Month: November 2021

There are two Red Wings-related Swedish-language stories of note this morning. The first, a Simon Edvinsson interview with GT.se, is stuck behind a paywall, but the second story, Henrik Lehman’s interview with Liam Dower Nilsson on Rakapuckar.com is available to roughly translate. Here it is:

Dower Nilsson tells Lehman that he’s comfortable with his limited play thus far with Frolunda HC as an 18-year-old, mostly playing as the 13th forward:

“It feels good, I have got my feet moving and move the puck, which is the most important thing to cope with the speed and pace of this level of hockey.”

And to fix his penalties: “It’s thanks to me keeping my feet moving, constantly being intense in my game. I will continue doing that.”

Is intensity the big difference between the SHL and J20 leagues? “Yes, exactly. You constantly focus on the task [at hand].”

Liam Dower Nilsson is a center, was a team captain with the Under-18 National Team, and most recently played in the U18 World Championship this past spring, so this is a smart player. It’s interesting when he discussed whether he’s gotten his full game together yet:

“Not really, the game with the puck, it takes some time to get into. But something I could do better at the J20 and national team level is just my intensity and moving my feet, that they ‘walk’ all the time. I think I’ve gotten off to a really good start right now.”

Do you want to do that even better at the J20 level? “Yes, it’s important to bring that to the J20 level when (Karl) Henriksson and (Linus) Nassen return [to Frolunda’s men’s team].”

The injuries to Henriksson and Nassen will give Dower Nilsson more chances to play against Timra on Tuesday, Malmo on Thursday and Skelleftea on Saturday.

Maybe we will see the 18-year-old playing more minutes? He wants to be more involved, do more and more good things with the puck, as at the J20 level.

“The tempo is new to me. But it’s my goal to be able to do that as well. I want to be a center at the SHL level one day as well. Right now, it’s about hitting that edge.”

Will he play in the World Junior Championship as a minor? Probably not, but the chance exists, Dower Nilsson is a reserve for the team that’s going to be training for the team in Angelholm, but there’s much to suggest that he’ll have to wait until next season.

“When I’m at my best, when I raise my minimum level of play, then I can play at that level. I need to show myself and (Tomas) Monten [the National Team coach] and the guys that I can do it game after game. It’s starting to come now,” said Dower Nilsson, and he continued:

“It’s important to take every chance I get. I’m going to fight every day to earn a spot. But we’ll see. Now I focus on the game tomorrow vs. Timra, on getting my feet moving well like before.”

Maybe a little more ice time? He played 4:07 against Farjestad, 6:52 against Djurgarden.

“I always hope so. It’s up to the coaches. Of course you want to play more, but…Somewhere you have to realize, that I don’t play on the power play, not in penalty-killing, so it’s important to take advantages of the chances that I get, then there will probably be more. I think that I’ve made a good impression in the last two games, it will probably show up.”

Do you remember how Liam Dower Nilsson made headlines with a cheeky goal pass in Division I with Hanhals? Smart drop play behind his back. You can see it if you click here.

The 18-year-old is not really there where he plays in such situations in the SHL, where he would be on the power play, but he said with a smile about that play: “If the chance comes, I’ll test it out.”

The Score’s Sean O’Leary posted a set of rookie power rankings this morning, and two Red Wings prospects lead the way:

2. Moritz Seider, Red Wings: It appears Seider is on the fast track to superstardom if the first month of his NHL career is any indication. The 2019 sixth overall pick has flashed potential to be a franchise cornerstone in Detroit’s rebuild by contributing offense, physicality, and poise beyond his years.

Seider leads all freshmen in average ice time by almost a full minute and sits second in scoring. He’s posted assists in seven of nine games – four of which came as the quarterback on the Red Wings’ No. 1 power-play unit – and currently riding a five-game point streak.

1. Lucas Raymond, Red Wings: Steve Yzerman appears to have landed a gem in Raymond, who the Red Wings selected fourth overall in 2020. Raymond has burst onto the NHL scene after spending a development year in Sweden. Now he’s showcasing his elite shot and offensive instincts on a nightly basis for a Detroit squad that is routinely surprising its opponents.

