Press release: Red Wings to hold Military Appreciation Night on Thursday

The Detroit Red Wings have posted a press release detailing the activities to be held o Military Appreciation Night this Thursday, November 11th:

Veterans and guests to be honored on Military Appreciation Night Thursday

Red Wings players will wear camouflage warm-up jerseys and taped sticks that will be auctioned off and benefit Motor City Veterans Hockey Association and Detroit Red Wings Foundation

DETROIT — Local United States veterans will be celebrated for their service to our country before and during the Detroit Red Wings game against the Washington Capitals at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday, Nov. 11 for Military Appreciation Night, Presented by Kroger.

More than a dozen veterans representing the Motor City Veterans Hockey Association will attend Thursday’s game and sell 50/50 raffle tickets for the Detroit Red Wings Foundation, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the MCVHA.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings to hold Military Appreciation Night on Thursday

Tweet of note: Jamie Daniels Foundation’s ‘silent auction’ taking place ahead of Celebrity Roast of Brett Hull

FYI from the Jamie Daniels Foundation:

Our silent auction has been open for a week! There’s something for everyone- including sports memorabilia, golf packages, travel, food, & more! Check back daily for new items until The Celebrity Roast of Brett Hull on 11/22 at 8 p.m. on @BallySportsDET.

https://t.co/1Oq4xnZ2q2 pic.twitter.com/G4yQBAlBwQ— Jamie Daniels Foundation (@JDanielsFund) November 8, 2021

Roughly Translated: Via IceHockeyGifs, Simon Edvinsson speaks with Rakapuckar’s Henrik Lehman

This story comes from IceHockeyGifs on Twitter: Red Wings prospect and Frolunda HC defenseman Simon Edvinsson spoke with Rakapuckar’s Henrik Lehman regarding his status as having recovered from an illness.

Edvinsson’s SHL team is taking a break from playing hockey until mid-November, but Edvinsson is ready to take part in the Swedish World Junior team’s Four Nations Cup, the final warm-up event prior to the World Junior Championship.

What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Via IceHockeyGifs, Simon Edvinsson speaks with Rakapuckar’s Henrik Lehman

HSJ in the morning: Larkin offers praise for Wings’ win over Vegas

The Detroit Red Wings worked very hard over the course of yesterday night’s 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, and Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin got emotional while addressing the family emergency that kept him from the team for the course of a week’s worth of play.

Larkin was downright ecstatic about the Red Wings’ win over Vegas, however, as the Free Press’s Helene St. James notes this morning:

“It’s exciting,” Larkin said. “We played hard. Thomas Greiss was incredible. That second period was probably our best stretch of hockey there. We had a ton of chances, had a ton of offensive zone time. We back-checked hard. I think we just outworked them and got rewarded with two huge points at home.”

Ten Wings earned points, including rookie forward Lucas Raymond, who recorded his sixth goal and 14th point in 13 games. Rookie defenseman Moritz Seider paced the Wings with just shy of 23 minutes of ice time. Raymond and Seider rank second and third on the team in scoring, respectively. They are a huge part of the reason the Wings are more fun to watch than the previous couple seasons.

“You could see it from the first day they got out there, they’ve been playing pro hockey, they know what it’s about,” Larkin said. “You have to show up every night. It was fun to watch Mo — him and (Alex) Pietrangelo kind of had a little battle going on, who could rush the puck, who steal pucks more — and Pietrangelo is one of the best defensemen in the league. I thought Mo was one of the best players on the ice. Lucas is dangerous, he’s someone that is just incredible to play with because he’s crafty and he’s going to get the puck to you.”

Continued, and AWood40 posted an extended clip of last night’s game as well:

Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond speaks with Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond spoke with Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman about his early-season success with the Wings. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Rookie Raymond is red-hot–sixth in the points league

New York: Lucas Raymond is glowing.

He scored again last night, and is tied for sixth place in NHL scoring

“It’s fun that it goes well for both the team and me, but I try not to think about that, I just try to play as well as I can,” says the 19-year-old rookie success to Sportbladet.

So, how was your weekend?

Probably not as successful as Lucas Raymond’s, I would guess.

He’s accounted for three assists when the Detroit Red Wings beat Sabres in Buffalo on Saturday–and he followed that up with his sixth goal of the season as they defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 last night.

