Month: December 2021

The Grand Rapids Griffins hoped to even up their record in Winnipeg after dropping a 4-2 decision to the Manitoba Moose on Friday…

But things did not go according to plan on Saturday night, with the Griffins surrendering a 2-0 lead before Riley Barber scored, only to witness the Moose score one more time before Turner Elson made a 3-2 loss look a little more respectable.

As a result, the Griffins dropped two straight games in Manitoba’s capital city, and they head home to host the Toronto Marlies for two games next weekend.

The Griffins’ website posted a recap of Saturday night’s game:

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 2 at Manitoba Moose 3

Dec. 11, 2021

WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Turner Elson’s late third period goal wasn’t enough for the Grand Rapids Griffins as they fell 3-2 to the Manitoba Moose on Saturday during their final game at Canada Life Centre this season.

The Griffins were swept in the road series against the Moose with a 0-3-0-1 record. Despite the loss, the Griffins’ defense held Manitoba to just 22 shots, which tied for the fewest attempts allowed this season. Elson bagged a two-point night (1-1—2) and extended his goal streak to three games, which is tied with Jonatan Berggren and Kyle Criscuolo for the longest on the team this campaign.

Continue reading Recap: Griffins can’t complete rally vs. Manitoba, drop 2nd straight in Winnipeg

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports something that creeps me out today:

The Detroit Red Wings are among a handful of NHL teams scouting Evander Kane as he makes his season debut with the San Jose Barracuda.

Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng confirmed that Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars are on the press box list.

The Sharks are exploding trade options for Evander Kane. He was suspended 21 games by the NHL for presenting a fake vaccination card. He’s in the AHL to get his game back in shape. Kane’s off-ice behavior was the subject of multiple media reports in the offseason. As a result, some of Kane’s Sharks’ teammates didn’t want him back on the team.

I don’t care about Kane’s bankruptcy, bitter divorce proceedings, or his stupid decision to fake a vaccination card. I don’t care about the rumors of gambling issues or any other of the long list’s worth of character issues that have followed the 30-year-old forward around.

I care about the fact that it wasn’t just the players in Winnipeg that couldn’t stand him (and he was treated really unfairly there); I know that the people of Winnipeg hated the guy, and it takes a lot for the people of Winnipeg to really disown a player. Kane was utterly disliked in Winnipeg, and that’s as terrible a stamp on his status as anything else…

That, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported this about Kane a couple of days ago:

I’m told there’s already a decent amount of interest in Kane, and right now, the interested teams are looking for a third-party team to act as “broker” to help retain some of his salary ($7 million). San Jose is willing to retain some salary, but if it gets even lower — imagine Kane, who has averaged 28 goals per season over his 12-year career, at a $1.75 million cap hit — the list of interested teams grows even longer. However, it’s going to take a team that believes it has a strong locker room culture to bring Kane in.

Kane, I’m told, is interested in playing for a contender and has a ton of agency given he has a three-team trade list. The best-case scenario for Kane is getting bought out by the Sharks and being able to choose his next destination, but I don’t think the Sharks have broached buyout talks with him yet. Those discussions would likely happen this summer.

Any other team that’s a contender can take him. Hell, the Ak Bars Kazan can take him. But I don’t want Evander Kane on the Red Wings.

Send him to Toronto.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a list of “5 concerns” regarding the Red Wings’ most recent 3-game losing streak as part of a subscriber-only article, and among them are the following:

No Defensive Improvement: In these three losses, the Red Wings gave up 17 goals. The Red Wings now rank 27th in the league with a goals-against-average of 3.43 goals per game. They have given up five or more goals 10 times in 28 games. Detroit is at the bottom with teams such as Arizona, Buffalo and Ottawa. That’s not the company they want to keep.

With Marc Staal on the COVID-19 list and Gustav Lindstrom on the injury list, the Red Wings’ poor depth on defense has been further exposed.