Raymond is tied for the rookie lead in goals, highlighted by a hat trick in only his sixth NHL game. He’s also the only first-year player to be operating at a point-per-game clip. So far, he’s the leader in the clubhouse to bring home some hardware come awards season.

We know from Bally Sports Detroit, the CBC and the Red Wings’ press corps that Joe Veleno took a ride to Toronto with Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman on Saturday, and I roughly translated Veleno’s discussion of said trip with TVA Sports on Sunday.

This evening, Veleno engaged in a French-language interview with TVA Sports’ Jean-Charles Lajoie on Monday night, and here’s a rough translation of the transcript thereof:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Joe Veleno reflects on his trip to Toronto with Steve Yzerman in an interview with TVA Sports

The Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit Plus/TSN2/RDS/97.1 FM), and, in an ideal world, the 4-3-and-1 Red Wings—who dropped a 6-1 decision to Montreal exactly one week ago–will absolutely pounce on the 2-and-8 Canadiens.

The Habs are in trouble. Having most recently dropped a 4-2 decision to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, and they instituted a Montreal-wide panic by demoting Cole Caufield to the AHL on Monday in an effort to get the still-Calder Trophy-favorite rookie’s confidence back. Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme explained the move to NHL.com’s Sean Farrell:

Continue reading Red Wings-Habs set-up: Can the Wings kick Montreal while they’re down?

This statement just came out from the NHLPA this evening:

NHLPA STATEMENT FOLLOWING EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

TORONTO (November 1, 2021) – On the NHLPA’s Executive Board call today, Don Fehr recommended that an independent investigation be commenced by outside legal counsel in order to review the NHLPA’s response to the Kyle Beach matter. The Executive Board is currently voting on this matter.

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I have the Red Wings’ schedule as my wallpaper, and you’ll see that Detroit’s schedule over the next two-and-a-half weeks is absolutely nuts:

The Red Wings play 4 games over the course of the next 6 days, and proceed to play a total of 11 games over the course of 19 nights–and of those 11 games, 8 take place in different cities.

By any stretch of the imagination, that’s an intense schedule until almost American Thanksgiving, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan asked Wings coach Jeff Blashill how he’s going to manage the workload over the next two-and-a-half weeks:

The Wings embark Tuesday on a stretch of seven games over 12 days. They’ll play 11 games (seven on the road) in 19 days.

The challenge will be to stay fresh.

“We’ll have to work to balance it, work with our sports science people in terms of where our guys are at from a body standpoint and get enough practice time but where our guys maximize energy in games,” Blashill said. “We may have to look at flipping some guys in out (of the lineup) just to make sure guys stay fresh and are at the top of their game.”

Updated at 7:03 PM: The Detroit Red Wings will face a 2-and-8 Canadiens team tomorrow night in Montreal (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit Plus/TSN2/RDS/97.1 FM), a team that will be skating without Cole Caufield (AHL stint), Cedric Paquette (suspension), hat-trick-scorer Mathieu Perreault (eye injury) and other players who took part in last week’s 6-1 shellacking of the Wings…

But the Red Wings spoke with the media on Monday very wary of tomorrow’s home team, which will be looking to stomp on Detroit to begin to climb out of one of their worst starts to a season in team history.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James summarized the state of the Wings thusly…

The Wings (4-3-2) had, on the whole, a good October. They played competitively, showed fortitude when they trailed, and rolled four lines and three defense pairings. [Coach Jeff] Blashill described the offense (3.22 goals-per-game average) as “not bad” and the power play (15.2%) as “hasn’t been great, but hasn’t been bad.” His biggest concern is that, “I think we’ve given up too many goals.”

Of the 31 goals surrendered, nine have come during the 34 times the Wings have been shorthanded.

“I actually think our PK has been pretty good,” Blashill said. “We’re improving in our structure on our PK forecheck. My gut (feeling) is generally if you can stay with it even when the goals go in on the PK, if the process is good and you can stay with it, it will even out. I believe that will happen with our PK. Certainly the number of times you give teams power plays, you’re playing with fire. It’s something we’ve talked about since the beginning of the season, is staying out of the box.”

