Month: November 2021

Red Wings goaltending prospect Jesper Eliasson has had a rough go over the past couple of seasons.

He’s only 21, but he’s played for six organizations over the past three seasons, having been loaned out first by the SHL’s Vaxjo Lakers to IK Oskarshamn of the Swedish Allsvenskan, then back to Vaxjo in the SHL, then to Almtuna IS of the Swedish Allsvenskan, then to the Red Bulls Salzburg of the ICE Hockey League, then picked up by Farjestads BK of the SHL, played a game for Farjestad, and then loaned out to Almtuna IS of the Allsvenskan again.

None of this has been good for the 6’3,” 209-pound goaltender’s development, so you can imagine that Eliasson’s stats are not excellent (and they’re pretty bad).

This morning, Expressen’s Adam Johansson and Johan Svensson report that Eliasson’s being returned to Farjestad (which has a full complement of goaltenders) by Almtuna, which is not satisfied with the way things have gone for Eliasson in the Uppsala-based team.

Now Farjestad will have to find a new home for Eliasson, who continues to bounce around like a tennis ball.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman asks three questions about the Red Wings this morning, and one of his questions involves Filip Zadina’s trajectory as a player:

What to make of Filip Zadina’s season — and new role?

This is by far the most-asked question I’ve gotten over the first six weeks of this hockey season. And I’m going to start my answer by telling you about two players.

Player A just turned 22 years old and is currently carrying an on-ice expected goals for percentage of 55% at 5-on-5 (score and venue adjusted). That’s a high-end number. What’s more, his on-ice, 5-on-5 actual goals-for percentage is even better — just above 56 percent for the year, according to Evolving Hockey. Both marks rank in the top-five on his team at that young age.

Player B is a former sixth overall pick who has just three goals and seven points in 22 games. His 6.4 shooting percentage can give the impression of unluckiness. And it’s likely no coincidence that frustration has risen this season, as super-rookie Lucas Raymond has stormed onto the scene with instant offense.

To top it off, Zadina skated on Detroit’s fourth line in the last game, alongside Carter Rowney and Sam Gagner — though at the same time, 6.4% is also the second-highest mark of this player’s career, with his career average at just 8.1 percent. That makes it look less unlucky and more like his reality.

If you follow the Red Wings, you’ll of course already know that both of these players are Filip Zadina. The young forward poses a fascinating case study in perception, because even though those two profiles paint glaringly different pictures, all of the above information is true about the same player.

Continued (paywall)

The Associated Press posted an early preview of tomorrow’s Red Wings-Bruins game. The 10-9-and-3 Wings will face an 11-and-7 Bruins team that’s actually a point behind Detroit in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division standings:

BOTTOM LINE: Detroit visits Boston looking to break its four-game road slide.

The Bruins are 8-5-0 in Eastern Conference games. Boston ranks eighth in the Eastern Conference averaging 5.0 assists per game, led by Oskar Steen with 1.0.

The Red Wings are 5-6-2 in Eastern Conference play. Detroit ranks 10th in the Eastern Conference recording 7.7 points per game, averaging 2.8 goals and 5.0 assists.

In their last meeting on Nov. 4, Boston won 5-1. Patrice Bergeron scored a team-high four goals for the Bruins in the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brad Marchand leads the Bruins with nine goals and has 24 points. David Pastrnak has eight assists over the last 10 games for Boston.

Lucas Raymond has 21 total points while scoring nine goals and totaling 12 assists for the Red Wings. Dylan Larkin has seven goals and four assists over the last 10 games for Detroit.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 6-4-0, averaging 3.3 goals, 5.4 assists, 3.9 penalties and 9.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game with a .908 save percentage.

Red Wings: 5-4-1, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.6 assists, 2.6 penalties and 5.5 penalty minutes while allowing 2.7 goals per game with a .918 save percentage.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a subscriber-only article this morning which discusses the Red Wings’ evolution into a team that’s “bought in” to playing hockey in a more meaningful manner for one another:

“I think for the first time in a while here we’ve really bought into playing for each other and doing everything to close games out,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “It’s not going to be pretty every time but we did it. And when things don’t go well, we get back to home ice, we get back to playing our game. We really tried to focus on an identity early in the season and we know what that is and we know that when we do that, it makes us successful.”

The biggest key to Saturday’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres was tightening up defensively after a stretch of relying on the goaltenders to deal with too manyscoring opportunities. The other key was what has been in evidence all season: There are flat-out better players on the roster than in previous years. Specifically, 19-year-old Lucas Raymond — who scored in overtime — and 20-year-old Moritz Seider.

“I think it’s guys coming in with their attitudes,” Larkin said when asked to elaborate. “We have guys that have been here for a little bit that are still young players, we have new young players that came in with a fresh start and a hunger to help the team and an excitement to be in Detroit and be a Red Wing. We have older players that have been there and done that, and they really guide the young players. It’s been a special feeling and we need to keep it going and we need to continue to get better.”