No defenseman escaped with better than a -3 plus-minus over those three games. Moritz Seider and Danny Dekeyser were both -5 over the first two losses before going +1 in the Colorado game. Dan Renouf was -5 on the two-game road trip. Nick Leddy and Filip both ended up -3 in the three games and that came in the game against the Avs. Jordan Oesterle was -4 in the three loses.

The Red Wings need another seasoned defenseman and I’m told Steve Yzerman has been looking for that player in the trade market.

Continued (paywall); another defenseman wouldn’t hurt at this point, and the Wings have the cap space to add someone who isn’t a good fit somewhere else. I’m not sure that the reinforcement route is the way I’d go–I believe in “sink or swim” to some extent when it comes to this year’s team–but if the GM feels that adding to the roster is best, we’ll see what happens.

The Grand Rapids Griffins play the Manitoba Moose for the second consecutive night in Winnipeg on Saturday (8 PM EST start), and the Griffins posted a game-day preview video ahead of tonight’s match-up:

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe on Saturday:

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki had an assist, finishing even in 16:21 played as the Lahti Pelicans lost 2-1 to Assat Pori;

Eemil Viro did not play out of an abundance of caution in TPS Turku’s 3-1 loss to SaiPa. Viro took a hit to the head in TPS’s last game, but he’s okay;

In the SHL, William Wallinder finished even in 12:10 played as Rogle BK won 3-0 over Skelleftea AIK;

In Frolunda HC’s 4-0 loss to Brynas:

Simon Edvinsson finished at -2 with 1 shot in 21:46 played;

Elmer Soderblom finished at -1 with 1 shot in 16:09 played;

And Theodor Niederbach finished at -1 with 1 shot in 11:09 played;

In Farjestads BK’s 3-2 win over Leksands IF:

Gustav Berglund played 1:30, finishing even as the team’s seventh defenseman;

And Albert Johansson finished even with 4 shots in 18:44 played.

In the Allsvenskan, Albin Grewe has been battling a concussion that’s lingered, and he did not play in Mora IK’s 2-1 loss to Tingsryds IF;

In the Swedish J20 league, Liam Dower Nilsson (???) did not play in Frolunda HC’s 5-4 overtime loss to Rogle BK;

In the HockeyEttan, Jesper Eliasson served as the back-up in Vasby IK’s 5-2 loss to the Nybro Vikings.

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the Red Wings’ rather mediocre defensive game both at and away from Little Caesars Arena during an off-day notebook, noting that the Avalanche were able to exploit the Red Wings with ease over the course of last night’s 7-3 loss:

Colorado (15-7-2) is by far the highest-scoring team in the league (4.38 goals per game) and has tallied seven goals in three consecutive games, which is unheard of in today’s NHL.

“You give them time, they roll around, they make plays. It’s hard,” Larkin said. “You got to find a way to grind out your shift and stay tight. We just got beat on our assignments, especially early. Absolutely it’s disappointing. It was a back-to-back, four points on the line and we didn’t come up with any. We had a good stretch and we’re a little banged up right now, but we got to find a way to get something.”

Blashill called this game a litmus test for his team defensively and said too many players had their ‘C’ game early when the Avalanche led 3-0 less than 11 minutes into the game. He praised their character in coming back to make it competitive for a bit.

“They certainly didn’t quit, had chances in the third to at least make it interesting,” Blashill said.

Team defense continues to be an issue. The Red Wings have allowed 18 goals in their past three games and rank 27th in goals-against average (3.43).

“We’re going to get back to work and get better, especially in our D-zone coverage,” Blashill said. “We can’t give up nearly the number of chances we gave up. But we did create lots of chances. Our guys stayed with it in a tough environment. I’m happy for that but we got to grow here. We got to get back, take a breath and be ready for a big game on Tuesday.”

The Red Wings (13-12-3) are 4-9-1 away from home.

Continued; between slot coverage when in a defensive shell (i.e. not collapsing in the slot) and just plain old asking the forwards to not cheat toward offense every chance they get, the Wings could use a couple of very simple fundamental changes to their defensive game to improve dramatically.

