Month: November 2021

NHL.com’s Tim Campbell penned a fine profile of former Red Wings and current Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland ahead of this weekend’s Hockey Hall of Fame induction for the 65-year-old Holland…

Holland was 19 when he was selected No. 188 by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1975 NHL Draft. He played nine pro seasons in the Hartford Whalers and Detroit organizations and got into four NHL games, one with the Whalers in 1980 and three with the Red Wings in 1984.

He needed that strength of belief to carry on after playing his first NHL game, against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 1980, a day of career highs and lows. Rangers forward Anders Hedberg scored three goals on him, one in each period, and the Whalers lost 7-3.

“After the first period it’s 1-0 for the Rangers and I made some saves and I felt good,” Holland said. “I’m sitting in the locker room in the intermission thinking to myself, ‘Ken, you finally made it.’ I felt like I’m an NHL goalie. In the second period, the Rangers get 21 shots and score four goals. And it’s 5-1 for the Rangers after two periods and I remember sitting in the locker room thinking to myself, ‘Ken, you’re never going to be in the NHL ever again, so really savor and enjoy the third period.'”

Whalers goalie John Garrett, Hartford’s backup that night, remembered thinking Holland had been thrown to the wolves in a back-to-back situation. Hartford, which was 21-41 with 18 ties that season, lost 8-4 at home to the Washington Capitals the previous day.

“Every time one went in, he’d look over with kind of a forlorn look,” Garrett said. “Really, he was incredible, but we weren’t very good. They thought it was the goaltending, but Turk Broda in his prime wouldn’t have helped that team.”

Holland’s induction into the Hall of Fame will come one day before the 41st anniversary of that game.

“From that game and now you’re asking me about going into the Hockey Hall of Fame, there are a lot of emotions while I’m remembering all the people that contributed,” he said. “So many people involved on and off the ice that it doesn’t happen without all those people. I could go on and on and on with names. In order to be a Builder you have to have a lot of talented people around you on and off the ice in order to do that. So I’m not tricked into thinking I’m smarter than everybody else. I’m just a little guy from Vernon, B.C., that chased his passion and had a lot of people along the way that believed in me and gave me an opportunity. And you’ve got to have some luck along the way.”

And former Red Wings assistant GM and current Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill penned a tribute to his colleague:

Continue reading Two NHL.com stories about Ken Holland’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame

The Detroit Red Wings got Fucale’d. Washington Capitals goaltender Zach Fucale stopped 21 Red Wings shots, and his Capitals defenders stopped 15 more attempts as the Washington Capitals defeated Detroit 2-0 on Thursday night, dropping Detroit to 7-6-and-2.

According to MLive’s Ansar Khan, the Red Wings were at least a part of history on Thursday night:

Zach Fucale did what no other goaltender has done to the Detroit Red Wings in their 95-year history – record a shutout against them in his NHL debut.

Fucale made 21 saves Thursday and the Washington Capitals defeated Detroit 2-0 at Little Caesars Arena, snapping the Red Wings’ three-game winning streak.

The Red Wings (7-6-2) didn’t exactly make Fucale work that hard. They failed to record a shot on goal during four power plays, including a length five-on-three advantage.

NBC Sports Washington’s Andrew Gillis took note of Fucale’s comments in his post-game interview on TV:

Continue reading Red Wings-Capitals wrap-up: 2 goals in 10 seconds, Fucale foil Wings

Of prospect-related note in North America on Thursday:

In the QMJHL, Jan Bednar stopped 38 of 43 shots as the Acadie-Bathurst Titan lost 6-4 to Halifax.

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe reports that this year’s Toledo Walleye team is off to a superb start…

The Walleye have a 5-2-0 record and they lead the ECHL in scoring with 35 goals in seven games (5.00 per contest). The defense is allowing just 2.57 goals per game, which is fourth-best in the ECHL.

Aside from veteran forward T.J. Hensick — who is off to a torrid start after he contemplated retirement — no other player on the roster had appeared in more than 50 games for the Walleye.

“I like where this team is at already,” Walleye coach Dan Watson said. “It’s a close group, and good character guys.”

The Walleye, who will play three games in three days this weekend, host Wheeling on Friday night and Indy on Sunday at the Huntington Center,

Toledo has the second-most points (10) in the ECHL. After dropping their first game of the season, the Walleye reeled off five wins, including a 6-0 waxing of Kalamazoo on Saturday in the home opener. They opened the season with five straight road games, and went 4-1-0 before losing 5-2 to Fort Wayne at home on Sunday.

And goaltender and Red Wings prospect Kaden Fulcher has been excellent thus far:

Toledo goaltender Kaden Fulcher (3-1-0) has the sixth-best goals-against average (1.51) and a .939 save percentage. Fulcher had 22 saves to earn the shutout against Kalamazoo.

“We’re rolling pretty well and we’ll keep the foot on the pedal,” Fulcher said. “It’s a nice feeling to see a lot of guys get on the score sheet.”

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to earn their 4th straight win while taking on the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

The game turned over the course of only 10 seconds of play, in which Washington scored 2 goals on the Red Wings, and after that, it was the Zach Fucale and the Washington Defense show, as Fucale pitched a 21-save shutout, Washington blocked 15 Red Wings attempts, and Detroit was shut out 2-0.