Continued (paywall)

NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman reveals that a “quarter pole” polling of NHL.com writers has, not surprisingly, earned Lucas Raymond a narrow win over Moritz Seider as the NHL.com pick as their Calder Trophy front-runner:

Lucas Raymond is on a rookie scoring pace unlike anything the NHL has seen the past four seasons.

The Detroit Red Wings forward has scored 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 22 games, averaging 0.95 points per game. The last rookie to finish a season on that type of pace was New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal, who won the Calder Trophy voted as NHL rookie of the year in 2017-18 after scoring 85 points (22 goals, 63 assists) in 82 games (1.04 points per game).

Forward Kirill Kaprizov scored 51 points (27 goals, 24 assists) in 55 games with the Minnesota Wild when he won the Calder Trophy last season (0.93 points per game).

“Lucas is dangerous; he’s someone that is incredible to play with because he’s going to make plays,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin told The Detroit News. “He’s crafty and he’s going to get the puck to you.”

Raymond is the favorite to win the Calder Trophy according to a panel of 17 writers for NHL.com, receiving 10 first-place votes and 77 points in the poll. The 19-year-old didn’t receive a vote in NHL.com’s preseason poll in October.

Raymond’s teammate, Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider, is second in the poll with six first-place votes and 71 points, followed by New Jersey Devils center Dawson Mercer with 38 points (one first-place vote), Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras with 35 points and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram with 12 points.

It’s the first time in the history of NHL.com’s Trophy Tracker series that two Red Wings players are No. 1-2 among the top five in voting for the Calder Trophy. Additionally, Detroit goalie Alex Nedeljkovic is tied for seventh with Ducks defenseman Jamie Drysdale, each with four points.

Continued; things could change, but at this point, I think Raymond’s building up some serious momentum toward a Calder Trophy win, and if he can’t do make it through a full season for some reason, Seider probably will.

This news comes both as a surprise and not a surprise:

Aftonbladet’s Tomas Ros and Hans Abrahamsson have revealed that Lucas Raymond was not included on the initial reserve list of 55 players submitted to the Olympic Committee by Swedish team GM Johan Garpenlov, so Raymond might not take part in the Olympic games, because the reserve list is supposed to be the only list of players from which the Swedes can pick Olympic-participating NHL’ers.

This is no surprise as the reserve list had to be submitted in late September, but it’s a big problem for Sweden:

Lucas Raymond can miss the Olympics

Tre Kronor national team captain Johan Garpenlov has selected 55 NHL players who are relevant for the Olympics. But Sportbladet can reveal that successful NHL player Lucas Raymond, 19, is not on that large team.

Thus, there is great risk that Detroit’s points king might not be selected for the Olympics.

The Beijing Olympics, which will be decided in February, are approaching fast, and the idea is that the hockey tournament will be determined by NHL players. However, it’s not 100% certain, and therefore the national team GM Johan Garpenlov has picked out two large teams: One with NHL players and one with players from Europe.

In the large team with NHL players that Johan Garpenlov has selected, and where the names are secret, there are 50 skaters and 5 goaltenders.

But the hottest Swede in the NHL this fall, Detroit Red Wings rookie Lucas Raymond, is not among the 55 names that Johan Garpenlov has listed, according to Sportbladet’s information.

Thus, there is imminent risk that the former Frolunda forward can’t be selected for the Olympics.

Applied to the IIHF to get an exemption

But the Swedish Ice Hockey Association has applied to add additional players, something that is confirmed by competition manager Olof Ostblom, who is also a team manager for the Tre Kronor. When asked if the Tre Kronor can take out additional players against the larger team, Ostblom answers:

“Possibly. We’ve asked the question to the IIHF, without a definitive answer.”

Do you know when they’ll have to give their answer to you?

“Not right now.”

Lucas Raymond has taken the NHL by storm. The Swedish rookie has accounted for 21 points in 22 games, which leads Detroit in internal scoring. In the entire NHL, only Elias Lindholm has scored more points among Swedes, with 23 points.

Sportbladet searched for Johan Garpenlov [but received no answer].

HockeyNews.se’s Henrik Sjoberg reported the Aftonbladet news, and noted that Garpenlov had this to say about Raymond’s hot start back in early October:

Tre Kronor national team captain Johan Garpenlov was impressed with Raymond’s start in the NHL, and in an  earlier interview with HockeyNews.se,  he said the following about the 19-year-old’s possible participation in the Olympics:

“I have to go on what I presented and not what one might do. And if you look at a guy like Raymond, if he were to be on the list, he would have to compete to play on the top lines and on the power play. If you look around the league, it’s very difficult competition for few places there. I’m not saying it would be impossible, and that it can’t happen, but it’s pretty tough to get in there.”

