Month: October 2021

Per the WHL’s website, via the Canadian Hockey League: the Edmonton Oil Kings have been ranked as the #1 overall team in the entire CHL, in no small part due to Sebastian Cossa’s presence in their crease:

1. Edmonton Oil Kings

Headlined by first-round NHL talents like Dylan Guenther (Arizona Coyotes), Jake Neighbours (St. Louis Blues), and Sebastian Cossa (Detroit Red Wings), the Oil Kings look to be a dominant force in the west that can score at will while holding back the opposition. At the forward ranks, no player was more productive on a point-per-game basis last season than Guenther, who netted 24 points in just 12 games before heading to the U18s, while by season’s end, Neighbours had taken command of the team scoring lead in registering 33 points in only 19 outings, good for seventh-best league-wide. Between the pipes, Cossa was near perfect, surrendering just one regulation loss in his 19 appearances while leading the WHL with a 1.57 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.

Continued

The Detroit News’s John Niyo has posted a column in which he discusses the Red Wings’ attempts to find more offensive contributors as the rebuilding effort evolves:

What’s also clear a couple weeks before the puck drops on [coach Jeff] Blashill’s seventh season behind the Wings’ bench — and [Steve] Yzerman’s third season in charge of filling it with players — is that their job isn’t getting any easier.

There’s more young talent worth keeping an eye on this preseason, certainly. More players who could conceivably be part of a playoff push a couple years from now as well. But there are still far more question marks than answers if you’re trying to find a bridge from here to there.

Blashill felt compelled to remind everyone in his postgame media session Thursday that this was still the preseason, “so you take everything with a grain of salt.” It’s probably a spoonful, if we’re being honest. Especially against the Sabres, a team likely to finish last in the NHL again this season.

Still, for a roster in the midst of a major rebuild — and one that already has some serious injury concerns — there were a few hopeful signs. Starting up front, where Blashill, who admittedly lacks the “pure high-end guys” some other coaches can send over the boards — in Toronto and Edmonton and Colorado, for example — but does have something to work with here.

Continued (paywall)

Of post-practice-related note from The Athletic’s Max Bultman and the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

Blashill says Larkin and Bertuzzi are cleared to play— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) October 1, 2021

Jeff Blashill said Jonatan Berggren (upper body) is close to being green-lit for contact practice, hope is he can get into an one or two exhibition games. #REDWINGS— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 1, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings took to the ice on Friday, after Thursday’s 6-2 win over Buffalo and prior to a slate of 3 exhibition games occurring over the course of 3 days and nights.

The first group of Red Wings skated around 10 AM, and DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears noted the following:

Fwiw (and it probably isn’t worth much), Lucas Raymond and Joe Veleno are on the ice with the Red Wings’ early practice group, which is comprised primarily of Grand Rapids players. Both played last night.— Ethan Sears (@ethan_sears) October 1, 2021

The big boys didn’t take to the ice until just before noon:

#RedWings practice lines:
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Zadina
Fabbri-Suter-Ryan
Namestnikov-Rasmussen-Erne
Smith-Stephens-Gagner
Veleno and Raymond skated with the earlier group consisting mostly of ⁦@griffinshockey⁩ players
DeKeyser-Hronek
Leddy-Seider
Staal-Stecher
Oesterle-Lindstrom pic.twitter.com/YRj9Dfu3Ns— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) October 1, 2021

Red Wings lines today at the NHL-heavy practice (may be a good indicator of where things stand so far)

Bertuzzi-Larkin-Zadina
Suter-Fabbri-Ryan
Namestnikov-Rasmussen-Erne
Smith-Stephens/Rowney-Gagner

DeKeyser-Hronek
Leddy-Seider
Staal-Stecher
Lindstrom-Oesterle— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) October 1, 2021

Suter at C here not Fabbri, my bad — old habits putting Fabbri in the middle from last year— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) October 1, 2021

The Red Wings host Columbus on Saturday (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit), head to Pittsburgh for a Sunday matinee (12 PM EDT), and host the Blackhawks on Monday (7:30 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit).

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reminds us that the Grind Line–Joe Kocur, Darren McCarty, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby–will be honored by the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame tonight:

The Grind Line won over Detroit Red Wings fans with a blue collar work ethic and a feisty playing style. When you competed against the Grind Line , you knew were in for a long night. When you talked about lines that were hard to play against, this was the one by which all others were judged.

The line’s accomplishment and popularity will both be recognized tonight when The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame  honors it with the Detroit Red Wings’  Grind  Line tonight with the Treasure Award.