“Yes, these games were really successful. Especially as it was a bit difficult during the road trip just before,” says the young Gothenburg native on the phone from Motown.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond speaks with Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman

No, there will be no banner for Ken Holland in Detroit…But a ‘Ring of Honor’ might be a good idea

As far as the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson is concerned, the Red Wings should raise a banner for former GM Ken Holland, who will visit Detroit on Tuesday with his current team, the Edmonton Oilers.

I’m going to disagree with one of my sportswriting idols, but offer you his reasoning anyway:

Former Red Wings general manager Ken Holland makes his first trip back to Detroit Tuesday night as a minted Hockey Hall of Famer but the current Edmonton Oilers GM won’t be getting his banner raised as a salute.

It’s a ‘players only’ club in Detroit. The Red Wings have Gordie Howe (9), Sid Abel (12), Ted Lindsay (7), Alex Delvecchio (10), Nick Lidstrom (5), Terry Sawchuk (1) and present-day general manager Steve Yzerman (19) up in the rafters at Little Caesars Arena.

So seven players, same as the Oilers. No coaches, managers, owners/builders. Even if Hall of Famers.

They don’t have coach Scotty Bowman or GM Jimmy Devellano, who preceded Holland, or owner Mike Ilitch. All in the HHOF. It isn’t like Edmonton where coach/GM Glen Sather rightfully has a banner. Also their storied play-by-play man Rod Phillips, who called over 3,500 games.

Holland, GM of three Cup winners in 1998, 2002 and 2008 and assistant to Devellano in 1997, has been back to Detroit once on Oct. 29, 2019 as the GM of the Oilers. He wasn’t a Hall of Famer in the builder category then, though. The team may salute him in some way, but no banner.

Holland himself said this to Matheson:

“In Detroit, we drafted Jimmy Howard who played 500 plus games for the Red Wings and Chris Osgood won a couple of Stanley Cups. I do think I have a feel for it and I like talking to goalies, but as I’ve been in the industry 35 years, it’s evaluating players at whatever position. It’s deciding who’s going to be good. It’s not an exact science. Look at the NHL Guide and Record Book. As a scout, you are trying to predict an 18-year-old’s future,” he said. “Scouting? It’s hard. You listen to your area scouts, a lot. In Detroit, we had a guy named Paul Crowley, who really pushed for a kid named Darren McCarty whom we got in the second round. He was a blue-collar player, enough skill,” said Holland.

How about this?

Given that Darren McCarty, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby won’t ever have their numbers retired, either, maybe the Red Wings should establish some sort of Detroit Red Wings Hall of Fame, Ring of Honor, etc., and have theme nights where they, oh, I dunno, bring in the Russian Five, the Grind Line, Chris Chelios, Dominik Hasek, Scotty Bowman, Jimmy Devellano, yes, Ken Holland, etc. and induct them.

It would sell tickets, and be a fitting, permanent honor for the people who helped build Hockeytown. And Gord knows, it would be fun.

Red Wings-Golden Knights wrap-up: How to play with fire (and get away with it)

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-2 win that was one of the closest 5-2 decisions I’ve ever witnessed. Detroit was dominant at times early, rallying from a 1-0 deficit with 3 straight goals (from Lucas Raymond, Robby Fabbri and Pius Suter, thanks to a 2-for-2 1st period power play), but Vegas was tremendously resilient.

Even after Vladislav Namestnikov made the score 4-1, Vegas refused to surrender, battling back via 20 3rd period shots and a total of 40 shots and 70 attempts overall, a good half of them taken in the 3rd.

Detroit continued to struggle in the faceoff circle, so, despite having 2 power plays in the latter half of said 3rd period, Vegas all but continually buzzed in the Wings’ zone, and the final five minutes were exemplified by a flurry of Greiss stops.

That being said, both teams were playing their 2nd game in 2 nights, their 3rd in 4 nights and 4th in 6 nights total, so the fact that the Red Wings could attribute their third period struggles to a “learning experience” was, in no small respect, due to physical and mental fatigue.

Long story long, the Red Wings won both Saturday and Sunday, rebounding nicely from their 0-3-and-1 stretch, and Dylan Larkin’s return from a family emergency seemed to give the team just enough “oomph” to win the race to 60 minutes’ worth of play.

Perhaps just as importantly, the Red Wings left the Golden Knights flummoxed with their effort, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Golden Knights wrap-up: How to play with fire (and get away with it)