may not have Patrick Kane, Ryan Carpenter and Eric Gustafsson in their lineup on Sunday as all three were “placed in COVID protocol,” which is a fancy way of saying that, well, to spare you the legalese, they could:

1. Have tested positive for COVID;
2. Been in close contact with or contract traced back to someone who tested positive for COVID;
3. Gotten an inconclusive test back;
4. Or some other stuff that’s kind of complicated.

The Hawks recalled Reese Johnson from their AHL affiliate in Rockford just in case, but it’s entirely possible that Kane, Carpenter and Gustafsson might be in Chicago’s lineup tonight, as NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Blachawks preview: Wings look to bounce back vs. winless Hawks, who have COVID lineup complications

The Detroit Red Wings dropped an ugly, ugly 6-1 decision to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night…

And things do not get easier for the 2-2-and-1 Red Wings as they play against the 0-4-and-1 Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday (7 PM EDT start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBC Sports Chicago/Sportsnet One/NHL Network/97.1 FM)

With Tyler Bertuzzi absent, and Filip Hronek a healthy scratch, the Red Wings lacked energy, intensity, speed through the neutral zone and general attention to detail, and as a result, the Red Wings really, really struggled against a quality Canadiens team that was just looking for an opportunity to break out.

The Blackhawks are in a similar situation to Montreal, so, while it’s still entirely possible to look at Saturday night’s game as an aberration, should the Red Wings lay another egg in Chicago, then there’s some room for legitimate concern.

On Saturday night, as the Montreal Gazette’s Pat Hickey notes, the Habs “got the monkey off their back” via scoring 5 goals in 15:44 of 2nd period action…

Continue reading Red Wings-Canadiens wrap-up: it’s a blunderful night

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Detroit Red Wings’ Tyler Bertuzzi will be the only unvaccinated player in the NHL.

No, Canada…

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to make history on Saturday night, kicking off a back-to-back set of road games opposite the 0-and-5 Montreal Canadiens.

No Stanley Cup Finalist had ever opened the season 0-and-6, so the Red Wings had the opportunity to push their historic rival to a new low before turning tail and heading to Chicago to play the Blackhawks.

On Saturday night, without Tyler Bertuzzi or Filip Hronek in the lineup, the Red Wings very disappointingly fell into the Canadiens’ trap, scoring the game’s first goal, and then surrendering 5 markers in only 15:44 of ice time as Montreal broke its winless streak at Detroit’s expense, ultimately winning 6-1.

This one was truly ugly, and it was truly infuriating, too, because, Bertuzzi or no Bertuzzi, Hronek or no Hronek, the Red Wings should have seen it coming, and for whatever reason, they could not or would not imagine that the Canadiens could rout them so very easily. It was a failure of imagination as much as a failure of execution (which is on the team more than the coaching staff), and…

It’s not time to panic–Detroit is now 2-2-and-1 on a very young season–but this game is a matter of concern, to be certain.

Continue reading Red Wings-Canadiens quick take: Like smoked meat in Montreal, Detroit drops a 6-1 decision in yet another trap game

MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill’s take on forward Givani Smith’s penalty-prone nature:

The Red Wings rely on abrasive forward Givani Smith to provide toughness, physicality and energy, but his aggression has led to some bad penalties that have left the team shorthanded. Smith has been called for hooking, cross-checking and slashing so far.

“Certainly, hooking penalties add zero value unless you’re hooking somebody because they’re about to get a scoring chance,” Blashill said. “It’s not like you’re bringing a level of compete or toughness on a hooking penalty. So those to me are a little bit different than (a penalty) on a net-front battle that he got in one of the games, (but) ultimately, he again needs to be smarter than that and not take a cross-checking penalty.

“Givani is learning that balance. He has to be the guy who’s playing hard, playing physical, bringing us momentum, potentially getting underneath the skin of the other player without taking penalties. He’s a young player and I have confidence he’ll keep getting better at it, but in the meantime, we all need to stay out of the box. He’s certainly not alone. We’re taking too many penalties.”