Detroit drops to 7-6-and-2 heading into Saturday’s home stand finale vs. the Montreal Canadiens. The Red Wings are now halfway through their stretch of 11 games to be played over the course of 17 nights.

Both teams’ lineups were in flux prior to the game, so warm-ups resolved the personnel issues:

Continue reading Red Wings-Capitals quick take: Shut out by Fucale and the Caps

Via Red Wings prospect and Vancouver Giants defenseman Alex Cotton on Twitter comes this news regarding Red Wings prospect Kienan Draper:

NEWS: Kienan Draper commits to Michigan Wolverines

? https://t.co/hre0hlAbrA #ChwkChiefs pic.twitter.com/BFUusKFDiQ

— Chilliwack Chiefs (@Chiefs_Hockey) November 12, 2021

Per the Chilliwack Chiefs:

Chilliwack Chief Kienan Draper has secured his NCAA future. After finishing out the 2021-22 BCHL season with the Chilliwack Chiefs, the 19-year-old will be heading to his home state of Michigan to join the University of Michigan Wolverines.

“It will definitely be nice to be close to home, and my sister is a senior there,” Draper said before practice on Tuesday (Nov. 9). “It’s pretty awesome for me and I’m very excited.”

Draper’s ties to the Great Lakes State run deep. He was born and raised in Michigan and played his youth hockey with the Little Caesar’s program. Dad Kris Draper played 16 seasons and 1000-plus National Hockey League games in Detroit, winning four Stanley Cups with the Red Wings.

Kienan himself is a Red Wings draft pick, selected in the seventh round (187th overall) of the 2020 entry draft.

It seems pre-ordained that he was going to end up heading home. The only question was whether it was going to be Michigan or Michigan State.

“I don’t think Coach (Brian) Maloney likes the choice all that much, because he’s a Michigan State alum, but it’s an all-round great school,” Kienan said. “I’ve been to some hockey games and football games, and it’s an unbelievable environment there. I think there will be some extra chirping now between me and coach, but he did tell me it’s a great spot.”

Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen posted a set of power rankings today, examining each team’s most complicated contract situation, and he feels that the Red Wings might be questioning whether they ought to trade Vladislav Namestnikov:

22. Detroit Red Wings: 7-5-2

A first-round pick in 2011, Vladislav Namestnikov has been inconsistent as a player and his career-best 22 goals and 48 points from 2017-18 seemed a distant memory. He scored eight times in 53 games with the Wings last season and is already one off that total in 2021-22. He’s bound to slow down somewhat as he’s outshot his expected goal rate (and it’s hard to visualize him as a 40-goal scorer anyway) but he’s filling a third-line role and producing for this young team, which could either be a decent and relatively cheap piece to move forward with if the Wings extend him, or perhaps more likely, a pretty good trade chip for teams seeking scoring depth at the deadline. How that plays out either way will depend on what level Namestnikov can keep producing at this season.

Continued; it’s too early for me to think about disassembling the team.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a subscriber-only article in which he grades the Red Wings’ defensemen after 14 games of play:

Moritz Seider A

Expectations were high, and yet he has exceeded them. He is third on the team in scoring with 11 points in 14 games. He leads Detroit’s defense in plus-minus (+4) and Corsi (48.7%). At 20, Seider has an aura — the Detroit Red Wings seem more in control when he’s on the ice. He still make defensive mistakes, but probably fewer than you would expect for a player his age. When you consider all the ways he can help a team, he probably is the team’s most important player.

Filip Hronek  C+

He’s been better since he was scratched for a couple of games. His Corsi is 42.5%, worst among the blue line regulars. Hronek’s offensive performance has picked up. Hronek has plenty of ability, but the consistency just isn’t there. He has seven points now while logging more than 23 minutes per game. He plays more than every other defensemen, even Seider. Filip Hronek is a key player in the Red Wings’ rebuild. The Detroit Red Wings want a little more now.

Continued (paywall)

Sports Illustrated’s Tony Ferrari is Art Regner’s guest on the latest episode of The Red and White Authority, the Red Wings’ podcast:

Former Red Wings GM Ken Holland will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday in Toronto, and he spoke with the Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons about the honor:

“This all feels so surreal,” said Holland in a lengthy telephone conversation. “I was a guy who barely made it. I was a minor-league player. And I had a job at the liquor store in Vernon, B.C., when my career ended and Jimmy Devellano and Neil Smith called and offered me a job as the western Canadian junior scout for the Wings. Bill Dineen (his AHL coach) had recommended me. I’d never scouted before.

“Neil had to come out and show me. He showed me where the scout’s entrance was in buildings, where the scouting room was where you picked up the lineups. I didn’t know a thing.”

But he just kept going to work, driving the prairies through snowstorms. That sounds like a cliche, but anyone who has made those treks understands the challenge.

“You go to work every day, and you keep looking for players and then you get a better job and you to work and you’re still trying to find players. And one day turns into a week and a week turns into a month and a month turns into a year and then, one day, you get a call from Lanny McDonald (a former Medicine Hat Tiger himself) telling you you’re going to the Hall of Fame. It’s surreal. It’s more than surreal. I’m very honoured. I’m overwhelmed, really. The Hall of Fame has never been on my radar screen. I still can’t believe this is happening.”

Continued