The original Grind Line was Joe Kocur, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby, and then Darren McCarty replaced Kocur.  All four players will be honored.  Draper, McCarty and Maltby won four Stanley Cup with the Red Wings, while Kocur won two. He has previously won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers.

McCarty scored the 1997 Stanley Cup-clinching goal against the Philadelphia Flyers. But he is more well-known for taking down Claude Lemieux in a famous fight as retribution for the nasty hit he previously had laid on Draper.

According to HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek, Red Wings prospect and Frolunda Hockey Club defenseman Simon Edvinsson has been fined 5,000 Swedish Krona ($570.51) by the SHL for wearing “illegal protective equipment” during yesterday’s win over Orebro.

There’s been no clarification as to what was illegal, though he does cut the thumb loops off his gloves.

Update: FYI:

In SHL you need to wear neck protection. He didn’t use it and that’s why he was fined, I think.— Alfred ?? (@affehockey) October 1, 2021

He did not wear a neck guard in the game, after being told in previous games that he needs to wear one.— Alexander Nilsson (@aalexnil) October 1, 2021

pic.twitter.com/I4rzjIY0wS— Alfred ?? (@affehockey) October 1, 2021

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes that Red Wings forward Vladislav Namestnikov knows that he must improve over his first season with Detroit if he is to continue his tenure here:

“I think I could have produced more,” Namestnikov said. “It was kind of a down year personally.”

Signed to a two-year, $4 million contract by the Detroit Red Wings prior to last season, bigger things were expected from Vladislav Namestnikov than what he delivered on the ice. He finished with eight goals and nine assists from 53 games. This from a player who potted 17 goals in the previous season and a career-high 22 as recently as 2017-18.

Excuses? Sure, they would be available. The strange conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The delay in the launch of the season until January. The shortened, condensed 56-game campaign.

Again, he’s not going there. Namestnikov is only finding fault in himself.

“I wouldn’t blame it on the weird year,” Namestnikov said. “We were obviously all in the same situation. Sometimes you just aren’t happy with the way you play all season. I think I could have been way better.”

Continued

Of Red Wings-related note this morning, after the Wings’ 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in preseason hockey:

1. The Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez makes a couple of early observations regarding the Red Wings’ two exhibition wins:

So yes, the Wings have shown they can score. And they can rally. Just like they did after falling behind in Chicago in Wednesday’s exhibition opener, the Wings came back from a 1-0 deficit in the first period Thursday.

That resilience tells us something early about this team:, There may be some hope this season. It’s hope that can be found in Raymond’s goal, an ugly one that came off a pinball turnover near the slot.

“He did a good job,” coach Jeff Blashill said of Raymond. “He’s a smart player. He’s solid. He’s got a really good two-way game, so those types of players are always guys that are transferable because they know how to create efficient offense, and I thought he did that.”

There’s also hope in the steady play Seider displayed while being paired with veteran Nick Leddy and working on the power play. The No. 6 overall pick in 2019 showed good, careful judgment. Pinching in when he could, but mostly falling back and staying in position.

“I think Sides did a solid job,” Blashill said. “He’s a presence out there, he’s a big man, he’s smart, he’s got good hands and makes plays with really good hockey instincts.”

2. And MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article discussing the offense made available by the pairing of Robby Fabbri and Pius Suter:

Continue reading Two things: On the Wings’ resiliency and Fabbri/Suter

Of Red Wings-related note after Detroit’s 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night:

1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan took note of the comments made by Robby Fabbri, Pius Suter and coach Jeff Blashill:

“It’s a great for a guy like [Lucas Raymond] to come in and be as confident as he is,” said linemate Robby Fabbri, who scored two goals. “It’s important that he’s making those plays and playing his game and you can see that tonight. It makes our job easier when he’s playing his game.”

Fabbri (two goals, including an empty netter), Troy Stecher, Luke Witkowski and Jon Martin added the other goals, but it was Raymond who the fans came to see — along with defenseman Moritz Seider — and fans likely went home happy.

“Like I said (during in training camp in Traverse City), he looks good,” said Pius Suter, who had three assists. “He shoots the puck and has a nice shot.”

With the news Thursday that Jakub Vrana will miss at least four months due to shoulder surgery, the Wings will need goal-scoring ability from someone.

Raymond is beginning to show it could be from him. In the second period, just 23 seconds after Robby Fabbri got the Wings on the scoreboard tying the game, Raymond gathered a loose puck near the dot, skated into the slot, and whistled a shot past Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

“He did a good job, he’s a smart player,” said coach Jeff Blashill. “He has a good two way game and those types of players are guys who are transferable (from offense to defense.”

2. The Free Press’s Helene St. James also filed a post-game notebook…

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres preseason post-game notebooks and videos