The flip side is making the most of man advantages. Filip Zadina leads the team with two power-play goals after converting against the Maple Leafs, when he connected on a pass by rookie defenseman Moritz Seider for a second time this season.

“It was great to score the goal,” Zadina said. “It gave me more confidence going forward.”

Zadina always draws a little more scrutiny when he plays in Montreal, because when the Canadians didn’t pick him at No. 3 in the 2018 draft, he vowed to “fill the nets” of those who passed on him. He has one goal in five career meetings, and says at this point, he views it as another game. He is trying to take more shots on net, and has looked more dangerous on power plays because he has been set up numerous times by Seider’s slick puck work.

“He’s passing the puck well,” Zadina said. “He sees the options where he can make a pass. He sees the right timing for the pass and it’s easy for us to put the puck on net and create chances.”

And MLive’s Ansar Khan noted the following regarding the Wings’ desire to “tighten up” defensively:

Continue reading HSJ, Khan, Duff: Wings look to improve special teams, not get stomped on by Canadiens

I had to step away from the blog for a couple of hours because of what NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly said and didn’t say during today’s media availability:

Bettman and Daly spoke with the media for the better part of an hour, addressing Kyle Beach’s abuse at the hands of Brad Aldrich, the NHL’s decision to fine the Chicago Blackhawks $2 million, the resignation of Joel Quenneville from the Florida Panthers’ head coaching job and more. It was a combination of intense legalese, evasion from blame and self-exoneration from a league that failed its players.

In other words, it was painful to watch, and it made me feel very bad about being an NHL fan. At the same time, I’d suggest that, should you have an hour, your watch as much of it as you can, because Bettman and Daly’s remarks remind us of how much hockey’s culture has to change. We can’t simply expect someone who’s been abused to bravely step forward like Beach did, and say that hockey’s culture is fine otherwise.

It’s not. We still live in a world where sexual abuse is endemic–and very common–and the NHL’s corporate culture and safeguards for its employees, be they players or otherwise, need to change.

Now a lot of the responsibility for changing the culture falls on the shoulders of the NHLPA, which will hold an executive board meeting this evening to examine executive director Donald Fehr’s culpability in the Beach abuse, but the NHL can do a lot more to change its ways to ensure that all of its employees are safe from harm and safe from sexual predators, and having a hotline for abuse is simply not enough.

The NHL and NHLPA alike need to make systemic changes to the way they operate to ensure that everyone who needs help with life issues get the help they need, be they suffering from addiction issues, psychiatric illnesses, from other trauma and especially from sexual or domestic abuse–among other issues–and I’m not sure that Gary Bettman or Bill Daly or Donald Fehr should be the people leading the league or the players’ union any more.

Today’s media availability drove that home.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a notebook article regarding Monday’s practice and the comments afterward (videos are available), and Kulfan put things bluntly regarding Dylan Larkin’s status:

The Red Wings might be without another significant piece of the lineup Tuesday when they face the slumping Montreal Canadiens.

Dylan Larkin didn’t participate in Monday’s practice, and coach Jeff Blashill wouldn’t say if Larkin would be available.

“Maintenance day,” said Blashill after Monday’s practice, as to why Larkin didn’t skate. “Right now, he didn’t practice today and I’ll leave it at that.”

Blashill said he’d have a better idea of Larkin’s status after Tuesday’s morning skate, and also more on forward Adam Erne, who didn’t play in Saturday’s 5-4 loss in Toronto.

Erne’s injury is undisclosed, but he was visibly in pain after blocking several consecutive shots late in Friday’s loss to the Florida Panthers.

Blashill also offered this about the 2-and-8 Canadiens, who beat Detroit 6-1 a week ago Tuesday:

“I’d start by saying the last time we played them they kicked our butts,” Blashill said. “So that’s all I really worry about. They kicked our butts, and that’s what sticks in our minds. Our guys aren’t watching them play on a consistent basis or watching their record or anything like that.  What they have fresh in their minds is we got our butt kicked and we better come in here with a sense of urgency.”

Continued