Of prospect-related note in both Europe and North America on Sunday:

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Jesper Eliasson stopped 27 of 31 shots in Almtuna IS’s 4-1 loss to BIK Karlskoga;

Neither Albin Grewe nor Gustav Berglund, who are both injured, played in Mora IK’s 4-1 loss to Bjorkloven;

Filip Larsson stopped 21 of 24 shots in HV71 Jonkoping’s 3-2 loss to Kristianstads;

In the QMJHL, Jan Bednar stopped 16 of 19 shots in the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s 8-3 win over Baie-Comeau;

Oscar Plandowski finished even with 1 shot in the Charlottetown Islanders’ 5-2 win over Blainville-Boisbriand;

In the WHL, Sebastian Cossa stopped 19 of 21 shots as the Edmonton Oil Kings’ 5-2 win over Saskatoon;

And in the BCHL, Kienan Draper had an assist, finishing even in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 3-2 win over Surrey. Draper had 2 goals and an assist on Saturday.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen suggests that the Red Wings might want to depart from their 2-goaltender rotation now that Alex Nedeljkovic has staked his claim to the Red Wings’ crease with consistent, strong play:

The tandem approach made sense to start the season because the Red Wings played their first 20 games in 38 days. But the team had only two games last week and don’t play again until Tuesday in Boston. Blashill doesn’t discuss his goalie rotation, but it would make sense to play Nedeljkovic against the division rival Bruins and then go with Thomas Greiss the next night at home against the expansion Seattle Kraken.

“(Nedeljkovic has) earned the right to get the starts,” Blashill said. “We’re going to need both guys to be good as we continue this season. We’re going to go through different stretches where it’ll be grueling and we’re going to need both guys to be good.”

Nedeljkovic, 26, is 6-3 with a 2.70 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. Meanwhile, Greiss, 36, is at 4-6, with 3.41 GAA and .901 save percentage.  His save percentage over the past three games is .947.

“He’s been great, ” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “He plays the puck and he’s just made some incredible saves. The other night  he won us the game and he has that ability. It’s been a great confidence boost to know that he’s going to be there every night.”

One advantage Nedeljkovic has over Greiss is his ability to play the puck with authority. In fact, he plays it so often that it actually caused issues in the first couple of games when Detroit players struggled to adjust to his tendencies. They now have it figured out.

“I know for defensemen love it,” Larkin said. “You get the puck quicker and you get out cleaner. More time with the puck is good. “

Continued

As the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan notes in his Sunday afternoon notebook, the Red Wings have not done the greatest job of going to the front of the net and screening the opposition goaltender, so coach Jeff Blashill was particularly happy with the ways in which the Wings went to the front of the net and stayed there in Saturday’s win over Buffalo:

The Wings haven’t been scoring many “dirty goals” around the opposing team’s net, where it’s particularly physical and gritty.

But trailing 1-0, the Wings were able to take a 2-1 lead on just those types of goals from Carter Rowney and Pius Suter, just 1 minute, 19 seconds apart in the second period.

“We haven’t been a good team screening the goalie and you’re just not going to score consistently if you don’t,” Blashill said. “Tokarski has been really good for them, and he’s a real athletic goalie who can make big-time saves. You have to find ways to score dirty, especially when a goalie is feeling it.”

One Red Wing who made an impact screening Tokarski and was noticeable around the net was forward Givani Smith.

Getting playing time on a line with Robby Fabbri and Suter, Smith drew an assist on Suter’s goal and took advantage of his opportunity.

“He (Smith) has played more consistently and at a better level here in the last bit,” Blashill said. “I’ve rewarded him with more ice time on that line and he played good. He’s a big body around the net, hard around the net. He finds ways to win puck battles down low and that’s important.”

Continued; Givani Smith may not be the long-term answer to the Wings’ gritty-goal-scoring woes, but he can help the effort.

The Grand Rapids Griffins are having an incredibly difficult time defeating one of their most frequent opponents in the Chicago Wolves. On Sunday, Grand Rapids dropped its sixth straight game to the Wolves, losing 3-1 (despite a 41-save performance by goaltender Calvin Pickard).

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 1 at Chicago Wolves 3

Nov. 28, 2021

ROSEMONT, Ill.– The Grand Rapids Griffins failed to get its first win of the season in five tries against the Chicago Wolves, losing 3-1 on Sunday at Allstate Arena. The defeat snapped the Griffins’ six-game road point streak (4-0-1-1).

Grand Rapids is now winless in its past six outings against Chicago, dating back to last season. Despite the loss, Kyle Criscuolo extended his point streak (3-6—9) to four games. Calvin Pickard made his sixth straight start in net for the Griffins and has appeared in 12 out of the 17 games this season.

Continue reading Recap: Griffins lose sixth in a row to Chicago