Well, why not all three?

Vegas, baby! ?✨

You can now vote for Dylan Larkin, Mo Seider & Lucas Raymond in the 2022 @NHL All-Star Fan Vote!

Details: https://t.co/PEbr1MzKxH
Vote: https://t.co/9ZMQ81K3xA pic.twitter.com/k74YNCRhMn— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 11, 2021

Here’s the hype reel:

???https://t.co/lOBLQudphM pic.twitter.com/bAL3u5gNEk— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 11, 2021

This makes sense given that Grand Rapids plays tonight in Manitoba:

The #RedWings today assigned center Kyle Criscuolo and defenseman Brian Lashoff to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Details: https://t.co/JTfnxmA26q pic.twitter.com/3quy9ax2nt— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 11, 2021

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has already filed an off-day notebook which focuses on the Wings’ defensive struggles over the course of last night’s 7-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche:

“It was a litmus test for us defensively and we know we have to grow and get better,” coach Jeff Blashill said. 

The Wings (13-12-3) have lost their last three games, and have been outscored 18-7 in the process. They continue to have difficulty winning away from Little Caesars Arena, with a dismal 4-9-1 record.

“I’ve talked about it a lot — when you’re on the road you have to be great defensively and you have to manage the puck great to win,” said Blashill, who added the Wings haven’t been overly great in those two areas lately at LCA either. “Those two areas, if we want to be a team that can with both on the road at home, we have to do better at. It’s a lesson our guys are learning.”

To have any sort of success Friday, it was important for the Wings to have a good start and keep the Ball Arena crowd — which, incidentally, had a large segment of Wings fans, Detroit natives who arrived early for the Lions’ game here Sunday — out of the equation.

But the Avalanche scored three quick goals in just over 10 minutes, and the rout was on.

“They’re a premier offensive team, you give them time and they’ll roll around and make plays,” forward Dylan Larkin said. “You have to find a way to grind out your shift and stay tight and we just got beat on our assignments, and especially early. It was a disastrous start and you can’t have that kind of start in this building.”

Continued; Kulfan also reports that Tyler Bertuzzi and Marc Staal *may* return from COVID protocols in time for Tuesday’s game vs. the Islanders.

Former Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg spoke to Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist at length regarding the early-season success of one Lucas Raymond. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Henrik Zetterberg praises Lucas Raymond: “A little sensational”

Lucas Raymond is the Detroit Red Wings’ top scorer and leads in the points league for rookies in the NHL. At home in Sweden, the legendary Henrik Zetterberg follows the progress of the great Swedish talent with pleasure.

“You have to say that it’s a bit sensational,” says “Zata” to Hockeysverige.se.

After the overnight game between Detroit and Colorado, 19-year-old Lucas Raymond has played in 28 games and has posted 10 goals and 24 total points. With that, he’s the Red Wings’ best scorer thus far. Together with Moritz Seider, he is perhaps the league’s best rookie thus far.

Someone who is impressed with Lucas Raymond is former NHL star and team captain of the Detroit Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg.

“Before the season, I had hopes that he would get a chance in Detroit, that he would go up and down a little between Detroit and Grand Rapids. That’s what I saw in front of me,” says Henrik Zetterberg to Hockeysverige.se, and he continues:

How did you see the start to his season?

“It must be said that it’s a little bit sensational. There were also a lot of coincidences. Jakub Vrana suffered an injury, needed to have shoulder surgery. Ta da, there was a place in the top six. Lucas got the chance and he took it.”

“It’s not just that there was only one place, but that he really deserved that spot. He’s taken it and now it’s his spot. Had Vrana not gotten hurt, who knows whether he would have gotten the chance immediately.”

“Now he gets to play on the first “PP” (power play) and has played mostly with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. It’s a good line and they complement each other very well.”

Continue reading Roughly translated: Henrik Zetterberg discusses Lucas Raymond, Steve Yzerman and Niklas Kronwall with Hockeysverige.se