Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
- DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills filed a notebook article in which he discusses Jordan Oesterle’s homecoming with the Wings, the Wings’ home record, and Givani Smith’s presence on the Wings’ second line, but this line from coach Jeff Blashill caught my eye..
Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond has appeared in all 22 games during his rookie season, and more than earned his spot. He’s been especially impactful at home.
Last week, the 19-year-old scored one goal in each of Detroit’s games at Little Caesars Arena, including the game-winner in overtime against Buffalo on Nov. 24. In 11 home games, Raymond has tallied seven points, including four goals and three assists.
“I think he’s got a chance to be a really good player,” Blashill said. “But he’s got to prove it on a night-to-night basis and if we sit here after the season, and he’s had a whole bunch more milestones, then he gives you more reason to believe that’s what he is.”
One month after fellow rookie Moritz Seider earned the award, Raymond could very well be in the mix for the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for November. Raymond has 12 points on five goals and seven assists in 13 games played this month. Raymond and the Red Wings will wrap up their November slate on Tuesday night at Boston.
As did this quip from the Free Press’s Dana Garauder’s notebook:
The Wings’ other celebrated rookie, Lucas Raymond, is easily outpacing his peers statistically. Entering Monday’s action, Raymond led all first-year players with nine goals, 12 assists and 21 points. No other rookie has more than 14 points. Raymond has points in six of his last seven games and added to his brilliant start by scoring the game-winner against the Sabres.
Blashill cautions that it’s way too early to measure Raymond’s potential.
“It’s 22 games. It’s not five but it’s certainly not 500,” he said. “We have to be patient and let guys prove what they are over a long period of time. There’s certainly been a lot of good young players in this league that have had a great first or second year and kind of ended up not being to that height.”
Continued; sounds a little Babcockian, doesn’t it? I’m not so worried about where Raymond’s head is at in terms of his self-confidence versus his ego.
2. Regarding Oesterle, he’s been playing with Moritz Seider of late, and the Dearborn Heights, MI native says that he’s enjoying the ride, as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:
Oesterle has been paired with Moritz Seider in recent games. He sees the talent the young defenseman possesses.
“He’s a great player, so young, but you can see how good he’s going to be,” Oesterle said. “Every time I’m out there, I’m just trying to get the puck to him and let him do what he wants to do with it.”
Oesterle has been able to play a few games in a row lately, after being a healthy scratch for most of the first few weeks.
“Stay patient and be a good teammate and show up to the rink every day and work, that’s all you can do,” Oesterle said. “It’s tough not playing when I want to help the team. But we have eight great defensemen and someone is going to have to sit every night.”
3. Regarding the Red Wings’ imminent road trip to Boston, where the Wings have lost, lost, and also lost, as compared with the Wings’ 7-2-and-2 home record, Blashill said this to MLive’s Ansar Khan:
The Red Wings (10-9-3) have established themselves at home (7-2-2), but they are 1-6-1 in their past eight games away from Little Caesars Arena, 3-7-1 overall on the road.
Blashill said they need to be better at “quelling momentum.”
“You manage the puck better,” Blashill said. “You put pucks behind, you take what’s given. If there’s plays to be made, you make the play. If there’s not a play to be made you live another day. We got to defend better and not give up easy chances and we got to get the puck out of our zone. Make sure we’re not giving up easy chances. A team like Boston is going to earn enough of them. And then stay out of the box. All those things help kind of keep the game somewhat boring and you just kind of grind away.
“I think we’ve played really good at home for a number of reasons but partially because the energy with which we play with and some of that is helped by the crowd. I think the crowd has been awesome, so it’s become a real hard building to play in for opponents. We got to make sure when we go into opponents’ arenas, we don’t allow it to become a hard building to play in.”
Said Detroit defenseman Jordan Oesterle: “Everyone knows to make the playoffs you have to take care of home ice, but you need to go at least .500 on the road. We’ve really grown as a group throughout this season with the ups and downs. That’s the next step, to go in and play good on the road. Be patient and wait for our chances to score goals. If it has to be 0-0 until the third and then score in the third, so be it.”
4. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff also weighed in as to the Wings’ struggles on the road…
“We’d like to take our crowd, but we can’t, and that’s probably a good segue to what we got to do better and that’s quell momentum on the road,” Blashill explained. “How do you do that? You manage the puck better. You put pucks behind, you take what’s given. If there’s plays to be made, you make the play. If there’s not a play to be made you live another day. We got to defend better and not give up easy chances and we got to get the puck out of our zone.”
Simply put, good road teams simplify the game plan. They don’t push the issue and the least among their concerns should be putting on an entertaining display on the ice.
“Be patient and wait for our chances to score goals,” Oesterle outlined as a successful road blueprint. “If it has to be 0-0 until the third and then score in the third, so be it.”
While patience may be virtuous, rolling out the welcome mat can’t be part of the agenda.
“I think we need to go in and be very direct in our play,” Oesterle said. “Go in and try to force our hand on them and not sit back and let the game come to us.”
And this just stings:
The Red Wings get to next test their road worthiness on Tuesday at a place where good days for them are few and far between – Boston’s TD Garden. Since Game 2 of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, Detroit is 1-11-2 there, including an embarrassing 5-1 debacle on November 4.
“We’ve really grown as a group throughout this season with the ups and downs,” Jordan Oesterle said. “That’s the next step, to go in and play good on the road games.”
The Wings are also posting video practice reports after each day, and this is a good summary of Monday’s affair:
